Jefferson Lake…one of our favorite spots in Colorado. A little less than an hour and a half from our house, this high elevation lake is a hidden gem. This was Andy, Dave, and I’s second camping trip to this lake together and we plan on making it a yearly tradition. This year we dropped Ollie off at Doggy Adventure Camp for a quiet weekend of napping and took our puppy Lucy on her first camping trip. Aside from chomping down on a dead porcupine, Lucy was the perfect trail and camping dog. 
Despite being one of the most traveled holiday weekends of the year, our camping spot was just as private as last time. We canoed our gear across the lake, backpacked into the woods a little ways and camped next to a bubbling creek for three days.
Friday night we were joined by my girlfriend Sarah, her husband Tom, son Owen, and 2 dogs. Saturday night Dave’s friend, Collin, camped with us and serenaded the night with an ukulele that he packed in.
My favorite part of our trip was a hike that Dave, Andy and I did up the valley. We followed a creek that surprised us with waterfalls around every turn, trekked through wild flower meadows and ended up at a snow covered waterfall at 11,370 ft.
Colorado summer days like this make my heart smile 🙂
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS (If you double click on the first photo you will see captions to the right)
Peace and Love,
Heather & Andy
Heather and Andy Brown 
Beautiful pictures, thanks for sending, always enjoy your story along with the pictures, have a gre
By: ekrenzer5@rochester.rr.com on July 8, 2013
at 8:06 pm
NICE!!!! Looks like a really good time. I am SO over due for a camping trip.
By: Barbara on July 8, 2013
at 10:09 pm
Hello Heather and Andy… I have been out of commision for the last 9 months. Last Sept. We bought town home in a different sub division. Then 2 weeks later I was diagnosed with classic hodgkins lymphoma, stage II. Nothing like knocking me on my back end. Anyway I went through 6 months of treatments. Then 2 weeks later almost died from the one drug in treatments. Getting better, but have damage to my lungs, permanently. It’s been a long rough road, but I’m a fighter and hope to return to work the 1st of Sept. It will be 11 months out of work.
How is Ollie doing? It worried me that he went to doggie camp for the weekend. Is he getting too old to handle the camping trips?
Sounds like Colorado is agreeing with the two of you. Take Care and good to hear from you. Pat
By: Patricia Gemmel-Grchan on July 9, 2013
at 3:42 am
Wow so beautiful, looks like a lot of fun. We will be in your neck of the woods in 2 weeks. We are going on a 8 bus tour of the Grand Canyon, with Peter’s whole family. So looking forward to it. I hope you guys are well, thank you for the updates and pictures, may God be by your side every day ;-).
Love,
Pete, Maxine and the girls
By: Maxine on July 9, 2013
at 3:33 pm
Hi, loved your pics of Jefferson Lake. We’ll be out that way this summer. I’m curious about the temperatures during summer over there. We’re from the Ozarks so it’s going to be a lot different for us to go there! You said there was still ice/snow on some of the waterfalls in the tributaries? We’ll be camping just south of the lake along Jefferson creek. Have you seen any of that area?
By: Madison Woods on January 24, 2016
at 7:09 pm
Hi Madison! You will love Jefferson Lake. During the summer, the day time temperatures are mild and if the sun is out it can even feel “hot.” At night, it gets cold. Be sure to bring hat, gloves, winter coat and warm sleeping gear. We were there one year during a fire ban which made the night time temperatures feel even colder without a campfire. We have never stayed in the campsites and have only done primitive camping across the lake. Enjoy your stay and keep your eyes out for moose!
By: heatherandandybrown on January 24, 2016
at 7:24 pm
Oh wow, I hope we get to see a moose. How about grizzlies? That’s one I hope not to see, lol. We have plenty black bears here, so those are not so worrisome.
By: Madison Woods on January 25, 2016
at 1:49 am
No grizzlies in Colorado 🙂
By: heatherandandybrown on January 25, 2016
at 2:05 am