Rocky Mountain National Park: A Hike Along Nymph, Dream & Emerald Lakes

          On Monday, we took a public shuttle bus to Bear Lake where the trail leading to Nymph, Dream and Emerald Lakes begins. On a side note, we were really impressed with the park's shuttle bus system. As long as you don't get to the pick-up area between 11 and 2pm. Those are really busy hours and the wait in line can be at least 30 minutes. Early in the morning or later in the day the lines are much thinner. Once you get on the bus, the drive doesn't take that long. I think there were 4-5 drop-off/pick-up areas with a few miles between each one. If you're able to find a parking spot at any of the trailheads (very small parking lots-maybe 15 spots or so) then you won't have to bother with the shuttle buses, but the parking in the Rocky Mountain National Park is scarce so, chances are, you'll probably wind up having to use the shuttle buses. Although we left our campground in our own car, they also have buses that come to the individual campgrounds.

         Once we got to the trailhead, it was a short hike to Nymph Lake (about a 1/2 mile). This is a quaint little spot shaded by trees.

                The hike to Dream Lake is slightly more rigorous (about a 1/2 mile), but absolutely beautiful. Once you spot Dream Lake, it's a nice walk along the shoreline. Here are some pics along the way:

    These little ground squirrels were everywhere! Once we reached the end of the trail at Emerald Lake and sat down to eat lunch, they'd come right up to us.

          The hike to Emerald Lake is about .8 miles further and definitely worth the effort. You see a lot of little gems along the shoreline of Dream Lake and the view of Emerald Lake is impressive. Plus there's a nice shaded area at the bank of Emerald Lake that gives you a place to rest a bit for the hike back. Here's pics hiking towards and at Emerald Lake:

Emerald Lake

     This was the view once we sat down at the bank. The hike there is just under 2 miles.

         During the hike back, we spotted an elk across Dream Lake. I wish I could have zoomed in a bit more.

            Between Dream Lake and Nymph Lake we managed to stumble into Elk Heaven...

    All in all, you're looking at a 4-mile hike there and back. It took us about 3 hours to hike it (including a stop to eat lunch) and we don't hike consistently throughout the year. So for more experienced hikers I'm sure it wouldn't take as long. These 3 lakes are a definite must-see in the Rocky Mountain National Park!

Yellowstone: Grand Canyon & Virginia Cascades

    And now the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone! Thursday morning we drove 26 miles northeast to Canyon Village where we parked and walked around the Upper Falls area. Talk about feeling small. All you had to do was look down! Everything in Yellowstone is on a MUCH larger scale than what I'm used to seeing in Georgia. Every place you turn you can see the history. Being surrounded by something that has been around for so long kind of puts you in your place. Here's a photo from the Upper Falls of the Grand Canyon:

Upper Falls, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone

   Then we took a short hike on the North Rim Trail and arrived at this lookout point of the Grand Canyon:

North Rim Trail, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone

Me and my honey! (representing our home teams)

    After a few hours seeing the Grand Canyon, we made a couple stops on the way back to our campsite. The first was the Virginia Cascades. There's a few different pullouts along the Cascades and it was a really peaceful place to read and take photos.

Virginia Cascades

Virginia Cascades

Virginia Cascades

    After Virginia Cascades, we stopped at Gibbon Falls. Leaning over the rail to get a good shot was definitely not the most comfortable feeling in the world...it's a LONG way down! But I sucked it up. About 50 photos later, we got back into the car and headed to Madison campground where we celebrated our last night in Yellowstone with a warm fire and some nice whiskey :)

Gibbon Falls

    The next morning we would pack up camp and say our goodbyes. Our route home took us through the Grand Tetons (BEAUTIFUL!). I'll be posting one last blog with photos of the trip home. Thanks for reading!

Yellowstone: Artist Paint Pots & Full Moons

   After our trip to Lamar Valley, we stopped off at the Artist Paint Pots (located between Norris and Madison campground). It was one of those stops we had been meaning to make because we had absolutely no idea what a "paint pot" was. A short hike into the area showed us a small collection of hot springs, mudpots and geysers. The hike itself is about 1 mile along a boardwalk (with no incline!). It was a really enjoyable walk all in all. Here are some photos:

Trailhead at Artist Paint Pots

About 10 minutes later

Small Geyser at Artist Paint Pots

                                  

      The mudpots were pretty cool because it looked like a giant puddle of milk. The smell wasn't quite as bad as Old Faithful Geyser, but there was still some stink. Despite that, I was glad that we had decided to stop at the last minute and see this area.

End of hike at Artist Paint Pots

Driving back to Madison Campground

     Later that evening, my friend Patience and I walked down to the Madison River and watched our first full moon in Yellowstone. I set up my tripod and took a good number of photos before I hit the right shutter speed and got this one.

Full Moon at Madison River

   

       Wednesday was definitely a beautiful day and evening! Although we didn't get to see any wolves in Lamar Valley, we saw plenty of buffalo to make up for it. The coyote was icing on the cake and we finally got to see the Artist Paint Pots and settled the much-argued bet that it wasn't just a bunch of artists painting pots...although that would have been fun too :)

      Thursday is Grand Canyon day so don't go too far!

Yellowstone: Mammoth Hot Springs and more...

     After visiting Old Faithful Geyser, we were ready to relax at the campground. Madison campground was nice because you're surrounded by people, but you still feel like you have space. Here's a couple photos to give you an idea. They have a gravel section that is boxed off for your tents and then a picnic table. In front of each campsite is a paved pull-in for your car. The restrooms were also nice. Can't complain about running water and flush toilets!

      Later that same evening, Karl and I walked across the street to Madison River that runs next to our campground. I set up my tripod and took, you guessed it!, some photos... :)  Throughout the trip, I used a new filter on my camera called a circular polarizer. It's pretty easy to get the hang of, but you need to have plenty of sunlight to work with or you can't really see the difference. It's great for nature/landscape photography because it cuts down on haze and gives you more saturated colors (like a bluer sky, for instance). That's definitely something I'll be blogging about more at a later date because I saw a massive difference in my photos after using a circular polarizer!

Madison River

Madison River

       On our way back to the campground, we came across a female elk grazing right across from our campsite! She hung around for a good 30 minutes and then meandered over to the next lane of campsites. Absolutely beautiful!

 

        The next day, Tuesday 31st, we headed towards Mammoth Hot Springs about 35 miles north of our camp.  Along the way I took a few shots from the car.

Driving towards Mammoth Hot Springs

Driving towards Mammoth Hot Springs

    When you reach Mammoth Hot Springs, the lower terraces are visible from the road. We parked near Liberty Cap which is right before you enter the small "town" of Mammoth. There's a lot more to the Springs than what we saw, but here are a few photos.

Map

Liberty Cap

Devil's Thumb at Mammoth Hot Springs

     We spent most of our afternoon in Mammoth, going into the General Store and looking for souvenirs to bring back home. During our drive back to camp, we stopped along the Gardner River and did some sightseeing and also had our first major encounter with a buffalo, but that's for next time.