Chris and I hiked one of favorite hikes in RMNP above Alberta Falls and Bear Lake—Lake Haiyaha.
The hike to Lake Haiyaha passes by Nymph Lake and then Dream Lake. With almost 1000 feet of elevation to climb, it does have a few steep sections.
Nymph Lake
Apparently, it is a popular hike and a favorite for many people.
It was a cloudy day, and we were hiking in the clouds for a much of the afternoon. We arrived at the lake around noon and sat down on huge boulders to eat our lunch.
As we were getting ready to leave, we heard a huge rumbling and crashing sound that lasted for 3 to 4 minutes. Hikers who were just arriving at the lake asked out what the noise was. The sound had reverberated loudly through the canyon. Since the lake was cloaked in clouds, we hadn't seen the source of the noise.
Until the clouds suddenly began to lift. We started hiking away from the lake and the rumbling started again. We looked up Chaos Canyon and could see huge boulders crashing down the mountain with dust rising above them.
It is hard to differentiate between clouds and the dust cloud but the dust cloud is in the left upper portion of the picture below.
We stayed at the lake watching for about ten minutes.
Apparently what we heard was just the beginning of many rock slides and RMNP closed all areas around Chaos Canyon and west of Lake Haiyaha to hikers and climbers due to the significant damage and potential for more damage.
Pretty cool to see it though. Once in a lifetime kind of moment.