In May 2005, Rachelle and I took a vacation to Colorado. We spent the last few days of our vacation visiting Rocky Mountain National Park. After driving up Kawuneeche Valley on the western end of Trail Ridge Road, we then drove to the eastern side of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Bear Lake
After a stop at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, we decided to drive down to Bear Lake and take a short hike out to Nymph Lake.
This was the scene that greeted us when we arrived at the trail head.
I wouldn’t say the trail was icy—it was merely covered in about three feet of snow.
Eventually, we stopped to take a break, and decided we were not adequately prepared to be sloshing around in all this snow. The trail seemed to be getting steeper, and we were concerned about getting back down safely. So we opted to return to the trail head and hike around Bear Lake instead.
Bear Lake was almost completely frozen and covered with snow. Only the part at the bottom of this photo was free of ice and snow. The mountain to the left is Hallett Peak with Flattop Mountain to the right.
Here I am posing for a photo with Hallett Peak in the background. Both Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain are on the Continental Divide.
Here’s another photo of the surface of Bear Lake, completely covered with snow. The trail was also buried under snow. At various points along the trail, we could see the tops of the trail fences sticking up through the snow.
