[Sun 6/12 - Tue 6/14]
On the road around 10am. The drive from Cheyenne to Estes Park was quick (under 2hrs) and easy. The final stretch before arriving in town, along a winding river canyon, was gorgeous. Arriving in Estes Park, however, was a wake-up call as to how popular this area is - the streets were packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic at noon on a sunny Sunday. We headed to a packed Safeway to buy food for our next 5 days of camping. There were probably 75-100 people snaked through the store waiting to check-out!
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| A portion of the winding checkout lines! |
Self-checkout moved relatively quickly and we packed up the coolers, then picked up a sandwich & salad at a roadside cafe before heading over to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, just outside the park entrance. We found a picnic table to enjoy lunch, then headed inside. Karri wanted to bounce our hiking plan off a park ranger to confirm trail conditions and make sure we weren't being too aggressive. The ranger was impressed with her research and endorsed all of her suggestions, gave us the latest trail conditions, then helped us prioritize our list.
Back in the car, we headed for the park entrance, waited in a long line of cars for 20+min, then on to Cub Lake Trailhead for an easy-ish 5.5mi hike we chose as a warm-up to several days of hiking at elevation.
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| Start of Cub Lake Trail |
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| On the trail |
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| Cub Lake |
The hike was perfect - beautiful, not too strenuous and not very crowded. There were signs of a recent forest fire in the trees around the lilypad-covered lake.
We got back to the car around 5pm and made the short drive to Glacier Basin Campground, our home for the next 5 nights. Our site (A-12) is tiny but nice, with great views of nearby peaks. We quickly setup camp, enjoyed a cocktail and got working on warming up dinner - leftovers from our steak dinner in Cheyenne - delicious.
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| Setting up camp |
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| Steak salad and refried potatoes |
We climbed into the van around 9pm under clear skies and a rising, near-full, moon. We were both tired and slept (pretty) well. Up at 5:45 for coffee and oatmeal, then biked to the nearby park-and-ride to catch a 7am shuttle up to the Bear Lake Trailhead.
The trailhead is a launch-point for some of the most popular trails in the park. We got there around 7:15 and the parking lot was already more than half full, with hikers milling around or waiting to use the restroom. We loaded up and headed out on the trail - a planned 8-mile loop to several mountain lakes (Bear, Nymph, Dream, Haiyaha, Glacier and more) and past Alberta Falls and Glacier Creek.
The trail was crowded with a mix of hard-core hikers and families out for a mountain 'stroll'. The trailhead is at 9,400' and we quickly encountered patches of snow on the trail. We were thankful for our removable micro-spikes which gave extra traction on the melting snow (Karri, of course, had read that these are recommended!).
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| Bear Lake |
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| Putting on micro-spikes to cross a snowy stretch of the trail |
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| Dream Lake |
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| Snow on trail near Emerald Lake |
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| Frozen Emerald Lake |
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| Dream Lake again; Haiyaha Lake up the slope to the right |
Our toughest stretch was between Dream Lake and Haiyaha Lake, which had a steep, narrow switchback covered with deep snow. We passed a few hikers who had decided to turn back, but pressed on. It was sketchy at times but we're glad we did it. After about 1/2 mile, we hit a clearing and the trail was clear and dry again (for a while).
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| Couldn't have done this stretch without the micro-spikes |
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| Trail is somewhere under that snow |
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| Our reward for pressing on |
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| River crossing |
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| Snowy trail |
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| Emerald waters of Lake Haiyaha |
We stopped for lunch on large rock on the edge Lake Haiyaha (elevation 10,240'). I briefly contemplated a quick dip but instead opted to dip my toes in the ice-cold water.
We were drenched in afternoon sunlight for the final stretch of the hike back to the trailhead. The trail followed alongside the swollen Glacier Creek, with several beautiful waterfalls.
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| No snow here |
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| Waterfall on Glacier Creek |
In a cruel twist, the last half-mile of the trail was uphill, making us realize how tired our legs were. The hike ended up being just under 8 miles, as we skipped a short section that we plan to cover later in the week. We got back to the trailhead, caught a bus back to the park-and-ride, hopped on our bikes and made the short ride back to camp, arriving around 1:30pm. We were exhausted, hot and dust-covered, so decided to take a quick shower (with our invaluable portable shower) in a clump of trees next to camp. Then we setup our hammocks and each took a delightful afternoon nap in the shade.
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| Nappy time |
We got up late-afternoon, had a beer and a light snack before getting organized and starting to prep for dinner.
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| Camp chef |
We lit a campfire and enjoyed a delicious fireside dinner of chicken tikka masala with rice. We cleaned up, prepped our packs for Tuesday's hike, and climbed into bed around 8:30, exhausted.
We both slept well. Woke without an alarm at 5:50 and rose to overcast and threatening skies. We quickly made coffee and oatmeal, which we decided to eat in the van as the raindrops started to fall. Our plan for today was to do another hike from Bear Lake Trailhead but rainclouds made it clear that wasn't going to happen - at least not until the weather clears. So we packed up the van and drove back to Moraine Park in the hopes of seeing some wildlife (spotted an elk) and then out to Estes Park, for coffee, a pastry, and cell service. I wrote this post while Karri did some research on a revised plan for the day and some potential modifications to our plan for next week.
The weather is clearing up. We're going to head back into the park and try the Deer Mountain trail.
No cell coverage at our camp so likely won't post again until Friday.
