Weather: Mainly sunny but cool in morning
115 miles
I got up at 8.00 and had breakfast at the motel. Afterwards I went for a walk towards the town to post my last postcards and to purchase some food for lunch at the local Safeway supermarket, there being few places to buy food inside the national park.
I then drove into the park a few miles to the Sheep Lakes area, where the road lies alongside meadows at the base of a hill. I parked and wandered over to where a park ranger was about to commence a talk. My reasons for stopping there however were less out of a desire to hear the talk than in the hope of seeing the creatures for which the point is named.
I was in luck. The ranger had barely started her talk when someone spotted something moving on the hillside. A few seconds later, it was clear that this was a group of the bighorn sheep which we had been hoping to see, this being their standard route down from the mountains into the meadows.
The sheep spent some minutes fiddling about at the edge of the forest before finally venturing down to the road, where the rangers had stopped traffic to allow them to cross. However, they were evidently nervous about something, perhaps too many people watching, and thought better of crossing. According to the rangers there was normally no problem, but today, despite prominent ``Bighorn crossing'' signs on the road, they were stubbornly staying put. Eventually the rangers had to start letting traffic through slowly owing to the long tailbacks building up.
After half an hour or so, the sheep had still not crossed the road, but were wandering off out of sight. I decided to continue, and took a side route heading up the winding Bear Lake road. This is supposedly served by shuttle buses to avoid congestion in the car park at the top, but on parking and looking for bus information, it turned out the buses were not due to start operating for the season for another couple of days. I continued to the top of the road and was pleased to find a few free spaces.
Visitor facilities at the top of the road were somewhat limited, owing to the destruction of permanent facilities due to arson at New Year. I picked up a trail map from a temporary ranger caravan, and headed out onto the trails beyond.
Being a little pushed for time owing to the need to return to Denver that evening, and it being my first experience of walking any distance at such altitudes, I decided not to take too demanding a route. I planned to walk to some of the nearby lakes, up to Lake Haiyaha, at 10220ft (3115m), just over two miles away and an ascent of 745ft from the trailhead.
I reached the small Nymph Lake after half a mile, on which a few ducks were to be seen. I continued on for another half mile to Dream Lake, where the trail forked. A short but difficult stretch of path lay ahead, the path still covered in deep snow. After this the going was easier, despite the continuing climb, periodically with superb views over the surrounding landscape.
The last stretch to the lake was more or less flat but an awkward scramble over boulders. Finally I reached the lake and sat down to eat the lunch I had brought with me, the tranquility slightly disturbed by a group of teenagers messing around in the snow on the opposite shore.
Having only had a brief glimpse of Dream Lake and with time in hand, I decided to visit it again on the descent and continue past to Emerald Lake, three quarters of a mile beyond. Passing Dream Lake was a little awkward, with the path quite literally following the shoreline (fortunately I had reasonably waterproof boots). I made it to Emerald Lake, living up to its name in colour, and spent a while sitting at this spot admiring the scenery, with glaciers high on the hills above. Wildlife was in evidence too -- blue-jays, and a mammal which I believe to have been a pine marten but which scuttled off before I could capture its picture for posterity.
It was now time to head back, and this I did, detouring very slightly to Bear Lake itself. No bears in evidence but a pair of squirrels were on the lookout for food from any visitors who chose to ignore the warnings against feeding wildlife. I then returned to the car and at 4.20 began the drive to the airport.
I followed scenic byways down to the level of the plains, and joined the I-25 interstate near Longmont, heading southwards to Denver. Traffic was quite heavy, this being rush hour, but I made a reasonable pace. Negotiating the freeways and traffic around Denver was a little daunting but I made it with no mishaps, and turned off into a sparsely-built area a few miles from the airport itself where my motel was to be found, another Super 8.
I had been contemplating taking the car back to the depot that evening in order to save time the next morning, returning via the motel's complimentary shuttle, but I thought better of this, instead resolving to get up a little earlier. I unloaded the car, extracted everything of mine I could find from its various compartments, and took them to my room to be sorted out. A considerable amount of throwing out of inessential items was necessary to bring the weight of my luggage down to reasonable levels, as I had accumulated a considerable mass of books on the various places visited.
The motel shared a square with two other hotels and the Moonlight Diner, which would do me for dinner. I had a meal of salad and so-called ``steak frites'', then returned to continue packing, and retired to bed at 10.45.