Great trail. 7-18-26 Rainy but great weather overall. It says around 4 miles, but that is rather difficult because there are so many mini trails to explore. I ended up at the end around 6 miles. They shut down the road as parking was full near the trail and they had a free shuttle that took us up. You park at the high school below. The shuttle driver was lovely and even stopped so we could see a moose. Trail is not for someone with weak ankles as it is very rocky. The views are phenomenal. read more

I loved this 4 mile round-trip hike. It was absolutely amazing and wonderful to enjoy my kids. We spent an entire hour at the very top of the lake. I believe you can walk around the whole lake, but it got a little bit woody so we turned around halfway through and went back the same way we came in at the beginning you can make a left or right I suggest making a left as there's more openings that appears to look in the lake and play in the water and dirt. This is hands-down the best hike I've ever been on with multiple waterfall in a stream in many parts of the hike. My biggest focus is looking for streams and waterfalls. read more

The Hessie Trailhead leads to many great hikes. Hikes of all difficulty. Parking is a bitch and you now have to ( unless you get there at some ungodly hour) park at the high school and take a school bus to the trailhead. Fun Hike is Lost Lake ( snowshoeing or hiking in the summer). Magical place. read more

Hessie Trailhead - Lost Lake frozen - Hiking Near Me - Nederland, Colorado

See all

I love the Lost Lake trail! I've done it twice now - once in snow and the other one in the fall. It's not too challenging of a hike but will still give you a good workout. The views are spectacular, especially up at the lake. However, true to its name, I lost a very precious gold wedding band while on the trail on 10/5/24 (it belonged to my grandma). Would love if anyone could find it...other than that this hike is wonderful! read more

See all

This is a great little 4WD trail to take for an early morning or late afternoon run. The trail runs along the former of Township of Hessie, one of Colorado's high altitude and short-lived, mining towns. The site is now a large meadow with some great views of the surrounding peaks and glacier basins. For most of the trail you are driving up a small stream which gets a little deep at one point, probably 10-15 inches. There a few large rocks that are usually submerged in early spring with the snow melt. The trail is only about a half mile long but challenging and fun. I made up and back on the trail with a stock Jeep Grand Cherokee read more

See all

I'll give it 5 stars because all nature is beautiful and doesn't deserve a rating at all. As a local though, this trailhead has been completely overrun with tourists and it's not that enjoyable anymore. read more

Loved this hike to lost lake! I went as a solo female hiker and I felt safe and the trail was easy to follow I got directions to the trail head from All Trails and I had no problems! read more

See all

Moderate hike. Absolutely gorgeous end at a beautiful lake. Parking is PACKED. Do yourself a favor, park at Nederland High and take the shuttle. When I got there on a Sunday around 12 I took the last parking spot at the SCHOOL. The driver said there's usually a line for the shuttle at the school. I've recommended this to all of my friends and it's been a go to hike for me. Pretty easy... might take a couple of breaks on the way up but nothing to strenuous for someone who is acclimated. I recommend bringing lunch or a hammock to relax by the lake. It's beautiful. read more

See all

Wow, amazing hike!! This is definitely one of my favorite hikes in Colorado so far, as the views were spectacular all along the way. We were barely about five minutes into the hike when there was a lake that perfectly reflected the mountains, and the views of the snowy mountains, grassy fields, and trees were breathtaking all along the trail. I absolutely adored this hike, even though the end getting up to Devils Thumb was challenging and steep. We also had to climb up a snow wall, but thankfully others had set the path already and there were footprints. It's not clear at the top that it's Devil's Thumb, but I guess we knew because it looked like the top and the path started going down afterward. The path down around the Continental Divide was a bit boring though as it was just walking through the field at the back of the mountain, and we got caught in hail for a quick minute which caused coldness. But, the sun eventually peaked back out a bit even though the rest of our hike was mostly cloudy afterward. We had to hike through some snow patches but nothing too bad, and we saw some skiers and snowboarders carry their gear to do some downhill, wow! In any case, the trail post-peak was also really pretty as we walked by a stream, trees, and were still surrounded by mountain views. Amazing hike! Signage in general was acceptable although we did have the reference a picture of the map we took at the beginning of the trailhead. It took us about 8 hours to complete the hike, and it was a great one! read more

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 read more

Hessie Trailhead - Hiking Near Me - Nederland, Colorado

See all

I LOVE this trailhead because there are so many options for beautiful destinations with varying levels of difficulty and mileage. For guests visiting from sea level, I take them on what I thought was the shortest trail to Lost Lake. The altitude may get to some, but it's worth it if you can hike through! Bring water and if you want to camp, there are even campsites that you can rent out! read more

See all

It's a gorgeous snowshoeing trail! About 1hr drive from Golden where we live. It's helpful to have 4x4 in the snowy days. Parking yesterday (Sunday) was very limited, didn't see any parking lot so everyone was parking on the one side of the road. We got there about 11:30 am, about 20+cars there. We started snowshoeing from the trail head. It was snowing and windy, Definitely looked like a winter wonderland here! About 3-4 ft of snow on the ground when we were up higher in the trail. The snow, the trees, the trail were so beautiful! The air is so fresh but get thinner when we went up higher. We had to stop few times to slow down the heartbeat, catch the breath and hydrated ourselves. ESP. The last last mile of the snowshoeing up to the Lost Lake. We went slow and enjoyed the nature, took us 2.5 hours up to the Lake which was totally turned into a flat iceland covered by snow. We took a little break here and snowshoeing back, much easier this time, only 1.5 hour. We passed 3 bridges. Imaged in the summer must be very nice views with water flowing under the bridges and in the Lake! We will be back to enjoy that! Lots of people snowshoeing and cross country skiing here too. We only wished the trail can mark the sign better. We were little confused about where should we go and how far. Thank goodness for the cellphones' help. We had a wonderful time here yesterday! read more

See all

Parking: VERY limited parking unless you own a lifted/4wd vehicle but on a Tuesday morning at 8am my friend and I grabbed one of the last spots alongside the road. Parking to Hessie Trailhead: Flat, easy walk down a dirt road. Hessie Trailhead toWoodland Lake: Such a beautiful, moderate/easy difficult trail alongside a swift moving creek. Lots of wildflowers, butterflies, and waterfalls. We were warned by a USFS volunteer that there was a female moose in the area with calves but *not warned about the state of the Woodland lake trail*. About 3+ miles in, the trail turned into a mess that alternated between fast moving water and knee deep snow. We kept loosing the trail, backtracking to where we last knew it was then lost it again and again (there are NO blazings or cairns-it being wilderness and all). With soaked feet we kept trying until we counted 5 hikers just as confused as we were. We decided to cut our hike short & headed back down. Too bad, really tried to find the trail but just couldn't! While we saw lots of signs of moose activity (hoof marks in the mud and snow; scat), we did not come across any wildlife bigger than a chipmunk. Lost Lake: We did this short trail on our way back. Easy hike up to a small lake which was very busy for a Tuesday. Lots of children and families seemed to be enjoying the campsites around the tiny lake. Overall, well worth muddy feet. Our round trip wander took us 6 hours including a lunch break. read more

Hessie Trailhead - Pic of map @ trailhead - Hiking Near Me - Nederland, Colorado

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a hiker. This was my first experience, but it was SO fun. And exhausting. But mostly fun. Most of the hike was next to a spring with rushing water and waterfalls. We were able to go off trail and follow a small path in the forest right next to the water. It was so clean we drank out of the spring. There were parts that were difficult, but not too bad for a newbie. Definitely manageable. And the best part was getting to the top and seeing Lost Lake. So beautiful and totally worth the climb. read more

See all

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! read more

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! read more

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. read more

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. read more

See all

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. read more

Amazing trail, you can make it harder by going off trail and just hiking along the river to your left. Ends at the gorgeously serene Lost Lake. Will def be back to camp by the lake and make a full weekend out of it next time. read more

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 3/4miles long read more

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