Lake Ann in the Teanaways

We drove up to the Esmeralda Trailhead at the end of the North Fork Teanaway Road to hike up to Lake Ann, 8.8 miles with 2,600 ft of overall gain. It was cold when we started 32F. We saw about 15 people on this trail today.

The trail goes up by the Esmeralda Peaks.

Looking back towards the way we came.

Fortune Peak ahead of us

Up on the ridge overlooking Lake Ann beneath Ingalls Peak 

View from the ridge

Descending into the lake basin, with the sun trying to break through the clouds.

So lovely to see there were still some larch trees holding on to their golden needles.

Views as we hiked part way around Lake Ann 

It began snowing during our lunch break, and as we headed up the trail, we saw the frozen part of Lake Ann was now covered with a dusting of snow.

It began to snow a bit heavier as we continued down the trail.

Although the Esmeralda Peaks were shrouded in the clouds, the views were lovely as we returned to the trailhead.

We saw a few wildflowers hanging on despite the freezing temperatures:

 

 

some of the fall color:

 

Lake Ann Teanaway

 Our goal was to hike to Lake Ann in the Teanaway along the Esmerelda Basin Trail, due to weather and trail conditions on the descent to the lake, we turned around shortly after the overlook. Our hike was 7 miles round trip with about 2,200 ft overall gain.
The trail follows along the North fork of the Teanaway River for a short ways up the Esmerelda Trail.

 Esmerelda Peak near the beginning of the trail, there is much less snow than was here one week ago when we hiked up to Lake Ingalls

 Esmerelda Peaks
there were lots of small streams to cross, but they were easy to cross on rocks in the creeks

 We didn't see any fungi along the trail, but we did see lots of this bright lichen

 View of some of the Esmerelda Peaks further up the trail













Creek coming down the hillside

 About 3 miles up the trail, we took the Lake Ann Trail, this is a short steep section up to the overlook
















Watching the clouds descend as we gain elevation

Larches and Lake Ann from the overlook

 We started to hike down the trail to the lake

 There was mixed snow and ice on the trail that we could see, with loose dirt underneath (Mt Ingalls in the background)

The wind was picking up, the exposure was steep and we made the decision to turn around as the storm seemed to be intensifying

 Taking photos as I returned to the overlook

 Lots of golden larches down around Lake Ann.













We also saw some fall color along the trail