The Potato Lake Trail is a short 1.2 mile hike to a mountain lake in the Spruce Fir Aspen forest between the West Needles Mountains and Engineer Mountain in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.
The trail head is about 30 miles north of Durango on Highway 550, then 3 miles east on rocky and bumpy Forest Road 591. The turnoff is somewhat obscured by an ATV tour business at the intersection. Forest Road 591 is called the Old Lime Creek Road and continues along the west edge of the Weminuche Wilderness Area below the Twilight Peaks. Potato Lake is also called Spud Lake.
The trail starts next to a Lilly Pad covered small lake at about 9400 feet elevation and climbs gradually to about 9800 feet at Potato Lake. The lower part of the trail has some views toward Engineer Mountain to the northwest. The trail is smoother than the road leading to it and the walking is easy.
About half way to Potato Lake, a series of descending beaver ponds appears. The area along the beaver ponds is very rough with granite rock outcrops. Potato Hill comes into view at 11,871 feet.
Despite its jagged appearance, this peak seems to only have hill status in an area that features many peaks over 12,000 feet. The fir trees along the way here look like the white barked Subalpine Fir rather than Douglas Fir. I saw some very large mushrooms with reddish caps.
Potato Lake is several acres big and sits below Potato Hill. There is a path leading all the way around the lake, adding about another 0.5 miles for those wanting a longer hike. In late August, there were many golden asters and white daisies in bloom around the lake edges, a few Indian Paintbrushes also.
Reflections of the Twilight Peaks add to the scenic views. It took me 0:40 minutes to arrive and I spent another 0:30 minutes walking all the way around. My total hike took 2:00 hours for 3 miles on a 68 F degree late August day.
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