Alberta Falls Trail

Bear Lake Parking Lot                                                    Trail Length : 1.7 Miles/ Round Trip
Rocky Mountain  National Park                                        Elevation Gain : 200 ft
GPS CoOrdinates :                                                            Degree of Difficulty :Easy      
 N40 18.716 W105 38.761                                                Start Elevation : 9450 Ft

         First time we hiked searching Alberta falls in May 2013. The trail was completely covered with snow that time. We asked few people on the trail, direction to the falls but they did not know. We were scared that we might miss the trail to get back, so we returned thinking to come back some time again.

          This time we did it while camping in Moraine Park campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. We started at 3 pm from the Bear Lake parking lot. Its just a short hike. The Trail was pretty filled with good number of golden Aspen trees.

    Before reaching the falls there was a small falls. I thought that must be the Alberta falls, and i was arguing with my hubby. He said it is a pretty big one we must go further. Finally we found the main one which is the Alberta Falls. We had to climb on huge rocks to get to the top. Their were many people taking pictures. As usual my hubby was busy taking pictures.

  I sat on the rock relaxing and enjoying the beauty of the falls. I took few selfie's. My hubby wanted to hike more. There was another trail continuing up. But i did not let him. And we returned back. While nearing there was a good elevation in one part which was ankle breaking. It took almost a hour and a half to complete. We went to bear lake and sat in a lake side bench. Took few snaps. And we rushed for sunset to our camping area.

  It was a Nice pleasant short hike.

Thank You,
Dhamaya

Great Sand Dunes Hike

Great Sand Dunes National Park                                            
10945-11191 Colorado 150                                               Trail Length : 3 Miles / Round Trip
Mosca, CO 81146                                                              Time : 2 Hrs 30 Minutes
Gps Co-ordinates:  N37 44.370 W105 31.048
           
               This was my favorite hike and enjoyable hike. We did camping in Pinon Campground inside the national park for Labor day weekend. We took the trail from Pinon Campground area. We thought of starting the hike on the 1st day evening, so that we can reach top for sunset photography. But half the way, the sand was blowing like anything and poking our legs. So we returned back to our camping site. We planned  to wake-up early the next morning and begin our hike for sunrise.
 

          I woke up first and went to brush my teeth. The sunrise almost started, we rushed ourselves to begin the hike. The weather was pretty cold. I wore my wind jacket and gloves.I packed water bottles and snack bar and started at 7 am.  The shadows on the dunes looked great. My hubby enjoyed taking picture all the way. We must have been 15 to 30 minutes early to capture good pictures. We thought to hike until the top most part. Nice up and downs all the way. 

           No specific trail routes to follow, we made our own trail. It was really a fun climbing in the sand. If we took a step-up, felt like coming back to the same place. The final part was really challenging with nice ups, took 10 steps and rested. Finally reached the top most part. The Hiking to dunes were so different from normal colorado mountain hikes.

            WOW.....Amazing  Dunes all around, couldn't really say in words how wonderful it was. We could see all other smaller dunes below us. People below looked tiny as Ants in a row. We just sat on the sand enjoying the view. We also saw our foot paths all the way. It took almost 1.30 Hr to reach up.

           The wind started blowing again. I pulled my hoodie and tied up. We planned to get down quickly. Getting down was very easy and fun. We reached the bottom pretty soon within 15 minutes. And from the Medona creek it took almost another 15 min to reach the camp ground. 

The Dunes were stunning, well worth the visit. Definitely will hike once again.

Thank You,

Dhamaya.