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Fuller and I reached the Ice Lake around 2:30 pm MDT to find Michael, Nikki, and Bill the dog enjoying a well deserved nap. Ravi played near the shore of the deep turquoise lake. Fuller joined him, and I made my own attempt at a nap. Maybe it was the chill of the alpine wind, or maybe I knew I was in an incredible playground. I had to take advantage of my limited time though and go explore the basin.
My first task was to recruit Jason and Michael. Unfortunately, they had not experienced the adrenaline rush that I had and did not want to climb any more. On the other hand, I had made up my mind to check out Fuller Lake (Jason's very own namesake). The lake was a little over 300 feet higher to climb, and it was well worth it. Snowmelt carved amazing shapes in the remaining snowdrifts, and Fuller Lake was still partially frozen despite the July calendar date. A shack of some sort was on the bank of the lake, however, as much as I wanted to explore it I could only think of one way to go...up! I climbed about 300 more feet to the beginning of the saddle leading to Fuller Peak. The silence and view were amazing. The only sounds I heard were of the wind, and I could see out over the San Juan range to the east, and seemed close enough to reach out and touch the five 13,700+ peaks surrounding me to the west. I wanted to go all the way up Fuller Peak so bad, however, I realized I had better get back to the lower Ice Lake, since I had a good feeling everyone was waiting on me to descend. I tried to take a shortcut, and had to slide down a few hundred feet on snow to make it. It was awesome...rump sledding in July! When I returned, the group was agitated with me, so we quickly started making our way down around 4:30 pm. We only spent a couple of hours in the beautiful paradise of the Upper Ice Lake basin. A couple of hours I hope to duplicate again someday.
On a side note, I climbed to a height just shy of 13,000 ft, from a starting point of 9,827. The vertical climb I completed was around 3,000 ft. Although not too impressive of a feat to a seasoned mountain climber, this lowlander from Oklahoma (and originally the Mississippi River delta) was thrilled to have accomplished my first real mountain climb. Even if it was, for the most part, on a well beaten path.
 The turquoise water of the lower Ice Lake; elev. 12,257 ft |
 The clear, dark blue water of the upper Ice Lake |
 Michael naps near the lower Ice Lake |
 Fuller poses for a shot between the lakes |
 Fuller's silhouette as he checks out the view |
Michael awakens rejuvenated |
 The Ice Lakes from the trail to Fuller Lake |
Snow melt carves a stream through snow in Fuller Peak's shadow |
 Fuller Lake; elev. 12,585 ft. |
 The Mineral Creek valley towards Silverton; taken from 12,800 ft. |
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Another good view of the Ice Lakes from above |
One of the many Yellow-bellied Marmots we saw |
 A shot of me before we head back down |