Bear Lake and Surrounding Area is one of the most popular and beautiful parts of Rocky Mountain National Park. The area is covered with quite a few gorgeous glacial lakes.
This hike takes you to four of the best, Emerald, Haiyaha, Dream, and Nymph. What makes this one good, is that it’s the best way to see them without any backtracking.
So if you are up for a great hike, read on how to do this one as well.
About the Hike
Distance: 6.7 miles | Type: Loop | Avg. Time: 3 – 3.5 hrs | Difficulty: Moderate | Dog Friendly: No
There are many ways to visit the various lakes around the Bear Lake area. This 4 lake loop takes you to Lake Haiyaha, Emerald, Dream, and Nymph. This is one of my favorite ways to do it.
It’s not the shortest way to visit the 4 lakes, but it’s the best in that it has the least amount of doubling back. Also you get to check out Alberta Falls as well.
If you are planning to do another hike like the Sky Pond Hike, you may cut it shorter by just doing the 4 lakes. It’ll cut out about 1.7 miles from this overall hike.
You should also if you have not visited Bear lake to do a loop around that as well. It’ll add a bit more to the hike as well.
Four Lake Loop Trailhead & Parking
The trailhead and parking is the end of the bear corridor road. This is the parking for Bear Lake and the lake is located right off the parking area (and there’s a loop to visit it which we recommend.
While the parking lot here is pretty large, it tends to fill up pretty quickly. When I would arrive by 6am it was a ¼ to ½ full most of the days. I would suggest you try to arrive by 6:30 or 7:00 am to guarantee a spot.
For those who miss parking here, there is also a shuttle from the Park & Ride lot across from the Glacier Basin Campground. This is a larger lot and the shuttle loops pretty frequently.
Access to Bear Lake requires the Park Pass+ Timed Entry ticket. This also is necessary to park at the Park & Ride Lot described above. Otherwise you’ll need to access the lot via the Hiker Shuttle (also requires a reservation).
Best Time to Do the Hike
The best time to do the Four Lake Loop is from July – September when the weather is the warmest in Rocky Mountain National Park. However, you should be prepared for all weather, as rain storms are pretty common in the park as well. It’s pretty common especially to have afternoon thunderstorms.
The hike is accessible during the winter, and actually the winter can be pretty incredible. The lakes often freeze over and there’s potential to walk on the ice (take caution) during this time as well.
Access during the winter is tricky however, as most roads into the park are closed. You’ll have to figure out how you’ll get to the trail and you’ll need to make sure you have proper equipment to navigate the snow.
The Four Lake Loop Hike
Begin the hike from the Bear Lake area. You’ll see the multitude of trailheads starting in-between the ranger station and the bus stop.
At the main junction, you’ll see a sign for lake nymph, dream, Alberta falls point left. Go Left here.
There will be another junction for Nymph, Dream Lake to the right and Alberta Falls, Glacier Gorge to the left. Take a left here too.
Continue on the trail. You’ll see another junction for Glacier Gorge, stay to the right here towards Alberta Falls.
The trail here is pretty easy going. There’s one spot where you have to possibly cross some water. They made a little bridge to the left or you can walk across the rocks on the right.
After a bit you’ll see the Glacier Creek on the left. Keep heading on the trail until you reach Alberta Falls. This is about 0.8 miles from the start of the hike.
After gawking at the falls (you can get closer on the boulders, just be careful), turn right to continue on the trail.
Follow the trail and about a mile further you’ll come to another intersection. Follow the trail right towards Loch Vale and Mills Lake.
The area here is pretty beautiful and sometimes very sunny. I got some great views along this part of the hike.
You’ll come to another big intersection. You’ll see Mills Lake and Black Lake to the left, Loch Vale and Sky Pond to the right side. Straight right you’ll see the trail for Lake Haiyaha. It’s a bit more hidden.
Go to the right and follow the trail into the woods.
After about a mile you’ll come to another intersection. From here left will take you to Lake Haiyaha, and right towards the other lakes. Take a left here.
It’s about another 0.1 miles to Lake Haiyaha from this intersection. As you approach the path will get much more bouldery. You’ll need to do some scrambling over the boulders so watch you step.
You can get as close to the lake as you want, but you’ll need to traverse some boulders to do so. I would recommend taking some time to explore and also maybe taking a snack or two here. The lake is beautiful, my most recent two trips here the lake was pretty foggy and surreal.
From here turn back to the path and walk about 0.5 miles to the intersection. Take a left towards dream lake.
You will be walking along Dream Lake here. It’ll be about 0.3 miles of trail along the lake.
At the end of the lake it’ll be about 0.3 miles until you reach Emerald Lake. For me this turned out to be my favorite. Although there were some gorgeous ducks here as well that just made it perfect.
Afterwards turn around and start heading back. At the intersection with Lake Haiyaha, continue straight. After about 0.3 miles you’ll visit the last lake, Nymph. It’s in my opinion the least exciting of the 4 lakes to visit, so kind of a bummer as the final one.
After you pass the lake you’ll have about 0.4 miles until you reach the trailhead. And then you are done.
Tips & FAQs
- Pack water and snacks. I found I went through quite a bit of water on the hike. Drinking lots of fluids helps with altitude too.
- Bring sunscreen. The sun up in the mountains is very intense, and you’ll actually burn faster. Bring sunscreen even if the weather shows “it’s cold”
- Bring good shoes. Much of the hike is pretty easy going, but there are enough rocky areas that good traction and fit are important.
- If you are planning to hike Sky Pond, you may want to do the shorter Emerald, Nymph, Haiyaha, Dream lake hike. It’ll cut down the overall length/time but there’s more backtracking.
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