Glacier Gorge Junction to Sky Pond
(9.0 miles, +1,800/-1,800 feet).

It’s our last day in Rocky Mountain National Park, and boy did we end it with a bang!  DoubleSub was not feeling up to a hike today, so Half Cookie, Pasta Jay, and I left him cozy in our cabin while we hit the trail.

It rained off and on as we drove up to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead where we parked.  By the time we got there it was no more than drizzle so we packed some ponchos and headed up Glacier Creek.  Our first stop was Alberta Falls.

After that we got high enough that the clouds were just skimming the top of the forrest.

The trail got steep enough at a certain point that there was a “no horses” sign.  Someone had added a single horn to the horse image, making it look like a unicorn!

The weather drifted between mist and fog as we continued to climb.

Soon we were at “The Loch” and the mist on the water made us wonder if we might see Nessie.

Above the Loch we continued to climb and eventually started passing through snow fields.

At about 10,800 feet we came to a steep rock wall with pretty waterfall spraying on snow.

This was the tough part of the hike—to the right of Timberline Falls is a seasonal waterfall that you have to climb to get up to Lake of Glass.  Fortunately, there wasn’t too much water in it, so we could pick our way around the slippery wet rocks.  I’d call it class 2 with very little exposure.

The climb was totally worth it.  The view was spectacular!  Lake of Glass came first (though it wasn’t very glass like today with 30 mile per hour winds!).

We then made our way the short distance up to Sky Pond.

We wanted to stay forever, but it was windy and cold and so we eventually started to head back down.

The clouds drifted away, giving everything a different feel on the return trip.