Rocky Mountain National Park - Lily Lake & Bear Lake

7.7.2012 Rocky Mountain National Park

A friend in town this weekend so I took him to Rocky Mountain National Park. When we got to Meadow Beaver entrance, we were told Bear Road was close between 9-4 due to the construction. I totally forgot about that because the last hike I went in RMNP was before 9am. My friend wasn’t comfortable going to a long hike and plus it was raining, we decided to go to Mary’s Lake and Lily Lake. These two lakes are a few miles away from the Meadow Beaver entrance and can be reached by car.  The details can be found in Protails: Lily Lake & Bear Lake and in RMNP Bear Lake Road Trails

The water in Mary’s Lake is pretty low. Not sure whether it is because of the hot and dry summer this year. Water is clear enough to see the sand underneath. I was surprise to see somebody fishing in the rain, especially when he told me he had caught a few fish already. The lake in the rain looked misty and beautiful. Too bad there is a electricity tower built by the lake, which destroys the view.

Mary's Lake

Lily lake is right cross to Twins Lake Trailhead. In the lake, a group of ducks happily swimming and the beavers sneaking around the dead trees in the lake. The rain wasn’t too bad but the trail around the lake was pretty watery. 

Ducks in Lily Lake

Lily Lake

After hiking around the lakes, it was about 4pm so we went back to RMNP fee zone and drove up to Bear Lake trailhead. Bear Lake is only 250 feet from the parking lot. It is most popular spot in RMNP because of the accessibility. The parking lot is always full during the peak hours so many people park their cars in PnR and take the shuttle from moraine park, Glacier Gorge or Bierstatd Lake. The shuttle bus is pretty convenient and runs about every 15 minutes.  I have been to Bear Lake a few times so this time, we didn’t stay long here. Instead, we headed down to another trail that leads to Dream Lake. Dream lake is 1.1 miles from Bear Lake trailhead. There is another lake Nymph in between, which is 0.5 mile from Bear Lake. Nymph is a very quiet lake and covered with yellow pond lily.

Nymph Lake

Dream Lake

Pond Lily in Nymph Lake

A big mushroom

On the way to Dream Lake, chipmunks jumped around and hoped to receive food from the hikers. ‘Do not feed the wild animals’ is the rule but many people still do. Chipmunks do look cute when they have food but I rather to be safe. Dream Lake is behind the big rocks and it is like a fairy world with the mist. No wonder it is called Dream Lake. It is one of my favorite lakes in Colorado and I will definitely hike this route again. But next time, I will be going further to Emerald Lake (1.8 miles) and Lake Haiyaha (2.2 miles).  The great thing about this hike is I got to see the lakes in/after the rain. It is a totally different view as I normally see in the sun.