Leslie and David's Wanderings: 9 September 2024 Emerald Lake

When we were here back in 2019 we had hiked up to Dream Lake. There was still a lot of snow on the trails then so we didn’t go any further. This time we wanted to make it all the way to the end of the trail at Emerald Lake. We entered the park around 12:30 on our timed entry pass. As we drove up to Bear Lake, we could see storm clouds moving in. Again, we were surprised that we were able to get a parking spot in the Bear Lake parking lot. The Emerald Lake trail starts at the same location as Bear Lake trail. It is a very popular trail since it goes past three alpine lakes: Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and ends at Emerald Lake. We started up the trail around 1pm. It rained on us lightly off and on all the way up. The trail is 1.9 miles one way with 750 feet of elevation gain starting out at 9,500 feet. We were climbing the entire way out and were definitely feeling the altitude (lack of air density). We stopped at Nymph Lake to enjoy the views. Many people turn around here and go back, but we continued on to Dream Lake. It is such a beautiful lake with the craggy mountains behind the lake. Most of the crowd turned around here. We saw several fly fishermen catching trout in the lake and we could see many fish from the trail as it wound its way along the shoreline. We continued on to Emerald Lake. The climb up to Emerald Lake was pretty strenuous given the altitude (10,250ft). When we got to the lake, there were only a couple of folks there at the end of the trail. We took our photos and sat down to have a snack before heading back. A chubby chick monk took an interest in Leslie’s nut bar and climbed up on her and tried to get to the nut bar. It even climbed up onto her shoulder! David shooed it away when it got too aggressive. After a rest and a snack, we hiked back out to the Behemoth. As we hiked out the rain stopped and the sun peeked through. It was a lot easier going downhill on the way out but we were tired by the time we got back. It was a beautiful hike!