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Bear Lake Trailhead is the starting point for many of RMNP’s most popular hikes including the easy 0.5 mile (0.8k) loop around Bear Lake, the 3.6 mile (5.8k) roundtrip hike to Emerald Lake that also passes by Nymph and Dream Lakes, and the 2.0 mile (3.2k) roundtrip to the powerful Alberta Falls, passing through many aspen groves. Other popular hikes from this trailhead include Bierstadt Lake (4.0 miles/6.4k roundtrip), Lake Haiyaha (4.4 miles/7.1k roundtrip), the long climb up Flattop Mountain (8.8 miles/14.2k roundtrip) and Fern Lake (9.7 miles/15.6k roundtrip). The trailhead also has a booth with rangers to provide assistance and trail guides, pit toilets and a fair amount of parking; however, the trails are so popular, parking is often a challenge and one may find they need to park at the remote parking site about 3.0 miles (4.8k) away and be shuttled on a bus to the trailhead. If you would like to find parking at the trailhead and avoid the worst of the crowds arrive very early or later in the day, preferably midweek. I had no trouble finding parking midweek arriving once around 5pm and another time about 30 minutes after sunrise.…
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Date of experience: October 2019
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Parking was a nightmare. and this was during the limited admission COVID time period. Couldn't find parking, over and over, and did not want to stand in 1/2 mile line to get onto a bus with many other people. Just not worth it. If you want to relive finding a parking spot near a mall two weeks before Christmas, then try this trailhead parking area. They do have unisex bathrooms that are pit toilets and very smelly, but we never had to wait and there was TP and hand sanitizer in each one. The rangers are very friendly to chat with near the trail entrance. The "hike" to bear lake is paved and about 5 minutes with hundreds of ppl.…
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Date of experience: September 2020
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+1
Enjoyed this nice walk that provides lots of good pictures in the late afternoon early evening. The flies biting were next level. Bring your spray even though it’s a quick walk around the lake.
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Date of experience: July 2020
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There are several good hiking trails here, and as everyone else mentioned, it is very crowded here if you wait until after lunchtime. The shuttle is easy to take, which is good since the parking lot fills up very early.
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Date of experience: August 2020
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
If you get the chance, talk to one of the rangers at this popular spot. We met a really nice retired school teacher from northwest Indiana. He told us to do the Bear Lake hike, then take the trail for Alberta Falls. From the Falls, take the Glacier Gorge trail, and catch the shuttle there. It saved us a tough uphill hike back to Bear Lake. Glad we were able to utilize the shuttle in that way.…
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Date of experience: July 2020
1 Helpful vote
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