Nymph Dream Emerald and Haiyaha Lake, CO

Logistics/Getting there:
Rocky Mountain National Park is located in north-central Colorado. To access the park's east side, most visitors drive through the town of Estes Park. The trailhead for this day hike is at the Bear Lake Trailhead, one of the most popular trailheads in the park. At the time of writing the national park requires permits just to access the Bear Lake area. We got around this restriction by having backcountry permits for the Bear Lake area (which by default grant you access). Even then it is challenging to find somewhere to park. There is a shuttle bus that runs through the area so if you cannot find a spot at your preferred trailhead you can park at one nearby and take the shuttle to where you want to hike.


Navigation:
The trail is well-marked, well-maintained, and popular, you'll find plenty of signs along the way. In the few areas where the trail is less than obvious (scrambles near Lake Haiyaha), there will be enough foot traffic to make the way apparent.Weather:
In the fall when we were there the weather was warm enough for shorts but not warm enough for swimming. Some northern European tourists were brave enough to attempt a swim in Lake Haiyaha but even they could not stay in for long. In the summer that might be more feasible although I imagine the glacier-fed water will always be cold.

Trail Conditions:
The lower lakes: Nymph, Dream, and Emerald were all accessible via dirt trails and did not have any technical terrain to overcome on the way. There were some stone steps on the way to Emerald but that was pretty vanilla. Haiyaha was a bit of a different story. To get to the lake shore you have to traverse a small boulder field. It wasn't super difficult but was more exciting than the standard tourist trail. Depending on where you wanted to get a photo some additional scrambling at the lakeshore was also necessary. Given that Lake Haiyaha has the opaque turquoise blue water that is picturesque there was plenty of incentive to scramble to the best vantage spot available.

General Comments and Musings:
We did this all-in-one day hike the afternoon after our 2nd backpacking trip to Odessa and Fern Lake. The idea was to see as many notable spots in the Bear Lake area as possible in a single ambitious day hike.

Nymph Lake was first. It was completely covered in lily pads and was a bit green (but pretty). It was pretty crowded so we didn't stay long.

Next was Dream Lake which was much clearer and what one expected from an alpine lake. There were a couple of good spots to take in the views, so you didn't have to stop at the first one (which was, of course, mobbed with tourists). Dream Lake also had lots of trout in it. Fishing was only catch-and-release but while we were there, we saw a fly fisher reel one in. There were so many, and the water was so clear it was like shooting fish in a barrel (pun intended).

The hike from Dream to Emerald Lake started was a sprint up the stairs but the view was well worth it. This was the end of the line for the first three lakes and the source of the spring. There was no glacier left by the time we got there but I imagine in the spring there will still be ice and the view will be even better. The squirrels in the Emerald Lake area were absolutely insufferable. I have seen my share of wild animals that have unfortunately been trained to beg or steal food from hikers in popular areas, but I have never seen anything like this before. The squirrels would quite literally steal the food out of your hand while you were eating it. You had to keep a constant watch on your bag, even if it was right next to you because if you stopped to admire the view for even a second, they would be in it looking for food. It was absolutely incredible even the Havasupai squirrels (which up to this point were the worst I had seen) would at least wait until you were 10+ feet away (so they could be sure to get into your bag, find some food, and escape with it before you could get to them even if you ran). These squirrels would literally climb up your leg and arm to get to the granola bar in your hand. Of course, the tourists were actively encouraging this behavior by holding out food and taking photos. I think I understand why you are required to have bear cans in this park even though there are only ~five bears in the entire area.

Poorly behaved tourists and squirrels aside, the hike to Lake Haiyaha was a similar climb but surprisingly less popular than Emerald Lake. I guess most people get tired after doing the first three lakes and skip what is probably the most unusual of the lot. Lake Haiyaha is unusual in that it has a high mineral (calcium?) content and rather than being clear blue it is opaque turquoise which is very pretty. It reminded me of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. The approach here was more exciting and we climbed a few boulders on the lakeshore to find a spot with a good view. If you are sterilizing water for drinking, I recommend one of the lower lakes. The high mineral content of Lake Haiyaha made the water unpalatable.

This was a good way to the popular spots in the area. It was no pushover though (at least after backpacking Odessa and Fern Lake the day before). Of the 4 Lakes Dream and Haiyaha were probably the most picturesque.

A video of this hike was recorded. A link can be found in the accompanying trip log.

2023-10-18 KingLeonidas