Photos

Piney Lake is about 16 miles (25 kilometers) north of Vail, Colorado. It is part of the Eagles Nest Wilderness which is protected wilderness to never see development, it was set aside as wilederness by act of Congress. The Eagles Nest Wilderness encompasses the Gore Mountains, which is a very rugged chain of mountains in northern Colorado. Peak C at 13200 feet (4036 meters) is on the left. This wilderness lacks any 14,000 foot peaks (4280 meters) unlike most other wildernesses in Colorado, and due to that fact it is a little known wilderness. The pouplarity of the wilderness areas in Colorado are directly proportionate to how many 14,000 foot peaks it has. THe highest Peak in the Gore Mountains and the Eagles Nest Wilderness is Mt. Powell named after the explorer John Wesley Powell at 13,500 feet (4128 meters), it is to the left of Peak C just out of the photo. Piney Lake is probably the only popular area in the Gore Mountains and on this day when I took the photo, there were several people in the water in boats.