Yesterday we hiked back up to Silver Lake. This time we took the most direct route. 1.5 miles up from the parking lot on the shore of Lake Dunmore with about 730 feet of elevation gain.
This is a well maintained and heavily trafficked trail. Of course we were hiking it on a nice Saturday afternoon in mid-summer but it always has more people than the other approaches to the wilderness lake.
It follows a stream along the first secton. The cool water rushing down the canyon usually makes for a nice breeze on the trail.
Many people just hike this lower section. There are several places to access the brook for a quick dip on a hot summer day. Here is the turnoff to Silver Lake.
When hiking I always have one eye out for mushrooms 🍄 Here's a nice looking red mushroom emerging from the leaves.
Once you take the turnoff, its a steady climb up to the lake. Steady but not too steep and on a level trail.
This was my best mushroom find.
I believe they are oyster mushrooms but were too far up the tree to forage in any event.
When I remember I usually try to get a photo of the gills for help with ID plus the light was nice making the mushroom almost translucent.
The pay off for the hike is Sliver Lake which only accessible by hiking in. The afternoon often provides nice reflections and yesterday was good.
The northern end of the lake is shallow and there are usually frogs if you look and listen. The middle of the lake is 70 feet deep and the lake has a good population of trout.
One more photo of the lake before the descent.
On the way down we took a short detour to a bridge with nice views of the brook.
The rocky canyon makes for lots off small water falls. And some bigger ones. Another side hike easily accessible from the same trail is Lana Falls which has a 100 foot drop. We didn't visit it on this trip.
