Colorado Day 4: Sprague Lake, Alberta Falls, Grand Lake (6/23/26)

    My 4th day in Colorado was the busiest, due to it being my aunt and uncle's last full day there. We started the morning off by visiting Sprague Lake. Sprague Lake is one of the lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park that you don't need to hike up to. It is fully accessible. There's a trail around the lake, and the lake isn't too big so it doesn't take long to walk around. Surrounding the lake is marshy areas where moose like to hang around. We didn't end up seeing a moose there, but we did see a massive male elk laying in a grassy area before we even started walking around the lake. There is a point of the path where you can see the lake with the mountains in the distance, with their reflection in the water. It's not as incredible as the other sights in Rocky Mountain National Park, but is always pretty peaceful. You're allowed to walk off the path (within reason) so at different points we would go off to the side of the path to see if there were any animals in the marshy areas further away. There wasn't from what we could see, but with all the trees and grass you never really know how much wildlife is around in any given moment. A lot of the animals are used to people, especially the elk and chipmunks. (There's usually elk roaming around town in Estes Park even though there is usually a lot of people around. You usually see chipmunks along the hiking trails, and sometimes they'll even come right up to you to see if you will give them food.) People have more luck seeing wildlife during the early morning when the park first opens. 

  After walking around Sprague we drove to the parking lot for the shuttle and took a shuttle to the Alberta Falls trailhead. Alberta Falls is one of the waterfalls in RMNP. It's an incredible view that only takes a short hike to get to. Near the beginning of the trail there is a choose your own adventure option where you can walk across rocks in a stream or walk across a board of wood over the stream. I took the rocks across the stream. :P You can continue hiking further up the mountain after making it to Alberta Falls, but we never hiked any further. Along the hiking trail I spotted a male mule deer up further on the trail. The deer walked a little closer to get a look at the group before walking into a more wooded area. I hiked up some boulders to get a closer view of the water, before sitting down to eat snacks. (I was surprised by how not sore I was, I figured my legs would hurt a lot especially after the steep climb at Red Rock.) My thighs hurt a little bit when I would bend, but it was very mild. 

   We took the shuttle back to our car after getting back down and drove on Trail Ridge Road to go to Grand Lake. Trail Ridge Road is a road that takes you further up into the mountains. The road is narrow and goes back and forth. At the top of the mountain is a visitor center with a gift shop and some concessions. The road has places where you can pull off and look at the view along the way. You can also hike up a really steep set of stairs near the visitor center to get a better view of the mountains, but my family has never done that. (In the past we have had our minivan breakdown at the visitor center, my family had a lot of car troubles when my brother and I were growing up. :P ) According to Google Trail Ridge Road is the highest paved road in the United States at over 12,000ft. elevation. Trail Ridge Road takes about an hour drive, and ends at Grand Lake. Grand Lake is a tiny tourist town with a lake known as "Grand Lake." The actual population is around 500 people. Along Trail Ridge Road there are long sticks at the end of the roads that act as markers for where the edge of the road is for skiers to follow during the winter when the snow gets really deep. Trail Ridge Road opens around Memorial Day, and usually closes around Mid October. We stopped at the visitor center along the way, before finishing our drive to Grand Lake. From the car you can see the peaks of the mountains and huge snowbanks at a closer view. Along our way to Grand Lake my mom spotted a moose way off in the distance at the side of the road when we were no longer on the narrow road going up the mountains. There happened to be a parking lot closer to where the moose was so we could get a better view. (A female moose). We maintained our distance, and attempted to get pictures of the moose. (I've only saw a moose one other time while visiting Colorado. We saw a male moose from the car while driving, and it was pretty close by.There is also another road that takes you up into the mountains that's unpaved and way scarier to navigate called "Fall River Road." It's a one-way street you can take up the mountains, but you have to take Trail Ridge Road back down. I'm not actually sure if we've ever driven on Fall River Road before, but I don't think so?) 

   Once we got to Grand Lake we had an early dinner at Sagebrush Barbecue and Grill. I think it was around 3pm at the time. I ordered a 6oz sirloin with cooked broccoli and hashbrowns as the sides. After dinner we walked over by the lake and checked out the shops. I got soft-serve ice cream, and got to pet a half wolf/half dog that was walking down the street. (The owner lives in town and said he walks his dog around everyday to get treats from one of the shops.) As it is a tourist town a lot of the stuff in the shops was expensive. (Same with Estes Park but maybe not as bad.) 

 On our way back from Grand Lake we spotted yet another female moose near Milner Pass (the continental divide). This one was on the other side of a pond. We were able to take pictures of it from across the water. It was also not at the narrow part of the road, so we could more easily pull off to the side of the road. We had to drive the whole hour drive back to Estes Park after that, and got back around 6pm. We again watched shows before going to bed, this time we were able to sleep in a little more, as we weren't planning on going into the park the next day. 

Day 2 and Day 3 (Traveling to Estes Park and Lake Haiyaha 6/21 & 6/22)

   I woke up around 9am and packed up my things before putting on my new Red Rocks shirt. I checked out of my hotel before returning the rental car. When I arrived a guy came out and called my name. The shuttle to the airport from the rental car place arrived right away.  My shuttle to Estes Park would be at 1pm, and at that point it was 10:45am. I thought I might have to leave the airport in order to get lunch, but then I saw a cafe on the level above. It turned out there was a cafe and also a Caribou coffee on the level above. Since that part of the airport was under construction those were the only options. I opted for Caribou Coffee since they also had sandwiches available. I got a sandwich and an iced vanilla latte. Once I got my food I noticed there was no operating down escalator, however I had overheard an employee directing people towards where the elevator was, which was kind of hidden. I found a bench area to sit at while I waited for the shuttle. I colored in my Stranger Things coloring book and directed people towards the available food options when they asked aloud. I turns out the other cafe place had smoothies. 

    I started heading towards the shuttle area at around 12:40, and got to the place where the shuttle would pick up at around 12:50. When booking the shuttle the website said the shuttle would arrive at around 12:50, and leave at 1pm. There were two other shuttles that stopped in the same place where the pickup was, but the website had also said the shuttle picking us up would have Estes Park shuttle written in green lettering on the side. Neither one of the shuttles had that. When it got to be 1:05 I got scared that I somehow had missed the shuttle, and there wouldn't be another one until 4pm. The shuttle however arrived shortly after 1:05 and was just running late. Thankfully, I found other travelers that were also nervous and called the shuttle company. The shuttle left around 1:15, and took about 1.5 hours. The shuttle dropped off passengers at various locations in Estes Park, but dropped off at the visitor center first, which is where I had selected to be dropped off. I somehow was the only one to asked to be dropped off there, but maybe most people had wanted to be dropped off closer to the mountains. I let my parents know when I was close to the visitor center, and my dad picked me up from there. I thought he was going to crash into me for 2 seconds before realizing it was him. On our way to our rental I saw an elk at one of the pumps at a gas station. (This is very typical of elk in Estes Park, where you'll just see them roaming the town.) There were even signs that stated that elk were extremely active and to remain cautious. My dad showed me my room in the condo we had rented for the week through Vrbo. The Vrbo was a two levels with 2 bedrooms and 2 and a half bathrooms. The bedrooms were on the first level and living room and kitchen on the 2nd level. The second level had a balcony, and the 1st level had a small fenced in area off of the master bedroom. After that I caught up with my parents on different life happening and the Red Rocks concert the night before. My aunt and uncle Scott and Tori had also decided to go on vacation in Estes Park from Friday(6/19)-Wednesday(6/24),while my parents and I would be there from Saturday 6/20 to the following Saturday (6/27). Scott and Tori came over shortly after I arrived. I went to my room to rest for a little bit before dinner, but was unable to sleep. We had sliders to eat for dinner. Scott and Tori hung around until after 7pm. They were planning to come back around 6:30am so we could get into Rocky Mountain National Park early. Since 2020 you have to get a timed entry pass, which you have to purchase at 7pm the night before. We got a timed entry pass for 6-8am entry. I think if you enter before a certain time, or after a certain time you can get in without a pass. Like early morning before 5am, and after 4pm maybe? The timed entry pass only costs $2 fortunately. In the past if you were in line, but got to the front of the line after 8am they would have you turn around. (Kind of like buying concert tickets right when they go on sale.) Rocky Mountain National Park keeps getting more and more popular as the years go on, so there were a lot of people at the park when we got to our trailhead at 7:30am. (You could see a lot of ground squirrels and bunnies from the balcony.)

   My mom decided to stay back as she didn't want to overdo it. The hike to Lake Haiyaha is a moderate hike that is 4.2 miles roundtrip. At the very end you have to climb up massive boulders in order to see the lake which is a bright blue color. I had only hiked up to Lake Haiyaha one other time, I had opted to hike up to Emerald Lake in the past which is a little closer. I think Lake Haiyaha is even more breathtaking than Emerald Lake but both are incredible and worth the hike. This is obvious, but hiking mostly upwards is a lot more strenuous then hiking on flat paths especially when you gain 700ft. in elevation during the hike. At the start of the hike my heart was already pounding, and I wondered if I'd be able to make it up the whole way. I had hiked these trails many times in the past even once with a bad cold so I wasn't actually too worried. (You initially take the same trail to get up to Emerald Lake and Lake Haiyaha.) (I was also afraid my aunt and uncle would be more in shape than I was and hike the trails more quickly, but that did not happen.) We stopped frequently along the sides of the trails to let other people pass who were quicker, and/or catch our breath. I had just gotten new to me shoes for hiking, and they were kind of loose so my dad helped tighten them along the way. We came across a family with young kids and the mom shouting something along the lines of "I said no more gummi bears you're going to hurt someone or yourselves." Sad to report the only bears I saw in Colorado were gummi bears. :( We didn't end up actually seeing any wildlife on the trails besides chipmunks and stellar jay birds. We had to take a shuttle from a lower parking lot due to the fact that most of the parking lots fill up right away at Rocky Mountain National Park if you don't get there right at 6 or earlier. They can cram a surprising amount of people in the shuttles though. My dad and I like to scale the side of giant cliffs to the sides of the trail while hiking up the mountains. It's like rock climbing in real life. (I will go back down if the cliff is too hard to climb, which happened on our last full day.) After we were heading down my dad started climbing a cliff, I made the comment "I'm my father's daughter." to my aunt and uncle before also climbing the cliff. (Being taller makes it a lot easier to climb down cliffs, as you can reach further down). I noticed I seemed to be more and shape and less exhausted after hiking to the top, then I have in previous years. It was also nice seeing Colorado with 20/20 vision for once with contacts. I was able to spot so many more things. :P (an also obvious comment.) I climbed up a strange looking tree with a ton of branches poking out everywhere. Our initial plan was to hike down to where the trail divides in two and hike to Emerald Lake, but at that point it looked like it might rain so we decided to hike down instead. My mom downloaded and I have the Life 360 app downloaded on our phones, and because of it she could see my location while hiking through the mountains which was neat. It also gives you markers like what the mountains around you are called/trail names. It never ended up raining on our way down. (Colorado rain is weird, the sky gets dark and then it might sprinkle or downpour for a few minutes before turning to blue skies again. The rain doesn't usually last too long.) 

   My mom had bought stuff to make sandwiches while we were gone for lunch time. We left the parking lot after the shuttle took us back around noon. We ate the sandwiches and then rested after the hike. Tori and Scott went back to their rental for a couple hours to rest before coming back for dinner. We sat out on the balcony while listening to classic rock music, and watching the ground squirrels below. My mom had bought blue raspberry wine coolers for me for the week. It did start sprinkling for a couple of minutes before dinner. We had steak sandwiches, and again my mom and aunt attempted to obtain timed entry passes for the next day at 7pm. My aunt was successful, and we got the 6-8am timed entry again for the next day. Which meant waking up at 6am again.