Glacial water is cold! I'm not sure that Emerald Lake is still fed by a glacier, but the valley between the two mountains just behind the lake (Hallet Peak and Flattop Mountain) used to be a giant glacier. The melting snow on those mountains still provides the water for the lake, and after jumping in the lake, I found out exactly how cold it was.
Yesterday was our day of hiking through the Rocky Mountain National Park. We started around 8:30am at the Bear Lake trailhead and hike up around three lakes: Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake. The Spirit of the Rockies has a good description of the trail we took on our hike. You can also see some pictures from our hike over at my picasa site.
For the first part of the hike, I had Sydney strapped in a Björn baby carrier frontpack and was carrying our tourist gear (food, video camera, water) in a backpack. It really wasn't that heavy, but the altitude was starting to take a toll on me by the time we got to Dream Lake. Sydney had just about had enough of hiking for the moment and screamed for about 15 minutes, no doubt irritating the other hikers trying to enjoy the scenery in peaceful serenity. We got her quieted down and made our way to Emerald Lake, Sarah carrying Sydney from then on.
By the time we got to Emerald Lake, we were ready for a break and hungry. So as I snapped a few photographs, Sarah got Sydney situated in the shade and everybody started to prepare lunch. Lunch was light, consisting of some summer sausage, trail mix, and a few cookies for a good sugar rush. Bronson, Corinne, and I decided we were going to make our way around the Lake. Although there was no trail, we were determined to hike around the entire lake, sometimes having to climb rocks, sometimes having to walk through the lake in order to make a successful circumnavigation.
Just a little bit around the lake, we found a spot where some college-age girls had dived into the lake about 15 minutes earlier. They were still there drying off, and so I of course had to show my bravado and dive in as well. They warned me that I would want to scream but that the water was so cold that I wouldn't be able to. After diving in, I found that to be the case firsthand. Getting out, I put my shirt back on, packed my electronics in Bronson's backpack and we continued on around the lake.
Once we were halfway around the lake, I got back in and found the water to be much warmer in some areas. At one point, instead of traversing the rocks to continue to make my way around the lake, I decided to get in the water and stand on a shelf that put me in about shoulder-high water. Holding my digital camera above my head, I found myself slipping downward off of the shelf, which despite looking flat, was actually sloped downward and quite slick from the erosive nature of the water current. Grabbing on to the overhead rock for dear life of my camera (why didn't I bring my waterproof film camera instead?), I managed to get myself around to a place where I could pull myself up, but the frigid water had sucked enough energy out of me that I had to call on Bronson for assistance out of the water.
And so we made our way all the way around Emerald lake. Although not that difficult of a hike, it is a hike that is not for the timid. You must make good judgment calls about the specific paths you take. There were certain areas where you simply had to get into the water to get around or risk taking a jump onto some very unstable rocks or jumping onto some rocks that didn't provide enough surface area for a balanced landing. At one point I chose quite poorly and made a jump onto some higher rocks, thinking it would provide a good challenge. Instead, it left me with a later jump onto some rocks that nearly castrated me. I didn't try and be quite so brave or stupid after that.
Once we met back up with Sarah, Sydney, and Debbie as we rounded Emerald Lake, we packed up and went down the trail back to the trailhead. Sydney was starting to get sunburned and so we called it a day, it being about 1:30pm. Hiking is one of those things that babies really aren't meant to do. I would really like to make the hike up to Flattop Mountain and Hallet Peak. Aves and McNoldy hiked that trail in 2001 and wrote about it on their Hiking Colorado site. Unfortunately, at 9 miles round-trip and over half a mile in increased elevation, I wouldn't dare take my 3-month old on such a hike. Maybe when she's a little older we'll come back and tackle that hike.
All in all, a good day. But because Sydney was sunburned yesterday, we decided it would be best to stick around our house today. Mom-in-law and dad-in-law went on a hike to Cub Lake, which is a bit longer than our hike yesterday, but at about half the increase in elevation. Bronson and Corinne decided to go to lunch at Chick-fil-a in Loveland, and then were taking a trip to the Budweiser brewery in Fort Collins. They hoped to get some pictures with the Clydesdales, which Budweiser brings out on the first Saturday of each month.
We'll be on the road home tomorrow. I'm not much looking forward to the drive, and I'm not much looking forward to leaving the mountains for life in Kansas. But all vacations must end, and with the end of this vacation, I'll start looking forward to our next one, whatever that may end up being.
-RMz
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