Lake Haiyaha (WINTER & Fall)

Map

I had heard that in the winter, Lake Haiyaha has some unique ice formations. I was curious to check them out. So during a midweek afternoon lull in my workload, I took advantage of a couple of free afternoon hours to do a quick hike up to Lake Haiyaha.

Indeed, the ice formations on Lake Haiyaha were quite fascinating! Most of the frozen lakes I have encountered in RMNP in the winter are relatively smooth and sometimes even glassy, but not Lake Haiyaha: The ice around the edges of the lake had been pushed up to create jagged edges and there were large cracked mounds of ice. There are giant boulders and rocks at the shore of Lake Haiyaha, so perhaps these "ice pimples" form over these boulders and rocks, which create disturbances in the flow of water.

My go-to geology consult Doug McKeever adds: "I agree that there is cracking of the ice most likely due to slight currents beneath the surface. Cracks allow overflow of liquid, which freezes into icy ridges. This happens in polar seas all the time, where significant currents are the rule. The whole process is identical in form to divergent plate boundaries such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the only real differences being material (magma vs. water), linear scale (meters vs. kilometers), and time scale ( hours vs. thousands of years and more)."

My round trip time starting and ending at the Bear Lake Trailhead was just under 2 hours (involving about 20 minutes photographing cool ice formations at Lake Haiyaha).  It had not snowed recently and this is a popular area, so I did not bring or need snowshoes, but spikes were nice to have. (Note that you can also get to Lake Haiyaha by taking the Glacier Gorge trail up to the Mills Lake/Sky Pond junction—this is a longer way to go, but could be used to create a nice loop or avoid a short section of open slope on the direct approach from Bear Lake. In fact, a couple of weeks after my first visit to Lake Haiyaha, I returned to Lake Haiyaha via the Glacier Gorge approach. It had snowed just before this second trip to Lake Haiyaha, making snowshoes necessary and adding some extra wallowing exercise to the trip. Photos from this trip are given on this page as well.)

Below is a sampling of photos from my afternoon hike to Lake Haiyaha. 

We had just exited a cold stretch of weather in Colorado, with a high of about 1°F and wind chills up to -20°F in Estes Park, and even colder up high. A couple of feet of new snow had fallen. But the sun was out again and it was a slow week at work, so I took advantage of it to enjoy some of the fresh powder. So between morning meetings and afternoon system checks, I decided to try the approach to Lake Haiyaha via the Glacier Gorge trailhead. It was breezy, so staying in the trees sounded like a good choice.

It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes from Glacier Gorge trailhead to Lake Haiyaha (I was breaking trail and there was lots of wallowing!) and 1 hour and 11 minutes to reverse the route (lots less wallowing). The snow was quite a bit more challenging than it had been on my previous hike to Lake Haiyaha (when I had not even needed snowshoes), plus the Glacier Gorge approach is a bit longer. I enjoyed the workout and solitude and route-finding challenge. Like my previous visit to Lake Haiyaha, I marveled in the ice formations at the lake.

Below is a sampling of photos from my snowshoe to Lake Haiyaha.

In January 2023, I had hiked to Lake Haiyaha from the north, starting at the Bear Lake Trailhead and booting 4.4 miles (2.2 miles each way) through packed snow. Two weeks later, in February, after a fresh snowfall, I snowshoed back to Lake Haiyaha, this time a 6.6 mile slog (3.3 miles each way through deep snow) from the south, starting at Glacier Gorge Trailhead. 

So in late October 2023, when I had a few hours to burn on a Friday afternoon, I decided to take advantage of the fact that timed entry had ended for the season and visit Lake Haiyaha. I chose to hike the 5.9-mile loop starting at the Bear Lake Trailhead, hiking 2.2 miles to the lake, hiking 3.3 miles to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead area, and finishing with the 0.4-mile uphill "Bear Lake Burn" back to the Bear Lake Trailhead. This was the first time I had done the loop in its entirity and the first time I visited the lake in an unfrozen state. 

Despite the cloudy, cold weather, there were a number of people trying to visit the Bear Lake area. Without timed entry, I encountered an hour-long backup at the Bear Lake Trailhead of cars waiting to get a parking spot. I hate sitting in traffic, but I decided to stick it out and enjoy an audiobook. After an hour, I finally inched into the parking lot and nabbed a parking spot. The goal of the hike was to get some exercise, so I walked fast and occasionally half-jogged (plus I wanted to make up some of the time I had spent at a standstill waiting for a parking spot at Bear Lake). Even with a photo stop at the lake, the entire loop took me 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Below are some photos from my quick afternoon hike to Lake Haiayha.

Two weeks later, on a "need to burn a few more calories" extension of a Friday lunchhour hike up to Emerald Lake, I revisited Lake Haiyaha. The lake was now frozen. 

Round trip time from Bear Lake Trailhead to Emerald Lake to Lake Haiyaha and back to Bear Lake Trailhead was 1 hour and 45 minutes. Not much more than a long lunch break!

A couple of summer photos of Lake Haiyaha for comparison!

previous and next adventures