For the next 2 days, we will be doing 2 of Rocky Mountain National Park's most popular hikes, Sky Pond and Chasm Lake.
Day 1...
It is our first weekend in Colorado and we are so excited to explore the park. It’s so hard to choose with over 300 miles of trails, but today we’re hiking to Sky Pond. It is around 9.5 miles with 1,800 ft of elevation gain.
It is a super early morning... our alarm goes off at 3AM and we have a 1.5 hour drive from Boulder to the trailhead. We arrive around 4:40 and are SO LUCKY to take the last parking spot at Glacier Gorge Trailhead.
RMNP is currently doing a timed entry system to enter the park but what we have come to find out is the time entry only applies between 6AM - 5PM so if you get here before 6AM, you don’t need a reservation. This is the main reason for our early morning and also why we assume the parking lot was so full.
We hike in the dark for the first hour and it starts out a bit chilly but we quickly get warmed up once we start on the trail. We pass by Alberta Falls just as the sun starts to make it's way over the mountains and light the trail. We continue on and make it to The Loch and take a quick break to enjoy the beautiful lake view.
We continue around The Loch and shortly after we have made our way around the lake, we catch our first glimpse of the Timberline Waterfall. This is the most anticipated part of the trek for me because we will have to do a rock scramble up the waterfall for roughly 100 feet. I have read mixed reviews online about this scramble and there is one section in particular that is pretty sketchy.
The climb up the falls definitely requires careful attention and use of all 4 limbs but we make it up successfully and safely, and reach Lake of Glass. We are now in the home stretch and we only have roughly a 1/2 mile left to Sky Pond
The views of Sky Pond are amazing and so rewarding after a long hike! The main view we are looking to get is actually on the back side of the lake so we make our way just a little further. We find the perfect spot and set up for a picnic lunch while enjoying the lake!
This has been such a great first hike in Rocky Mountain National Park!
Day 2...
It is another early morning today and we have another fun hike planned. We are doing the Chasm Lake trek which is also on the East side of the park.
We start at the Longs Peak Trailhead. Longs Peak is the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park and the park’s only 14,000 mountain so this trail is very popular and busy.
The parking lot is full when we arrive just before 6AM but luckily this trailhead allows for road parking. The hike starts at an elevation of roughly 9,400 feet. It is also around 9.5 miles with 2,600 feet of elevation gain.
The trail begins with a steep climb through the forest. At just over 2 miles we reach the top of the treeline and continue our hike through the tundra with beautiful and expansive mountain views.
After another mile, we make it to the Chasm Lake Trail Junction. From here, we travel along the wall of a deep gorge with a view of Peacock Pool and Columbine Falls as we proceed towards the lake. We reach the final climb to Chasm Lake which involves a bit of rock scrambling, but nothing like our waterfall climb from yesterday.
We make it to the lake and are rewarded with amazing views. We had planned to have a picnic lunch at the lake as we did yesterday, but because we got a bit of a later start today and we want to avoid any potential afternoon thunderstorms, we take a quick break and enjoy the views and then make the trek back down.
We had 2 amazing days of hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park and it is easy to see why these are 2 of the most popular hikes here.
------------------
Some of our FAVORITE Camera Gear:
Fuji XT3: amzn.to/3ow4n62
DJI Mavik Air: amzn.to/38r5kH7
GoPro Hero 7: amzn.to/3nuNPtR
Rode VideoMic Go: amzn.to/3oznJHi
Joby GorillaPod 5K: amzn.to/38rWsRF
Save $65 on your first Airbnb!
www.airbnb.com...
We get all of our songs ROYALTY FREE from Epidemic Sound:
www.epidemicso...
Follow us on Instagram:
/ waypointofview
------------------
We will be sharing 1-2 travel vlogs a week, so please SUBSCRIBE to follow along on our worldwide journey! :)
Note: We’ve linked a handful of our favorite products so you can see what we actually use while we are on the road. If you click on these links and make a purchase, we get a small commission at no extra cost to you. We will only recommend products we truly love and think you might enjoy as well!
14 окт 2024
