I was invited by Anne on this hike, and was thrilled with the invite! I’d initially wanted to hike a 14er today, but the rough weather all week meant lots of snow everywhere over 14000 feet in Colorado, so this was the perfect opportunity to get out and hike on a day a 14er wasn’t the best option.
Once again, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go on this hike until the day before. I felt really bad about my lack of commitment early on, but I’d hate to RSVP and then later retract it. When I realized I’d actually be able to go I was stoked! We started out with about 6 or 7 people invited, but there ended up being 3 of us hiking in the end.
I was worried about the weather. Really worried actually. It had snowed in the region all week. All current weather reports indicated snow was inevitable, along with cold temperatures and wind. However, the cold weather wasn’t supposed to set in until the afternoon.
I mentally didn’t want to hike in the cold, but I also really wanted to make a few hiking friends, and saw this as the perfect opportunity. I decided to bundle up and take the plunge.
We met at 3:30am at the Woodmen Park n Ride. I drove. Actually, I insisted I drive. I really like to drive, and this way if I ended up bailing due to weather I’d be able to sit in my truck and not feel bad about using up gas for heat. I was wearing 4 layers of clothing, but was worried because I didn’t bring a scarf.
It only took us about 2 hours to get there. I was surprised the drive went by so fast, even after stopping half way for coffee. We didn’t see any wildlife on the road, besides the tail end of a fox.
The hike to Sky Pond begins from Glacier Gorge Trailhead in RMNP. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived at 6am. Even though this was a National Park, there was no way to pay at the entrance gate? Usually there are self pay envelopes you leave when you arrive before/after hours, but we weren’t able to find any, despite searching. Oh well, we’d pay on the way out.
We began the trail at 6:15am. It was 45 degrees outside with a strong wind (25mph?). I was glad it was beginning to get light outside because I didn’t have a map. In fact, I hadn’t done any research on this trail, which is absolutely nothing like me. Usually I’m uber prepared. The only research I’d done was on the weather. Luckily Anne knew where we were going and had a map. Both David and I let her lead. It was a good thing too: there were several trails that intersected at various points with our trail. It was easy to go the wrong way if you didn’t pay attention to the signs.
At this point the sun was beginning to rise and we started seeing a bit of Alpine Glow.
At just under a mile we passed Alberta Falls, one of the more popular hiking destinations in Rocky Mountain National Park. This scenic 30-foot waterfall thunders down a small gorge on Glacier Creek, and is named after Alberta Sprague, the wife of Abner Sprague, one of the original settlers in the Estes Park area. It was very difficult to take pictures of the falls, so we didn’t. The next section of trail, between Alberta Falls and Mills Junction, was rehabilitated by the National Park Service and the Rocky Mountain Conservancy. The entire trail to this point was easy to hike, and very well maintained.
This hike was full of beautiful, small lakes. The first lake we encountered was Loch Vale, better known as The Loch. It was very cold and very windy at this lake. This beautiful subalpine lake is situated at 10,190 feet.
We reached the base of Timberline Falls, high above the trail. From this vantage point the trail begins to climb a series of rock steps. In other words, you climb the waterfall. It was still very cold and there was a lot of ice on the trail, so this is where we stopped to put on our microspikes.
From here the trail continues up a chute to the right of the falls. This is a fairly challenging scramble that climbs roughly 100 feet, and requires hand holds and the use of all four limbs while ascending. The first 30 feet or so are the most difficult, but beyond that it's a relatively easy scramble. Just to complicate things a little more, portions of the climb has water flowing down the route (the waterfall). It's nothing exceedingly dangerous, but we did have to take our time and be extremely cautious. This is the point where many people turn around on the hike.
At the top of the climb we reached the Lake of Glass, an incredibly beautiful alpine lake with outstanding views of The Sharkstooth, Taylor Peak and Powell Peak. This lake is also sometimes referred to as Glass Lake. And it was WINDY! I was almost blown over a couple of times, but once we started walking it wasn’t so bad.
From here the trail becomes fairly rocky and rugged as it travels along the west side of the lake.
We finally reached Sky Pond, which sits at an elevation of 10,900 feet. The views here are simply spectacular. The alpine lake fills a cirque basin, and is surrounded on three sides by sheer cliff walls.
Off to the right are the granite spires of The Sharkstooth. Against the backdrop of a cobalt blue sky, the scene makes for an extremely dramatic view.
The mountain directly across the lake is 13,153-foot Taylor Peak, and towards the south is 13,208-foot Powell Peak. I’ll come back for those two someday.
Even though this hike didn’t include a summit, we’d had a great hike. But when we saw the large formations staring at us from across the pond we knew we wanted more. So we made our own path across the pond and towards the large formations. We looked up at the gulley, decided it was doable, and started to climb.
It was a bit challenging due to the ice and snow, but we made it to the top! I loved how everyone just went for it, knowing we’d all be able to make it (or just willing to turn back if it seemed too difficult… we had to at least try!).
The views from here were amazing as well!
The best part? This is when the sun came out! I was pretty much freezing at this point due to the wind, but the sun was absolutely amazing!!!
We met a couple of hikers here who had the same idea we did, but went a slightly different route. Our route ended up being easier, so they followed us on the way back down. They were fun to chat with, and seemed like a couple of fun guys! They even took Anne’s camera for a couple of selfies!
As we hiked back we looked back on the trail we’d hiked to get there.
On the way up we hadn’t seen many people, but on the way down we encountered a steady stream of hikers. This became a bit dangerous on Timberline Falls, but we were thrilled most of the ice from the morning had dissipated and it was now just wet in most areas and icy in just a few.
We gave the other climbers some pointers and headed on. It was really nice to be with other competent hikers who were sure of themselves while hiking.
We made it back to the Loch and met a couple that took a fun picture of David, Anne, and I
The colors on the trees had already started to fade, but there was a little left to enjoy.
When we made it back to the trailhead we looked at the map of our hike. We’d visited a bunch of lakes!
We all seemed to get along pretty well, talking and hiking at about the same pace. After the hike we all decided to head down to Estes Park for a beer. It was about 2pm, and there was quite a bit of traffic. We learned we were in the middle of an Elk Festival, and the town was overflowing with tourists. Funny thing, we didn’t see any elk, but many people had that morning (we did see them lounging in the RMNP Elk Viewing area however).
We stopped at Rock Cut Brewing Company for some excellent beer and some fried food out of a food truck that was pretty tasty (fries, burgers, cauliflower covered in parmesan garlic and tater tots). There were lots of wasps, and some pretty good conversations with a bunch of people we met who were staying at the Stanley Hotel. They’d been friends for decades and were vacationing together for fun.
The drive home took twice as long as the drive there due to traffic. There were several accidents and even a death investigation on the I25, so we didn’t get back until after 6pm. It was totally worth it though! I’m pretty sure I made some new hiking friends, and I had a great time!
Roundtrip Length was about 10 miles, with elevation gain of about 2000 feet.
Side note: "National Public Lands Day is being celebrated this Saturday, Sept. 30, across the US which means you can get in free to all national parks across the country for FREE. And yes, that includes Colorado’s four national parks as well." – we were lucky to get a parking space at all!
