Divermarv

And you know where.

Wonderful start to the Colorado family gathering 2025. The location has been wonderful. For Tuesday the 24th of June we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. Specifically to the Bear Lake area. We did four of the lakes: Nymph, Dream, Emerald, and finally a hop skip and jump to Bear lake. The hike was great. Lots of photo ops. By the time we arrived at Emerald lake — elevation 10,110 feet — I had started to feel the elevation. But the views were amazing.

There was a timed entry pass required, so go to recreation.gov to purchase.

The trail and the first lake

Nymph lake (AKA the lily pad lake) was the first we came to. It was beautiful, of course, and a nice introduction to the grand vistas around the mountain, and gorgeous wildflowers. And the trail ethics. The timed entry passes are key to making this trail tolerable.

This train keeps a rollin’

On up the mountain. The wildflowers and other plants were impressive, as well as the geology. I’m a big geology nerd, so I’m going to have to include rock pictures. To quote a fictional person with a sad ending, “I like rocks — I love rocks.”

Oh yeah… the lakes

Sorry. I got distracted. Did I mention I love rocks? Well as the trail continued upward, I could feel all the oxygen molecules slipping downhill. But to the lakes!

Dream lake was next, I was having to ration my photos because some knucklehead (spoiler alert: me) forgot to charge his phone fully before coming to the park.

Emerald City Lake was the pinnacle

Amazing and astounding and all the words. We were running into more residual snow drifts. There was one icy drift patch we had to walk across. Challenge rating: 0.2.

Coming around a large aggregation of boulders we came upon Emerald Lake. There were a ton of people here; hard to get clear photos of the lake. I’m getting better at cropping.

I was surprised to grab this photo on the way down. And then my camera died. 😢

I just do not have the words, nor the expertise, nor gear to provide ample presentation of just how amazing this hike was. I only have one suggestion…

Go!

Peace and love. Marv