1 hike, 3 hours, 3 lakes

After a long, joyless work week, I decided that a good Saturday morning hike in Rocky Mountain National Park would probably go quite a ways toward restoring my faith in the proposition that life is good. After checking out the weather map, my plan was to be at Dream Lake for sunrise and hopefully catch some calm water, since none of my previous visits to that spot have yielded a decent reflection shot. Also on the itinerary were Nymph Lake (which you pass on the hike to Dream Lake) and Lake Haiyaha, but I’d just play it by ear as far as going up to Haiyaha.

When the alarm went off at 3:00am I was sorely tempted just to shut it off & go back to sleep (I had worked until eleven the night before), but I figured you only live once and so dragged my lazy carcass out of bed. The caffeine-free drive up to the park was uneventful, if a bit bleary-eyed, but I managed to keep the Mini between the lines and arrived at the Bear Lake Trailhead around 4:30am. There were maybe seven or eight other vehicles in the parking lot, including a few skiers getting their gear ready as they prepared to hike up to one of the glaciers (Tyndall, I assume) and have some fun.

After changing into my hiking boots & a quick stop at the potty, I headed out at exactly 4:45am. Sunrise was around 5:40am, so I was looking good. Hiking by headlamp always seems pretty tedious to me, and if you allow your imagination to run wild you start imagining every noise is a mountain lion getting into position to pounce, so thankfully after about fifteen minutes or so, it was light enough to see & I could turn the lamp off and stow it in my pack. Passing Nymph Lake in the darkness, I could tell the surface of the lake was perfectly calm so I dared to hope the same would hold true at Dream Lake when I got up there. The hike up to Dream Lake is a piddly 450 feet in elevation gain, and since the trail is paved (for pete’s sake) until just beyond Nymph Lake, it can be considered a pleasant stroll for anyone in reasonably good health even though you’re at 9,700 feet above sea level.

The best position from which to photograph Dream Lake (in my opinion) is the eastern tip of the lake. Just before reaching the lake, when you get to the Y in the trail (left to Haiyaha, right to Dream & Emerald) take the left, go just a few yards, then leave the trail and head right, cutting through the trees & across the stream until you reach the lakeshore. When I reached that spot shortly before sunrise, there were already two other guys there. Bastards. Just kidding— there’s plenty of room for one & all. Scoping out the wind/water conditions while getting set up, my hope for a cool reflection shot looked like it was about to be fulfilled. Sweet. (see the shot at the top of the post)

When I’d wrapped up shooting at Dream Lake, there still wasn’t a breath of wind, so I decided to head up to Lake Haiyaha. I’d been up there last October, but the water in the small pond next to the lake (where you get a better shot than at the lake itself) was frozen, so I hadn’t been terribly happy with the shot I’d come away with on that occasion. So this morning, I figured that if I could get there before the wind kicked up, I stood a decent chance of capturing a nice reflection of Hallett Peak in the rocky little pond.

Let me tell you, wanting to catch that reflection, I hustled from Dream up to Haiyaha. (Okay, I did stop once to get a shot of Longs Peak & also snap a few shots of the layered ridgelines off to the east.) The hike from Dream to Haiyaha is a bit more of a workout than the section from Bear to Dream. From Dream Lake, you only gain 320 feet in elevation but most of that is in the one big switchback right after you leave Dream and it’ll get your heart pumping. The trail levels out just about where you start to have magnificent views of Glacier Gorge & Longs Peak across the way, and the remainder of the hike to Haiyaha is easy going.

There still wasn’t a breath of wind when I reached the pond next to Haiyaha, so I got the shot I’d wanted at that spot (see below). I’m surprised, though, that I got a clear shot, what with the clouds of voracious mosquitoes. I had applied a liberal amount of Deep Woods OFF before leaving the car, but it didn’t seem to make a lick of difference to those bloodthirsty little fascists. They were literally all over every square inch of exposed flesh. Yuck. I could hardly stand it long enough to grab a horizontal & a vertical shot, and then I beat a hasty retreat.

On the hike out, I stopped at lovely Nymph Lake with its multitude of lily pads and snagged some nice shots (below). Once again, I was happy to find a splendid reflection, since my previous visits to this spot had yielded distinctly substandard images.

Nymph is just a hop, skip, & jump from the trailhead, so I was back at the Mini in short order. In just under three hours, I had hit three scenic mountain lakes… and was headed out of the park before most of the tourists were even up & around yet. All in all, well worth the 3am wake up time!

On the drive down Bear Lake Road, I had to stop so a mule deer & her twin fawns could cross the road in front of me. I said a silent prayer, thanking God for that sweet exclamation point to a wonderful morning in Rocky Mountain National Park. Life is good indeed.

Thanks for reading about stuff I’ve photographed. ~Rich