Name: Emerald Lake Trail
Rating: 4.6

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Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Description

From the Dream Lake Trail, this trail climbs quickly to Dream Lake. Enjoy the views of Dream Lake and the surrounding rock formations before hiking further up the trail. The grade is mild before it steepens on its way to Emerald Lake. Eventually, you'll top out and descend to the lake.

Contacts

Land Manager: National Park Service - Rocky Mountain National Park

Shared By:

Brian Smith with improvements by Barbara Lotsoff

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.6 from 31 votes

#6

in Bear Lake

#117

Overall

4.6 from 31 votes

5 Star		65%
4 Star		35%
3 Star		0%
2 Star		0%
1 Star		0%

Trail Rankings

#6

in Bear Lake

#34

in Colorado

#117

Overall

2 Views Last Month

1,722 Since Jan 30, 2015

		3%
		3%
		83%
		3%
		9%
		0%

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Photos

Representing the REI NP Centennial backpack at Dream Lake, looking towards Flattop Mountain (right) and Hallett Peak (left).

May 20, 2016 near Estes Park, CO

The view to Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain from Dream Lake.

Dec 8, 2015 near Estes Park, CO

Apr 23, 2017 near Estes Park, CO

Aug 25, 2015 near Estes Park, CO

Jan 8, 2015 near Estes Park, CO

Hallet Peak, 2 am, with moon and Jupiter

Mar 23, 2021 near Estes Park, CO

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Current Trail Conditions

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Check-Ins

Oct 2, 2025

Bryanna McFarland

Oct 2, 2025

Bryanna McFarland

Sep 2, 2025

Tilman Giese

Aug 15, 2025

Anonymous

Jan 3, 2025

Kalli House

Jul 13, 2024

Brayden Long

Sep 18, 2023

Maya Saterson

Sep 6, 2023

Binita Patel

Aug 18, 2023

Cole Burks

0.7mi

Aug 4, 2023

Leya Uy

Feb 3, 2023

Carly Gaylor

Oct 12, 2022

Juan Nava

Oct 8, 2022

Connor Greenhalgh

With Abby. There 0.7mi

Aug 23, 2022

Rosie Betenbaugh

0.7mi — 10h 48m

Aug 23, 2022

Rosie Betenbaugh

0.7mi — 10h 55m

Jul 31, 2022

Mike Munie

Did this along with the Best of Bear lake

Jul 31, 2022

Paula M

Jul 31, 2022

Mackenzie Munie

Walked around and across the boulders to the side of the lake

Jul 29, 2022

Justin Hunter

Past hike done with Kaleb

Jul 23, 2022

Josh Cantu

Jul 4, 2022

Nick DeLapp

May 9, 2022

Diana Maasdam

Great view but breathtaking 0.7mi — 4h 00m

Oct 4, 2021

Austin Eschweiler

Aug 6, 2021

Kelsey O'Keefe

Aug 4, 2021

Brittany Michael

Gorgeous but very busy trail 4.1mi — 4h 13m

Jul 24, 2021

Randall Harvey

3h 00m

Jul 21, 2021

Private User

Jul 10, 2021

Marc Daniel

With Mila — 1h 00m

Jun 22, 2021

Katherine Henson

Dec 9, 2020

Zachary Wemark

Cold and Icy

Dec 9, 2020

Emily Schwickerath

Icy!

Sep 4, 2020

Private User

Jul 22, 2020

Taylor Chafin

Mar 16, 2020

Daniel Edward

Feb 18, 2020

Sarah Haber

Jan 27, 2020

D Fink

Jan 11, 2020

Jen Jen

Snowshoeing hike! Parking lot was barely half full at around 9am.

Dec 25, 2019

David Hunter

Oct 2, 2019

Angela Meyer

Regal finish

Sep 22, 2019

Jereme Leone

Sep 9, 2019

Christopher Fredregill

Sep 6, 2019

Kyle Babson

Aug 23, 2019

Morgan Jurkowski

Aug 20, 2019

Scott Marcus

Jul 11, 2019

Alicia Leo

Jul 5, 2019

Jeffrey Salazar

3mi

Jun 7, 2019

Trent Caldwell

Feb 6, 2019

Sierra Galindo

Oct 13, 2018

Vanessa Bayer

Oct 7, 2018

Sailaja Kotra-Turner

Sep 26, 2018

Erin Mully

Sep 26, 2018

Laura Clinton

Incredible views, fairly easy hike with decent incline. Very friendly chipmunks at Emerald Lake. 0.7mi

Jul 31, 2018

Shane Hoss

Jun 30, 2018

Yaritza Valverde

May 21, 2018

Mike Bovee

Snow/Slush the whole trail

May 20, 2018

Megan Wert

Aug 2, 2017

Ana Turner

0.7mi

Jul 19, 2017

Mark Frank

Jul 18, 2017

Abigail Powers

Easy, short hike in RMNP with incomparable views. Quite crowded in the summer, though, so I'd recommend not going mid-day.

Jun 8, 2017

Nathan Rosson

Oct 4, 2016

Anna Dinger

Sep 19, 2016

Kelly Ward

Sep 11, 2016

Nicole LeBlanc

Aug 16, 2016

Sara Wendte

Aug 7, 2016

Melissa Wilkerson

Jul 6, 2016

Melinda Dawn

Jun 9, 2016

Russ Williams

May 29, 2016

Ariel Puccio

Jan 19, 2016

Brendan Burns

Aug 20, 2015

Jeff Gandee

Beautiful, peaceful

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Emerald Lake Trail

“A short trail connecting two majestic mountain lakes. ”

0.7

1.1

Point to Point

10,113' 3,083 m

9,843' 3,000 m

272' 83 m

35' 11 m

9%

26%

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Know This Trail?

Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Description

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#6

#117

#6

#34

#117

Photos

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Nearby Recommended Routes

Bear Lake Trail

Emerald Lake

Sky Pond

Lily Lake and Ridge Loop

Upper Ute Trail Out-and-Back

Lookout Mountain Trail

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