We decided to take a hike on our last day in the Rocky Mountain National Park. There are a great number of hikes from which to choose, easy to strenuous. We chose a 2.2 mile (one way) moderate hike from Bear Lake Trailhead up to Lake Haiyaha. The trailhead starts at 9,475 feet and ends at Lake Haiyaha at 10,220 feet.
Jim seemed to do fine on the hike. The elevation has bothered me from the beginning (at the Grand Canyon), but my breathing leveled out a little ways past Nymph Lake.
Everywhere we looked were absolutely stunning views. We had to really concentrate on a good bit of the trail because the snow was still pretty thick in certain areas. We sometimes had to carefully pick our way over snow that was about 2 1/2 feet thick. I did fine going up but busted my rear twice coming down.
Even though we only hiked 4.4 miles round trip, it took us FOUR hours. Of course, a good bit of that time was spent taking photos (with the small camera) or just standing in slack-jawed awe of the place.
At Lake Haiyaha, the last 75 feet or so of the hike is a field of large boulders. You can see some of them in and around the lake in the photos.
This was a perfect way to end a great vacation. I could easily stay in this one place for a whole month. There's so much to see and do.
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