Hike to Emerald Lake in Rocky Mt. National Park CO…

Since our camp is so close to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) near Estes Colorado we had to make our way up to the mountains. Even better was we waited for a day where the highs in Longmont were supposed to exceed 100 degrees.The estimated temperature in the park was expected to be up to 30 degrees cooler so we agreed….. Let’s go…

It was about an hour drive into the mountains but a pleasant drive even though the traffic was slow moving. Once into Estes Park it was pretty congested but eventually we continued on to RMNP. We had free entry by using our senior pass saving $25 and proceeded over to the Bear Lake trailhead. Parking was scarce at best but we found a place to park about 1/8 mile from the trailhead.

The hike around the lake is very popular as it is a very short hike so the “car hikers” can park then walk about 5 minutes to take some beautiful photos to show their friends back home.  Our hike, however,  began the opposite way from Bear Lake (but we did sneak over to take a peek). Then we embarked upon our longer hike to two other lakes at just four miles roundtrip keeping in mind it would require a steady climb up the mountain.

We donned our boots and made the climb. It was like being on a Stairmaster with the setting at 6 as the climb was steady and relentless. We were sucking air along the way as we were now at nearly 9,000 feet in elevation. About midway we encountered Dream Lake which was a long and beautiful mountain lake filled with trout. The water was so clear  we could  see the beautiful rainbow and brown trout happily swimming in the waters.

After another mile or so we finally made it to Emerald Lake which was smaller than the lake we had just passed but it was still very scenic. It was a typical cirque lake in the high country and even though it was more crowded that we desired it was still spectacular and well worth the climb up to it. We paused for a good while enjoying the view before returning back the way we came.

Another hot day we decided to return to RMNP to drive the Old Fall Road which is a winding dirt road up to the Alpine lodge on Trail Ridge Scenic Drive. What a great road it was for an early afternoon drive. We only spotted a few people on the road since it had just opened for the season and I am sure most didn’t know about it yet.

We stopped to walk around Chasm Falls to take a few photos before slowly crawling up the one way road (up only) while taking in the the sights. As we neared the Alpine area we broke out above tree line where we stopped to look at the alpine flowers in bloom and to see if we could spot any birds in the high country.

Almost near the top we saw a large herd of Elk with quite a few people making their way over to  take pictures.  Some people really don’t respect the distance one should keep from the elk which was distracting but we enjoyed watching a while before driving onto the Trail Ridge Scenic Road. The Trail Ridge Road offers panoramic vistas from seemingly the top of the world as all the road is above tree line. Wonderful!

For more hikes in the area here is a great resource you should check out - Hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Next up is a move over to our Freightliner appointment at Transwest Truck and RV  in Frederick, Co. Fingers crossed our electrical issues will be resolved so we can quickly get back to having fun on our Road of Retirement….Wish us luck!

NOTE: We are now in the Transwest Truck and RV Courtesy Park in Frederick Colorado until the Freightliner Shop figures out our electrical issue…