Sprague Lake, Bear Lake and Alberta Falls in Rocky Mountain NP

My husband and I visited Rocky Mountain National Park in early October to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.  I showed many photos of the beautiful autumn colors we were fortunate to see in the park in my last post at this link. During our visit, we also hiked around a few of the beautiful lakes in the park.  Sprague Lake, a 13-acre lake located along the Bear Lake Road, has a half-mile walkway around it that offers scenic views of the Continental Divide Peaks of Taylor Peak (13,158 feet), Otis Peak (12,486), Hallett Peak (12,713) and Flattop Mountain (12,324).  The lake is named after Abner Sprague, who, along with his wife, owned a resort in this area from 1910 -1940, and introduced their guests to the pleasure of high water fishing and hiking in this area.

The opposite view from Sprague Lake, as we walked its perimeter.

Another view.

As we walked around the lake, enjoying the scenery, we saw a couple in the distance who were exchanging marriage vows!  Just look at the beautiful mountains in the background as we approached where they were standing!  (I blurred their faces with an editing program to protect their privacy)

About three miles away from Sprague lake is Bear Lake.  Bear lake's elevation is 9,450 feet, and the trail around it is 0.8 miles.  The top of Hallet Peak can also be seen from Bear Lake......

....as well as Longs Peak (14,259 feet)! I love how I am learning to recognize the mountains in the park, and I love this view

A close up of the summit of Longs Peak.

As you can see by the informational placard and the trail sign, Bear Lake is the starting point for many trails.

We decided to take a trail through the woods to see Alberta Falls. I am not the best vertical climber, and the first part of the trail was easy, but I struggled towards the end as the trail began to climb higher, by about 200 feet to 9,400 feet.

Happily, I kept hiking, and at last, was rewarded with the view of Alberta Falls! The scenic 30-foot waterfall thunders down a small gorge on Glacier Creek  If you would like to hear Alberta Falls you can watch a short video on my facebook page at this link. Alberta Falls is named after Alberta Sprague, the wife of Abner Sprague, both of whom were early settlers of Estes Park and owned a resort lodge that was located in the early years near Sprague Lake.  Their resort was torn down in 1957 by the parks department to return the land back to a natural state.

My husband and I enjoyed sitting by the falls for a while, enjoying the sound of the water and the late afternoon sunlight that made the trees glow.

This was the only wildlife we saw on the trails along the lakes and waterfall -- the Golden Mantel Ground Squirrel! They look like chipmunks but do not have stripes on their head. They are used to seeing many people on the trails and can be brazen, begging for food, but we always follow the rule not to feed the wildlife--there is plenty for them to eat in nature.

The most exciting part of our visits to Rocky Mountain National Park is when we drive up to the highest peaks and walk on the Tundra Trails, but I'll save that for a future post.  If you'd like to see our trip up to the "Roof of the Rockies" last year, click on this link.  This visit we saw the remnants of a snowstorm in the high elevations that was there from the week before. It was so beautiful!

See you back here soon!