February rolled around and Tanya had a day off work before President’s Day weekend. We wanted to find a nice overnight + snowshoe trip we could do out in the mountains. Most of the hotels were booked during the weekend but we found a deal on Booking.com at the Streamside on Fall River for Thursday night. The location was perfect for a Friday snowshoeing venture to Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.
As a side note, the winter season has been pretty slow for me due to a lot of mental and physical laziness. Motivation to get out hiking, snowshoeing and skiing has been nonexistent. Going someplace with my sweetie was certainly motivation for me to get off my duff. Thank you Tanya! 🙂
Estes Park
Tanya finished up work early on Thursday so we were able to head out relatively early. The always pleasant drive from Lyons to Estes Park was especially nice this day. We had a pretty smooth trip and were able to check-in to the cabin around 4:00. The woman at the front desk was very friendly and helpful. She told us they’d spotted a bobcat on the property recently, going right by the cabin door. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see it.
The cabin was a nice setup. There was a full kitchen and a gas fireplace. We didn’t need the kitchen but the cabin would be a great launching pad for longer stays to explore RMNP. My guess is the rates are a little higher in prime season.
That night we enjoyed a yummy take-out dinner from the Himalayan Curry and Kabob restaurant. We’d highly recommend that place!
Driving through Rocky Mountain National Park
There was no rush to our departure Friday morning. Checkout wasn’t until 11:00AM and the hike wasn’t going to be a grueling 9 hour hike (we hoped!). We did make it out by 9:00, though, and headed into the park. There were good amounts of snow in the park with the roads a little icy and snow-covered. The winds looked a little gusty creating some new drifts here and there. Nothing too bad…as far as we knew.
The mountains in the park were amazing, as always. We stopped and captured a few shots from the road.
Snowshoeing to Emerald Lake
The parking lot at Bear Lake Trailhead had quite a few cars in it already. Compared to
We carried our gear up to the shelter near the trailhead. It’s always a little weird being at these spots in the winter. The benches were at or below the snow so there wasn’t any place to actually sit down. It did, however, provide some relief from the winds while we put on our snowshoes, adjusted the hiking poles and battened the hatches on our coats.
Initial section of the hike
The snow was well packed and easy to traverse with snowshoes. Several hikers were in boots without snowshoes, using micro-spikes for traction. Most of the trail was easy to navigate and as we went along, things warmed up since the trees were blocking the wind. There were a few spots that were tricky to climb over with snowshoes since the trail jumped 3′ or so vertically. My TSL Highlander Adjust snowshoes had no problem with it. Tanya was stuck with my cheap, hand-me-downs which like to slide on any incline. I’m sure she was wondering why she got stuck with the cheap snowshoes!!
Nymph and Dream Lakes
We made it up to Nymph Lake fairly quickly. It was frozen and would be good for ice skating. We stopped for a picture and continued on. The next lake was Dream Lake. It was also frozen and had the bonus of high winds coming down through the valley. It was pretty cold so we took a short break on the lee side of a boulder. After a short rest, we continued up to Nymph Lake.
The winds calmed down once we got past Dream Lake and into the trees. There was a well-work path from others who had come up the trail. Just before the lake, however, the path we were following headed up a hill which didn’t make much sense. I scouted it out a bit and realized it was a false path. We needed to stay in the lower section and continue up to the lake. Tanya decided to stay and rest a bit while I continued the short trek up to the lake.
Emerald Lake
I quickly made the short hike to the lake and clambered up onto a boulder to get a view. Just as I got on the top of the boulder, a wind gust nearly knocked me down. After not so deftly stumbling around on my snowshoes, I was able to stabilize and get a little video. It really was gorgeous, and cold with the biting, 1,000mph wind. I didn’t stay too long and wanted to quickly get back to Tanya.
Return Hike
The return was pretty uneventful. It was much better crossing Dream Lake with the wind out our backs. There were quite a few more people on the trail between Dream Lake and the trailhead than when we headed up. We did stop for a post an an outcrop where someone offered to take a photo of the two of us.
Once we were back at the Jeep, we decided to cruise home. Overall it had been a nice hike and a great day to get out.
Snowshoeing to Emerald Lake Details
Max elevation: 10244 ft
Min elevation: 9448 ft
Total climbing: 1201 ft
Total descent: -1277 ft