Who could ask for a more beautiful day! Here is Hallett’s Peak from the Bear Lake parking lot. Elevation 9475’. We were going to try a new hiking trail to some waterfalls and beyond.

A brook along our path…

We finally arrived at the thundering Alberta Falls. We hiked upwards alongside the waterfall for over a 1000’ elevation gain.

Here’s a beaver dam in Alberta Falls…

Fireweed…

Snow knees…

This is as high as we got with Alberta Falls. We must have reached the 10,000' elevation by this point.  We decided to follow the trail further up.

Here is Hallett’s Peak…

Nearly above the treetops. Around here we met a hiker from the Northeast who had a GPS and he told us we were about 11,000’ That GPS was a cool gadget!

Snow…

Another waterfall along our path…

Below is the road to Bear Lake, the parking lot, our van, bathrooms, and ds’s food and water bottle. I shared my stash with him.

So close to the alpine peak…

Back in the woods again. See the eratic boulder left by a glacier long ago, and the snow knee?

Lake Hiyaha, 10,220’...

Tyndall Glacier near Hallett’s Peak…

Long’s Peak (highest summit to the left, the only 14er in the park) and Keyboard of the Winds (jagged peaks) to the right…

As dd used to say when she was a toddler… Peaky boo…

Dream Lake at the top and Nymph Lake below. We hiked to these from Bear Lake last summer, as we hiked further in to Emerald Lake at the foot of Hallett’s Peak and Tyndall Glacier. Oh how I wanted to do that again, it was so peaceful and beautiful there!

Close up of Dream Lake...

Close up of Nymph Lake...

I’m not sure how high we got, but we are near treeline, which begins at 11,500’. To the right are more lakes we’ve not hiked to yet, so we’re not sure of their names. Close up photos are below. Below is the parking lot, bathrooms…

Bierstaldt Lake?

Another lake…

And yet another lake...

Silver Plume Granite…

Longs Peak and Keyboard of the Winds. They say that as the wind rushes through the Keyboard of the Winds, you hear a musical sound. Would we hear it?

Sigh, time to head down. Hallett’s Peak…wait, what was that sound??? Why, that sounded like musical notes! DS and I were certain that was from the Keyboard of the Winds but DH thought we were crazy!

Tyndall Glacier…

Stream between Dream Lake and Nymph Lake…

Looking over my shoulder to Hallett’s Peak…rain clouds forming…

On the way to Bear Lake...

On the way back, raindrops caught up with us. By the time we reached the parking lot, the rain had blown away. I bought more books about our hike that afternoon and saw that we hiked nearly 7 miles in 5 hours! What a beautiful day to enjoy God's handiwork!