Bear Lake Trailhead

On the first weekend in October we took the kids back to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some hiking starting at the Bear Lake Trailhead. We initially skipped over Bear Lake, which is just off the beginning of the trailhead, and headed straight for the trail that leads to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Lake Haiyaha (there are at least several more lakes around along this trail, but these are just the ones we hit). We started out pretty early, and on the return trip realized what a good idea that had been, as once we got closer to the parking lot the trail started to feel a bit like walking the streets of a big city. Anyway, it was a beautiful hike. The kids did about 4.5 miles without too much trouble. The only problem we ran into was that Lake Haiyaha was completely unsuitable for children under the age of about 3.5-4. It was surrounded by very large boulders, and impossible for Muriel to walk around. Niamh did fine, though she was a little scared. Rowan thought it was great fun and pretended he was a great horn sheep climbing over the rocks. Oh, on the way back to the parking lot we did peek in at Bear Lake, but it was just too crowded at that point (somewhere around noon), so we didn't spend much time there.

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