While we had hoped to be out of the house by 7 am for a day in Rocky Mountain National Park, we didn't leave the house until 7:45. Chris mowed the lawn and I spent a couple of hours tidying the house for an Open House from 10 am to 1 pm.
We had smooth travels until we slowed and got in the line to get into the park. It is always so busy now, and if you don't have a reservation, you have to be in the park before 9 am or wait until after 2 pm. If you don't have the specific reservation that allows you to go to the Bear Lake Corridor, then you have to wait until after 6 pm. It is so popular.
We got to the park and ride around 9:30 am and were on the bus to Bear Lake shortly after.
We started up the trail past Nymph, Dream and Emerald Lakes before taking the cut off to Lake Haiyaha. I don't know if it was because it was the weekend before the July 4th holiday, but the trails were filled with non-stop people. Usually once we take the cut off to Lake Haiyaha, we only see a few people on the trails.
Haiyaha was totally packed with people and after scrambling over rocks to get to the lake, we had to search a bit to find an open space.
We watched a young man who got stuck on one of the big rocks and had to be rescued with the help from his mom and another hiker.
Chris and I had a quick snack at the lake and then decided to continue on to Mills Lake and then possibly Black Lake. The mosquitos by the lake swarmed us. Chris, who rarely gets bitten, was being attacked.
We found a quiet spot on the far end of the lake and quickly ate a lunch, quickly to avoid being the lunch for the mosquitos!
We kept hiking to Black Lake and even then people continued.
We finally reached Black Lake and rested for a bit. We saw an elk on the other side of the lake and enjoyed lots of waterfalls.
In our descent, we took the trail that went past Alberta Falls.
Such a long day with over 11 miles hiked and 1800 feet of elevation gain (I would have been happy to turn around at Mills Lake!)
We reached the rest stop at Glacier Gorge, waited a couple of minutes for the shuttle bus to pick us up and finally sank into the seats of our cars. Grateful to have a body that allows us to hike, but grateful also when the hikes are done!