Hiking in the Colorado Rockies

Our trip to Colorado was a bit shorter than what we would have liked. We were there for 6 days and would have loved to stay for a few more.... always :-) We had been wanting to go to Rocky Mountain National Park for a while and were happy to finally get the chance to go. Obviously, it's a huge park with several entrances. We skipped the usual Estes Park entrance to avoid the crowds and try something different. We were there in late July and the park was extremely crowded. So, choosing to stay on the west side of the park was a good idea. You can of course, split your time between the two entrances. Camping at the park fills up very quickly, even though there are several campgrounds. There are a couple of campgrounds that are on a walk-in basis, but these tend to fill up pretty quickly in the morning (Campground information).

So, I have to be upfront and say that we love hiking. That however, does not mean that we hike too much or don't do anything else at all. About 10 miles of hike a day is our limit. With my respiratory issues, I feel like any trail that I can hike, almost everyone else can easily hike faster than me. So, this is not a super difficult itinerary to follow. We began our day at 4:30 am each morning to avoid harsh sun of the afternoons. The super low traffic saved us a lot of commute time and it was easy to find parking, no matter where we were.

Equipment:

Important point to note about hiking in Colorado is that it is at a higher elevation. Some of our trailheads were at 9000 feet with an elevation gain of more than a thousand feet. So, breathing can become difficult on these hikes. What helped me hike in general was a good pair of trekking poles. I loved these that I got from REI. I bought them to help me climb through my breathing issues. But found out that they also helped my knees and posture throughout the hikes. My other favorite equipment on this trip was the LifeStraw water filter. We carried one water bottle each. But that would not have been sufficient for us on a 8 miles or longer hike. The LifeStraw definitely came in handy and we could drink water from the streams that we crossed. Good hiking shoes are always a life saver. I have owned my Ahnu pair for about 8 years now and they are still going strong. They were definitely a good investment. I also love these light-weight pants. They are very comfortable, especially in the hot environment and also water resistant. In addition, full-sleeves UV resistant shirts are also a must for me when hiking in the summer. Lastly, a good hat and a pair of sunglasses helps me hike much longer distances than I would otherwise. So, I highly recommend investing in some good equipment to get a good experience.

Day 1: Mount Evans

We landed in Denver in the morning and decided to drive to Mount Evans. Our original plan was to spend a day in Denver, but that never happened. There were too many hikes to pick from and so, we dropped Denver and Boulder. We picked up our rental car and drove to Mount Evans scenic byway. On the drive to Mount Evans itself some people can start feeling the altitude change. At the base of the mountain is the Echo Lake and there are hiking trails near here. This is at 10,600 feet, so it's already pretty high altitude. To drive all the way up to the top of Mount Evans, we had to buy a ticket, about $15 for a car. The drive was beautiful and the topmost point is above 14,000 feet. There is a Summit Lake on the way, which we stopped at and loved. As we drove closer to the top, we noticed that people had parked their cars at various points and had hiked the remaining distance. But, it was extremely windy and cold to walk. Moreover, this was our first day and S had started feeling a bit disoriented. We needed some time to get used to the high altitude.

Summit Lake: 13,000 ft

At the summit: 14,130 feet

Mountain goats could be spotted in the area

View of alpine lake from Mount Evans

After enjoying the beautiful views of mountain ranges and alpine lakes, we drove down to the base of the mountain. I have to say that this drive was beautiful, but I am glad, I was not the one doing it. There were several hairpin curves and one side of the road did not have any railing or any kind of protective wall. Especially, as the altitude increased, the views became more and more beautiful, but the drive also became a little bit scary for me.

We decided to have lunch at the restaurant at the base and this place had some really beautiful humming birds coming to drink water.

Beautiful Humming bird

Day 2: Lulu City Site Trail

This was our first hiking day and to get used to the high altitude, we picked a trail with low elevation gain. This trail begins at the Colorado river trailhead and runs parallel to the Colorado river. You can hear the river on the trail and to see it, you have to take short detours, easily accessible along the trail. If you are lucky you can spot elks and moose cooling it off in the river at times. We spotted some deer and moose on the trail, but not in the water. We also spotted some elks while driving back to the hotel. You just have to keep looking. There were a lot of interesting birds on the trail. The trail was a 7.1 miles in and out trail. It began at an elevation of 9,150 ft and had maximum elevation gain of 759 ft. We took a lot of detours on our way in and enjoyed the waters and the lovely flora. On reaching the Lulu City site, we walked a little bit further and found access to the river bed. There was a lot of place to relax. It was still just 11 am, so the sun wasn't harsh at all. Although there was no shade near the riverbed, it felt great to relax by the water.

View on the trail at sunrise

Trail was full of beautiful flowers

We spotted beautiful birds and butterflies

Spotted baby deer

Relaxing after a long hike

Day 3: Trail Ridge Road, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake and Haiyaha Lake Hikes

We again got up bright and early on day 3. Today we drove on the Trail Ridge road all the way to the Estes Park side entrance. Trail Ridge road connects both ends of the park and once again is a scary and beautiful drive. The altitude keeps increasing, it gets more and more windy, there are no railings or walls on one side and the road is full of hairpin curves. The views are beautiful and there are plenty of lookout points on the way. The Alpine visitor center is on the way and is worth a stop. You can spot elks and moose here and there are a couple of nice trails here.

Trail Ridge Road

View from TRR

Parking at the Bear Lake trailhead fills up very quickly. Luckily the park has shuttles. Since we reached early, we found a parking spot and didn't have to worry about the shuttle. But the shuttles are pretty frequent during peak season. The trail to Emerald lake begins at Bear lake and crosses Nymph and Dream lakes. The trail to Haiyaha lake forks from the Bear Lake trail at some point in between. At the Bear lake trailhead, there is a short and super easy trail around Bear lake. The lake is beautiful and if you go early enough, when its not windy and crowds are thin, then you can get really good pictures of the lake.

Bear Lake: 9,449 ft

If you follow the Bear Lake trail, the next stop is Nymph lake. This lake is fully covered with lily pads and looks very beautiful.

Reflection in Nymph Lake

Next stop on this trail is Dream lake, which is truly dreamy. The hike overall is pretty too. There are several streams and small waterfalls along the way. As you climb higher and higher the views of mountain ranges also become very beautiful.

Dream Lake: 9,905 ft

From here we hiked on to Emerald lake. The altitude was getting higher, but the hike was totally worth it when we got there.

Waterfall On Trail

Emerald Lake: 10,110 ft

After spending some time at Emerald lake, we hiked back to the point where the trail splits and went on to Haiyaha Lake trail. Here once again the altitude kept increasing and at one point we could see the Bear and the Nymph lakes from top.

View of Bear and Nymph lakes

Beautiful mountain range views on trail

Stream on trail

The last part of the hike was not a paved trail. There were a ton of rocks and you just had to climb them and make your way. But the end result was totally worth the effort. This lake was equally beautiful and because this is a bit harder trail than the others, it was less crowded than the other lakes. 

Lake Haiyaha: 10,240 ft

 Here's a little bit information about the trails:

1. Bear lake trail: 0.6 mile loop, 9475 ft elevation at trailhead, 75 ft gain
2. Nymph, Dream and Emerald lake hikes: 3.6 miles in and out, 9480 ft elevation at trailhead, 620 ft gain
3. Haiyaha lake trail: 3.9 miles in and out, 9480 ft elevation at trailhead, 750 ft gain  

Day 4: Timberline Falls Trail

Another early day and another drive on the trail ridge road. We met a hitchhiker on the way near Timber creek campground and dropped him off near the Continental Divide. After dropping him off, we must have driven hardly for a minute when we saw elks grazing by the street. 

Elk on the side of a road

The trailhead for the Timberline falls is right before the Bear Lake trailhead and this trail can also be accessed from Bear Lake trailhead. Today we parked at the shuttle pick up area and took a shuttle to the Glacier Gorge trailhead. From here our first stop was Alberta falls. These are probably the most accessible falls in the park.

Alberta Falls: 9,440 ft

From here we hiked quite a bit gazing at the mountains around us, until we reached "The Loch". Loch Vale is a water inlet and once again extremely beautiful. Several people were fishing here and we hung out here for a long time. Plenty of rainbow trouts were swimming in the Loch.

The Loch

From here the climb became even more steep. The last stretch of the hike was the hardest. A little bit of information about this trail: 8.1 miles in and out trail, trailhead elevation is at 9,240 ft, elevation gain is 1,510 ft.

Timberline Falls: 10,240 ft

Day 5: Hot Sulphur Springs

After all of this climbing, we decided to take it easy and end our trip by soaking in some natural hot springs. Close to the west entrance of the park is the town of Hot Sulphur Springs. The town has a resort and spa of the same name. This resort has about 20 natural hot water springs that you can soak in. The different springs have water at different temperatures. We enjoyed all of them and spent several hours soaking.

Day 6: Red Rock Amphitheater

On our day out of Colorado, we took a break to visit Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. It is a large concert venue, pretty close to Denver. There are a few trails here as well. However, we did not have enough time to try those. We checked out the venue itself. The museum at the visitor center was quite informative. The amphitheater was full of tourists and locals working out. On days of concerts, the amphitheater closes for visitors by mid afternoon. Yes, it would be great to attend a concert at this venue.

Red Rocks Amphitheater

Beatles In Concert: $6.60, 1964

While the food on this trip was nothing to brag about, we found a couple of places that we liked. Both were in Grand Lake. One was a pizza place called Grand Pizza and the other was a nice Italian place called Mustachio's On the Lake. This place had a beautiful view of the Grand Lake and going there for sunset was a good idea.

Sunset view from Mustachio's

All in all this was a great hiking trip and we would definitely like to go back. The Hanging Lake and Maroon Bells are still on my wishlist and so are adventure rides at Royal Gorge Bridge and Park.