Emerald Lake, RMNP..part two-ish

Yes, I know I can edit the old post and just change what it says. However, I'm lazy, and I'm making a new post so it counts as my post for today. Sneaky, isn't it?



Anyways, on to the trip report!


The Ranger Station at the parking lot (if you can't read it, the sign says 9,475ft):

View from the parking lot:

When we showed up at the parking lot for the trailhead, it was about 10:15 (that's the timestamp on my first picture, anyways.) We strapped our snowshoes onto our packs and headed off to the trailhead. Yes, I said snowshoes. We were told that Bear Lake (lowest lake, 256ft from the parking lot) had recieved 49 inches of snow. These trails, however, are popular enough that by the time we got there, snowshoes weren't needed at all, and I didn't even put mine on.

We first hiked to Nymph Lake, since it's first on the trail up to Emerald Lake, and took some pictures. Though there were so many people there, I didn't take many, because I take few pictures of people, I take them of landscapes. All of the lakes are currently frozen solid, with about 6-10 inches of ice on them.

I won't post the pic of Nymph Lake, since it's my header, but this is from the trail head:

We then headed off to the opposite side of the lake, and started down a trail, which turned out to be the wrong one (told you so!) and took us down to Bear Lake. We hiked back up, and took the right trail this time, towards Dream Lake. After trudging up hill for a good 5 minutes, we stopped and went over to an open area, because I wanted to take some pictures.

That is one point where Mike and I get along quite well - both of us are into taking pictures (him more than me, he started long before I did, and has all the stuff to take pictures with) so neither of us minds stopping to take pictures of any random thing we feel like.

Another bit of hiking brought us up to Dream Lake, the largest of the four lakes. Mike went walking out on it, and discovered quickly that it was very slick. So he put his snowshoes on and walked out on the ice with no problem at all. After rounding a large rock outcropping, we came across a giant smily face someone had made in the snow that was on the lake - this was possible because they packed the snow down into the shape before it melted, and the packed snow stayed there (unpacked snow had melted or been blown away, judging by the wind, it had blown away.)

Another bit of hiking, and we came to a huge rock covered in snow, probably 60 ft tall. Snow on it had drifted to a good 2-3ft deep, and Mike and I decided to climb it, like many others had done before us. It was great fun to climb, more fun to watch Mike slide down it though! (I honestly have to give it to Mike here, without him pushing me training for his climb up Kili, I would never have been able to do that climb, or even have wanted to.)

Me ontop of snow I had just climbed:

Another walk, and we were at Emerald Lake. The place was great, I didn't take any pictures of the snow covered lake..because it was just a white field (thinking back, I wish I had taken pictures of it.) I did, however, take pictures of the mountains around it.

Definately a hike I would like to do in the summer, just to see the lakes as water instead of ice, though it was definately a great hike in the snow.