October 1, 2018 Our Daylong Hike in Rocky Mountain National Park

It should be pretty obvious to anyone that has seen my blog that I love being outdoors. I try to find beauty in this world wherever I am. I enjoy walking on city streets as much as I enjoy hiking in the wilderness. I've been looking forward to today's hike it made our list of possible hikes in RMNP months ago. We got up early for a loop hike that will take all day long for us flatlanders. We were greeted by this local resident on the drive out to Bear Lake trailhead.

It's a beautiful morning for a hike. We are heading out to Emerald Lake on the first part of our hike.  

First stop is Nymph Lake. 

I thought this was creepy while walking over it. After seeing this photo, I still feel the same about it.

Nymph Lake from the far side.

I love being in the mountains because I have lived all of my life in places that are extremely flat.

The fall colors were intense in several places.

Dream Lake is the next stop...

...but first Chrissy has a bridge to cross.

Dream Lake

The lake was calm enough to take reflection photos.

These twisted pine trees are amazing to see. The forces of nature creating something strangely beautiful. 

The intensity of the colors caused me stop repeatedly. Sometimes I just stood there, slack jawed and amazed. Other times I stopped and kept repeating, "look at those incredible  colors."

Emerald Lake

I had to switch to the fisheye lens to fit the whole lake into one photo.

More fisheye fun as we relaxed on the shoreline rocks.

A bit distorted but it does show how beautifully the mountains surround this alpine lake.

Kennedy & Christy probably laughing at me.

The twisted remains of a pine tree washed ashore.

Hiking back to Dream Lake...

...to take the trail out to Lake Haiyaha.

The NPS does a great job with marking trails out here.

A view from the uphill climb to Lake Haiyaha.

Some fat old guy that kept blocking Chrissy's view.

I take photos for a lot of reasons. The main reason is I love the challenge of capturing an image that will put me back in that place when I look at it. Another reason, mostly due to this blog, is to hopefully make other people see something beautiful and it moves them enough to want to go there. As more people visit these incredible places, I hope they will fight to protect them for future generations.   

The last part of the hike to Lake Haiyaha involved climbing over some rocks.

The wind altered pine trees amazed me repeatedly on these hikes. 

Lake Haiyaha : Elevation 10,240 feet

We sat on the rocky shoreline and ate our sandwiches here.

Lunch with a view.

We stopped at this unknown lake on our way down to the junction with the Glacier Gorge Trail.

So many options...we chose Mills Lake because it was the closest and the sky was getting darker in the distance.

Another beautiful alpine lake...Mills Lake.

I walked around the lake and found a nice rock on the shoreline to soak my weary feet in the very cold water.

The view whiling sitting up...

...the view while laying down...

...behind me...

...to my left...

...and to my right.

I found Chrissy on the rock next to me. But it was time to go, dark clouds were moving in.

The once crowded shoreline was mostly empty as we hiked back to find Kennedy.

It started raining before we left Mills Lake. 

I did stop to take a few pictures at Alberta Falls with my phone in the rain.

We hiked down to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead and took the shuttle to our car at the Bear Lake Trailhead. A wonderful day of hiking in RMNP ended with chilly and wet but with a completely satisfied smile on my face.