Hessie Trailhead

I wish it would start earlier in the season.
I don’t own a car nor do I want to. So this service is a lifesaver. Please do take advantage of it when it’s running.

Nice hike to Lost Lake. The fall colors were EXCELLENT. A couple of nice water falls along the way. We enjoyed a picnic at one of the falls. We were not disappointed.

This is a great Trailhead for hikers of all abilities. You have several options for anything from a 2 mile trek to a day long 10 miler. BEST ADVICE — Use the FREE shuttle that runs from Nederland to the trailhead. It takes 10 minutes to get from the parking lot the trail. Parking gets crazy along the trailhead, so save yourself and the locals a lot hassle!
Lost Lake: Amazingly beautiful, both for summer hikes & for snow shoeing in the winter! Lost lake is a quick and moderately easy hike that almost everyone will enjoy (It does steep the last quarter mile stretch). Devil’s Thumb is a gorgeous 5 mile (one way) hike that is also beautiful.
What I love most about Hessie Trails are that you have a lot of shade and coverage, you are in beautiful foliage most of the time, and you get to follow the rushing water. It’s truly one of my favorite nearby trailheads!

Drove up to Fourth of July Trailhead last week. It’s another four miles from the Hessie parking lot and a pretty bumpy ride. My Subaru made the climb effortlessly but I’d be careful with two-​wheel drive and low clearance cars. Dogs must be leashes up there but the views are spectacular. Give yourself a couple hours to hike– the trails are ¾miles long

This is a gorgeous hike that deserves no less than 5 stars! I went during August and it was lush with a ton of waterfalls streams. You park your car at the nearby high school (free parking) and hitch a free shuttle ride to the trail head. From the trail head you have several trail options but I stuck to the trail that followed the water as recommended by a fellow hiker. I was not disappointed by the hike at all. It wasn’t too strenuous but wasn’t 100% easy as well. There is a lake at the top where there are campsites and ducks. We were able to make it to the first lake but there are multiple lake destinations you can reach depending on how far you can hike. The first lake took about 1.5 hours to reach.

This was a great hike and we never actually made it to the lakes. Our goal was to take Devil’s Thumb Lake Trail to Jasper Lake and beyond but there is easily two feet a snow and nearly impossible to get through without getting frustrated. Nevertheless, the scenery leading up to that point is fantastic as you follow the raging river most of the way. There is a steady incline most of the way but we hardly notice as we were hopping on rocks over creeks. Overall, it was a really nice hike and definitely recommended!

A great place for casual to more intense hikes. As mentioned, it can get very busy, so start early!

Busy and popular, so go on a weekday or very early to get a good parking spot and on the trail without the crowd.
If you come here, it really doesn’t matter which trail you go on, all will be popular with travelers and all will be beautiful. This is a lakes galore trailhead, so if you are looking for a shiny cool dip at the end of a 3−7mile hike, Hessie is a good place to start.
There is a map at the beginning of the trailhead to help you pick your course, but we didn’t seems to find our desired hike and ended up on a different one.
I liked how we went through forest, inclines, meadows and waterfalls… Intermediate to advance hikes, this is a good place to go if you have 3 hours or 3 days.
* Star one for this thing called fresh air
** Out of breath star two is for giving me a challenge to get that heart rate up
*** Time to eat star three is for giving me a reason to say I am hungry so I can eat my sandwich
**** Ooh ahh star four is for pretty waterfalls that make that waterfall sound