Rockey Mountain National Park

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Today’s hike was such a good time, and by far the best hike I’ve done since being out here in Boulder. About 1 hour Northwest of Boulder is the Bear Lake trailhead, where I started my hike. To be honest I was a little surprised to see snow on the ground when I arrived at 9am; considering I was in shorts and a tee-shirt. Oh well never mind I will see how it goes. I marched off down the trail where 25 yards later I’m faced with a trail sign pointing off into the snow-covered forest. After staring at what does not look like a trail I figured it was best if I consulted with the park rangers and returned to the trailhead. He reassured me that was in fact the trail and there are only a few tricky spots along the way where the snow has melted and is confusing which direction to take. Ok, so I’ll risk it, and off I went hiking first to Nymphs Lake, then Dream Lake, and on to Emerald Lake. All along the way trying to stay on an unseen trail. There where only a few “oh crap” moments where I would hear running water directly below my feet and was positive that I was not standing on a bridge. This in itself is not too bad, but when the sun was blazing and ice and snow were melting all over, it makes you a bit nervous. Especially when several time along the way I would suddenly fall 2 feet through the snow below me. It was at Emerald Lake where I discovered a new feature of my Timberland hiking boots, they also function as skis. All you have to do is climb up a snowy ridge, preferably on all fours like I did, and just easy yourself over the ridge. I quickly figured out the correct velocity to windmill my arms to maintain my balance, but wondered if falling would be the better option considering that I was approaching the edge of Emerald Lake. Emerald Lake was a cool area because it was almost all covered in ice and the only other people out there were a bunch of skiers.

I had to double back to Dream Lake to catch the trail to the 4th lake I wanted to see, Lake Haiyaha. For the life of me I could not find it, and when I asked this guy, who looked like he knew the area, where it was he said it was marked but the sign was buried 10 feet below the snow. He suggested that I loop back around and approach the lake from the South trail where there would be less snow. Sounded like a good idea, but I would later find out that the elevation was higher as well, and there was an additional 2 feet of snow on that route. Sorry to say I didn’t have snow shoes to make it to the lake.

On my failed attempt to Lake Haiyaha, I did pass Alberta Falls and ended up at Mills Lake. This trail had far less snow as it was a South facing trail with less tree cover, and about a 500 foot elevation drop from the trail head which was around 9,500 feet. The trail to Alberta Falls is a well traveled trail so there was not hope of getting lost. It was past noon by this time, and there were a lot of people, including a very loud Italian family. I know they say make noise so you don’t startle the bears, but every bear in a 1 mile radius probably heard them. Anyway, I blazed pass this family and never saw or heard them again. Perhaps the bears decided they had enough as well and ate them. Anyway, once you pass the falls the hiking population thins out, and makes for a really nice hike to Mills Lake. Mills Lake was well worth the trip as it was really beautiful and peaceful. I hung out on a large rock around Mills Lake having lunch before heading back.

I spent about 5.5 hours out there hiking, and would definitely do it again soon. I was even able to make it back to Boulder in time to enjoy a few hours relaxing at the pool.

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