Land O’ Lakes 07/21/20

Elk Meadow Lodge & RV Resort, Estes Park, Colorado

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.  ~ Proverbs 28:1

We covered five lakes during our 8-mile hike today – Bear, Nymph, Dream, Emerald and Haiyaha – and all were exquisite!

We left early, around 6:30am, because we knew parking would be at a premium, and even with that early start, the lots along the way were full-up.  As we approached the lot just before the Bear Lake parking, we spotted one last empty slot, so we grabbed it, adding an additional half-mile-one-way trek.  But it’s good we did, because the Bear Lake parking was, indeed, full.

Since it’s an out and back hike, there were two ways we could approach it – hike to the end and work our way back to sightsee, or hit each one on the way.  We opted for the second, because we knew Bear Lake would just continue to get more crowded as the day wore on.

Bear Lake is an easy walk, in fact, it’s designed as a handicapped accessible trail. Gravely, but firm and relatively flat most of the way, you could conceivably push a wheelchair around its perimeter, should you be so inclined.  They even have a sign posted that shows the grades and their locations.

There’s just something about these elevated mountain lakes that makes them awe-inspiring! 

Bear Lake got its name when Sally Ferguson’s grandfather (don’t know who she is), was at the lake hunting deer and elk in 1912.  Apparently, he was a poor shot this day, because he ended up shooting a bear instead.  And that’s how the lake received its name.

As we were completing our circle, it did indeed become more crowded.  Glad to be moving on.  😊

Next we came to much smaller Nymph Lake.  This one got its name from the yellow lilies that grow here, Nymphaea polysepala.  Seemed like the perfect spot to see a moose wading in the water, grasses hanging out of its mouth, but no such luck.  At least not for us.  And since it was still early, the lilies weren’t open yet.  ☹

We came upon Dream Lake after a few more moments of walking.  I couldn’t find anything on how it got its name, but I can imagine.  Or is it dream?  We could certainly spend hours around this lake dreaming our day away!  Lovely! Several people were enjoying fishing along its long banks, and we did see a couple of fish as we walked along its shores.  Lake trout, I believe.  But all the fishing here is catch and release.  We see no point to that at all, unless you need to practice maybe?

The final lake on this one-way hike was Emerald.  I was unable to unearth any stories on this one either, although you could easily assume it’s due to its lovely green color, although it wasn’t during the time of day we were there.  The view when you approach this lake is beyond adequate description!  You walk right up to the rock-strewn edge, perch yourself on one of the boulders and stare at mountains that practically encircle you!  And since the snow is still melting, there was a thin waterfall as well, adding its gushing sound to the ambiance. 

Unfortunately, there were some really annoying-sounding birds here as well.  They were okay when we first arrived, but after a while, their never-ending, grating kraaaak sounds began to get on our nerves, so we left. 

Later I discovered these birds are actually pretty interesting.  They’re called Clark’s Nutcrackers, named after the famed explorer (as in Lewis and Clark), who discovered them in 1805 during their trek across the US territory.  Their primary diet is pine seeds, but they also, like the marmots and chipmunks, enjoy mooching off people, which isn’t good for them. 

Here’s a tidbit of what I discovered about them from the National Park website:

They have excellent spatial memory, which enables them to cache up to 33,000 seeds in the fall, and then locate a large percentage of those during the winter. Caches are generally buried in the soil on exposed slopes and can often find their caches up to nine months later. Not being 100 percent efficient at finding their caches functions as seed dispersal. When preparing to store seeds, this bird can store as many as 90 seeds in a pouch behind its tongue. This large seed cache allows the Clark’s nutcracker to live in high elevations year round.

All year round, the Clark’s Nutcracker diet is pine seeds, either fresh or stored. It digs a trench in the soil with its bill and puts a cluster of seeds inside before covering them up again, or it pushes individual seeds into gravelly soil, pumice, or crevices in wood.

The Clark’s nutcracker tests a seed for soundness by moving it up and down in its bill while quickly opening and closing its bill, in a motion known as “bill clicking.” It also chooses good seeds by color: when foraging on Colorado pinyon pines, it refuses all but dark brown seeds. ·   

Ounce for ounce, the Whitebark pine seeds that many Clark’s Nutcrackers depend on, have more calories than chocolate. (Think about that the next time you’re tempted to eat a salad that includes pine nuts!  Personally, I’d rather have the chocolate.  😊) 

The oldest Clark’s Nutcracker on record was at least 17 years, 5 months old

As gorgeously, stunning as these lakes have been, we’re of the opinion that we saved the best for last!  Haiyaha (a Native American word that means “rock” or “lake of many rocks”, or “big rocks”, depending on the translation), was truly a place you could sit all day.  But to get there required some rock scrambling, which is always a fun detour from the norm, even though it’s not easy.  Blaine carried my stick for me so I could use all four appendages.  So chivalrous! 

Once we tore ourselves away, we discovered we could return via a different route – one we were hoping was less frequented than the other.  It may have been less, but we still passed a bunch of people.  Many more than we were expecting.  At least the scenery was different, and we were able to pass by the Alberta Falls one last time.  😊

On the way home, we made one final stop in our quest for a Rocky Mountain National Park t-shirt for Blaine.  It was a store off the beaten path of all the others, and while they had a ton of metal sculptures of all kinds of things, there were no shirts like what he was looking for.

Finally, since we were out and nearby, we took a brief look at the Stanley Hotel.  This hotel was built by F.O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer fame – the car, not the carpet cleaners – and opened in 1909.  And while it was popular among the rich and famous of the time, its true popularity came from the horror author, Stephen King, who was inspired to use it as his setting for “The Shining”.  There’s a lot of information to be had here, so I did a quick “Special Edition” that will appear as the next post, if you’re interested in learning more.

Me?  I can’t help it.  Every time I think about this place, all I hear is the kid in the scary movie Sixth Sense yelling, “Stuttering Stanley!  Stuttering Stanley!” at his teacher.  😊  This movie is my all-time favorite in the scary category.  No slashing or screaming profanity.

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At the end of our afternoon, Blaine caught me napping in front of my screen. 

Hey, it’s been a busy time for us!