RMNP: Bear Lake Trail Lakes

The Bear Lake Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park is an incredibly popular spot, so we were a bit hesitant to go. Luckily, the crowd levels were pretty low on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Plus, the views were truly stunning and well worth the trip up! It is easy to see why this trail is so popular given the amazing views you can get with minimal hiking effort. Bear Lake is only a few hundred feet from the parking lot, Nymph Lake is another half mile, and then you arrive at Dream Lake and Emerald Lake a short time after that! There is also a loop option to tack on Lake Haiyaha as well, but we ran out of time and wanted lunch!

The conditions were great and it was a beautiful day. Hard packed snow was occasionally icy, but Microspikes generally weren’t needed. We stubbornly left them off, but it would’ve been a lot easier with them. Lots of traffic since the last snow, so no real snow depth on trail.

Since this is such a popular hike, I will mostly just provide these pictures to explain. What a great day!