Back in late October, before the omicron COVID-19 variant was in the news, I took a 3-day trip out to Colorado. I had 2 goals while there—to spend time with my bestie, Dasha, and to hike some mountains!
I have absolutely no mountains close by to hike in Miami. So Dasha and I chose a hike that would take us to about 10,000 feet in elevation and end with two gorgeous mountain lake views.
This hike took me higher than my hike up Mount Ngauruhoe (aka Mount Doom) in New Zealand! While, I hiked Hunter Mountain in New York back in August, this was going to be my first time hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Road To Estes Park
Dasha and I set out in the evening on a Friday. We were headed to Estes Park, the tourist town and launch point for all things in the Rocky Mountains.
I took video on the way in because I was already in awe of the terrain—it’s just so different from where I live in Florida now!
Toward the end of the video, you can see that we arrived exactly at sunset. The sky was a firey orange but it only lasted for a short while. It was not enough time to get a good photo of the mountains.
In our attempt to get closer, Dasha and I found an unexpected surprise: A huge herd of elk right in the middle of Estes Park!
While we missed capturing one feat of nature, we were led to another that we got to see up close!
We settled into our Rocky Mountain Lodge hotel room, which I booked in advance. I don’t always book hotels because they tend to be overpriced. But this Lodge was reasonable and actually a better price than all the Airbnbs available nearby at the time.
After that, we went to catch our reservation at Twin Owls Steakhouse. Dasha went there over the summer with her brother and wanted me to experience it.
The moon was rising over the mountains behind the restaurant as we arrived. Dasha kept commenting how dark it was and how the mountains were right there but we couldn’t see them!
Inside the restaurant, I loved the décor. It was so rustic and mountainy with elk horns decorating chandeliers that hung between wood beams in the ceiling. Of course we had to order “the stag” wine to go with dinner just to keep with the theme.
Dasha insisted on ordering the elk just to give it a try. I figured why not? I did try kangaroo in Australia once.
The elk tasted like beef to me, so I didn’t have any more. Beef is the only meat I strictly do not eat. I guess Elk is added to that list! But Dasha, a meat eater through and through, definitely enjoyed it!
I was looking to have a lighter meal, so I ordered a salad with smoked duck and a big bowl of French onion soup. Both were great! We also shared some Chocolate Toffee Mousse Cake because friendship! And why not?
Getting Into Rocky Mountain National Park
The next day, we were determined to have an easy morning getting to the hike but still make it there early enough. So we rose with the sun the next day and headed out for some breakfast.
By about 9:30am, we were waiting in a line of cars to get into the park. Ahh, right. This is why you leave early. But we were together and enjoying each other’s company regardless. We’d get to the trail when we get there.
At the booth, Dasha bought a national park annual pass for $80. She figured it was time and that she would be able to use it in the next year. A good investment for her and I was grateful to not have to pay the entry fee (normally 1-day for $25, 7-days for $35).
Dasha and I arrived just after the park had a Times Entry Permit requirement due to the volume of visitors in the warmer months. That ended October 11. But the weather was still on the warmer side.
It did start to snow on our way out of the park and there was snow on the mountain when we arrived. So visitors do need to check the weather and com prepared during the months of October-May.
The ride to the trailhead from the entrance was about 10 minutes.
Pro Tip: Don’t take the bus to the trailhead or you may wait on a very long line to board. Try to come to the park with a car and then wait in line for a space to free up at the trailhead. Eventually, hikers will come back. We arrived around 10am for the hike and caught folks returning from an early AM start.
We were only 2 cars back and waited only maybe 20 minutes. This was enough time to use the restroom, bundle up, do some final bag packing and then we were ready to park and go.
Glacier Gorge Hike
We chose to hike Glacier Gorge Trail. This trail is designated easy to moderate because it only has an elevation gain of under 750 feet. The elevation would take us to just about 10,000 feet, however. This meant we would definitely feel the difference oxygen levels.
The hike ends at Jewel Lake and includes a stop at Mills Lake. We started at the trailhead and made our way south on the map. We would head west for a bit and then due south again to the two lakes. We chose this hike because the photos of these lakes looked amazing. We anticipated a great payoff for the 6.2-mile roundtrip, in-and-back trek.
With our map referenced, we were off!
I was already impressed right away with the maintenance of this trial. This was clearly a well taken care of national park.
Dasha and I both brought along our cameras in addition to our phone cameras. It’s great hiking with her because we can both get great photos of the landscape and each other to share them after.
Like at our first stop which was a large gorge with a waterfall called Alberta Falls.
Dasha is a great photographer and there are many photos she took of me that are dispersed throughout this post!
Onward and steadily upward, I was definitely feeling the fact that we were at a higher altitude.
Rather than feeling it in my breath, I felt it more on my heart. It was almost like experiencing butterflies in my heart rather than my stomach. My heart felt like it had to work a little extra to compensate for less oxygen.
Other than that, it was a fairly easy going hike. After an hour, I was used to the change in altitude. And the path was marked clearly with signage along the way.
After about an hour of hiking, we came to our first major views of the mountains. This was a good time to break out the tripod and prop it on a tall rock for a photo together!
We had to be quick because there were groups of hikers along the path that would interrupt our photos from time to time. But we managed and sometimes people even offered to take them for us.
Dasha was also able to capture many epic photos of me walking up ahead. I had no idea she took these until after the hike!
After walking along the valley edge, we plunged down to a stream and then started back upward again.
Soon, we came to this pretty tree on the opposite side of the valley. In its branches was perched a Steller’s Jay (like a Blue Jay).
I broke out my super zoom lens that I got for safari in Africa to get these next photos.
That blue bird popped up all over the place on this hike!
Mountain Lake Views
A little more hiking and we finally reached Mills Lake! The payoff was grand.
We knew we still had one more lake to see. So after about 20 minutes of taking in the scene, we followed the trail further alongside Mills Lake.
The path here at tall pines along the way, including leafless pines that were fund to photograph shooting, bare-trunked into the sky.
The opposite side of the lake was different but just as beautiful to photograph!
And here we found another Steller’s Jay, this one dared to get extra close to us.
Finally, we made it to our final destination—Jewel Lake. And what a Jewel it was! This was the spot for that money shot!
The Way Back
Before heading back, we stopped at Mills Lake for lunch. In the middle of the lake is a peninsula that offered a nice lean-to rock structure. This broke the chilly wind nicely as we feasted.
On the way back, we did manage to take one wrong turn. I blame it on the altitude but that also makes it sound like it was a bad thing.
We realized we were on the wrong path because we came to a bridge that crossed over a beautiful gorge and offered some amazing views we hadn’t seen from the other path.
Sometimes a right turn is disguised as a wrong one.
In Conclusion
Eventually, we made it back to the car and happily gave up our spot to some late-in-the-day hikers.
On the way out of the park, Dasha and I made sure to stop to take the quintessential photo with the national park sign.
The hike took us just under 5 hours to complete, with 1 hour spent exploring, photographing, and resting at the lakes. We originally chose this hike because people named it one of their top 5 hikes in the country! I think they might be right.
This was an amazing hike that I would definitely do again if there weren’t so many other hikes to check out in the Rockies. Perhaps next time I visit, I’ll brave a 14er (a trail that reaches 14,000+ feet), as they say out there!
