The trail started out completely dry and hot, I was wondering if I might have packed too much. Since the lake is at 11,000′ I thought it may still be snowy.
Then maybe 2 miles in the snow started.
It was me breaking trail for miles of mostly off camber slippery-ness.
But as I was getting tired and ready to throw in the towel it flattened out.
The last push was up the frozen waterfall, which was all sorts of fun.
Then the lake! Wow was it a site.
In RMNP when there is more than 4″ of snow on the ground you observe winter rules, which basicaly means camp anywhere. Which landed me this sweet spot.
A storm came up the valley and socked in the lake.
Middle of the night the skies cleared.
It was below freezing in the morning, but once that sun got back out..
Nice thing though was that the snow had solidified over night making getting out much quicker.
Normally I don’t like to take the same trip twice, but I think this will be a May tradition.