Sunday, June 23

1st Hike: Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake

Starting at the Bear Lake trailhead, this hike is easily the most popular one in the park because of its ease of accessibility and the number of beautiful lakes you can quickly see in a 2 hour hike.
On the way you hike over some snow - even in July - and end up with an incredible vista with a glacier at the top. The hike is about 3.6 miles, and has an elevation gain of only about 600 feet. I've done this hike about 6 times. It's a great one to start out on as it will help you get acclimated to the elevation. All sorts and shapes of people can do this hike.
I once saw a snowboarder go down the glacier far above Emerald Lake, which is about 12,300 feet at the top. He just snowboarded down, walked around the lake toward us, and nonchalantly exited down the path.
Another year it actually snowed during the hike, in the middle of the day, on July 3rd.
You can access the hike at the Bear Lake trailhead. A shuttle runs every 15 minutes from the park entrance, and is free with your $17 weekly pass for the park. Or you can drive to the trial head parking lot, and cross your fingers hoping there'll be a parking space left. Hint: There won't be after 8:00 am.