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Emerald
Lake
Trail
Trail
Stats
Distance
- 3.4
Miles
Elevation Gain/Loss
- 700 ft.
Max Elevation Reached
- 10,138 ft.
Difficulty Level
- Easy
Trailhead - Link
Track
Download Google
Earth KML - Link
Download GPX - Link
Description
The Emerald Lake Trail is one of the most
popular hiking
trails in Rocky Mountain National Park. Located in the Bear Lake area,
it is one of many such equally popular hikes and sees a lot of traffic
in the summer. The trailhead is located at Bear Lake and can be reached
using the
Park's free bus as well as personal automobiles.
All trails in this area are well
marked. Follow the
trail to Emerald Lake, which first takes you to Nymph Lake and then to
Dream Lake before reaching its final destination. You can enjoy great
views of the surrounding peaks throughout the hike. There are even a
couple of unnamed (I think) waterfalls en route. As you get closer
to Emerald Lake, you find yourself deep in the glacier carved gorge
between Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain. The sheer walls of
the
peaks block all but the view of Tyndall Glacier straight ahead. These
peaks and this glacier sit right on the Continental Divide, an
important geographic feature that, in my opinion, adds some serious
brownie points to this park!
Elevation
Profile
Trail Log
July 3rd,
2009
Photos - Link
Notes -
Nandini. N, Sesh. K and I did this hike
during out visit to
RMNP over the 4th of July weekend. Our original plan was to hike up to
Flattop Mountain. But we started a bit too late and the park rangers
advised
us against heading to higher altitudes because of bad weather. We were
glad we heeded their warning. We ultimately ended up hiking most of
this trail in
rain. I did not get as many good pictures as I would have liked.
We did not see much wild life on this trail.
Only squirrels.
The trail wasn't as crowded as I would have expected, probably because
of the rains. We had the trail to ourselves beyond Dream Lake.
Here
are more photos from this trip.
Here is another hike I
did on this
trip.
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