Hi, all! Welcome to Hikes & Happy Hours! Our intentions with this blog are to share the experiences we have at Hikes & Happy Hours events. These events include hiking and drinking, duh! Our goal is to create a social club of mutual interests in the Denver area.
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On Thanksgiving weekend, we set out for Rocky Mountain National Park from Denver. The forecast was wind, but that didn’t stop us. We left early, as RMNP parking lots can fill up quickly, and had no problem with the drive until about halfway through RMNP to the trail head. First, there was a car off the road, then the roads got snowy and icy. We saw car after car turn around and head back to the entrance of the park. Driving slowly, we finally made it to the end of the road and trail head.
The trail to Emerald Lake winds its way around Nymph Lake and Dream Lake with spectacular views for an out-and-back path. This particular day ended in main roads at RMNP being shut down by rangers and a winter storm warning with 50-60 mph winds and expected 15+ inches of snow expected by the following day. Luckily, we made it into the park and up the road before the closures. On the trail, we were mostly protected from the strong wind by the trees.
Approaching Nymph Lake, we saw tracks across the frozen lake and decided to go across, rather than around! Pushing away the snow, we could see the lake was frozen deep below, even in the center. On the way down, we went around the lake to ensure we got all the views we could. Worth it!
From Nymph Lake we were looking for Dream Lake, with hopes of making it all the way to Emerald Lake. At this point, the snow had started to come down and the wind was harsh when we were between tree protection. We encountered other hikers who warned us the trail gets harder to follow and we may want to turn around, but we kept going!
The trail’s beauty was worth it, but after we reached Dream Lake, the trail continuing to Emerald Lake was completely snow buried and therefore decided for us that it was not safe to continue further. We could barely even look at Dream Lake as the wind was whipping across it at over 50 mph!
After making it back to the trail head, Bear Lake was just a few hundred feet away. The massive frozen lake left us speechless. Then the wind came through and we decided it was time to warm up in the comfort of the car with snacks and head back down. After the crazy adventure on the trails, we finally got to see some of Colorado’s largest wildlife—elk!
Next came the always well-deserved food and drink that follow a good hike! On the way back to Denver, we stopped in Boulder at Wild Standard for Happy Hour! Between the two of us we split multiple small plates, and each had a happy hour drink!
Technical Information:
Denver --> RMNP: About 1 hour and 35 minutes (~70 miles) RMNP --> Boulder: About 1 hour (~40 miles) Boulder --> Denver: About 35 minutes (~30 miles)
Emerald Lake Trail Difficulty: easy (as rated by AllTrails) Total Mileage: 3.1 (as reported by AllTrails) Actual Mileage: 2.6 (due to trail complications) Elevation Change: 708 ft (as reported by AllTrails) Equipment Used: winter boots, wind-resistant pants, winter jacket, hat, gloves, glasses or goggles, water pack, National Park annual pass
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