“Come hobbits, come… We must climb!” Gollum tells Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins as he leads them up the stairs to the Cirith Ungol pass to Mordor. I couldn’t help recall that scene from the Lord of the Rings movie as Amanda, Jessica, and I ascended the final quarter mile of our hike alongside Timberline Falls spilling out of Lake of Glass.
We started our hike to Sky Pond by boarding a shuttle at an overflow parking lot near the Bear Lake campground. As we stepped onto the bus, I asked a ranger if the route took us to the Sky Pond trail head. She paused, looked us over, and said “You know the weather is turning up there, right?” I nodded and assured her that we packed the right gear. She shrugged her shoulders, stepped aside, and told us, “This one will take you up there... Don't be afraid to turn around.” We were the last people on the bus and squeezed into the ‘standing area’ (i.e. the isle) of the bus. It was a tight fit.
We got off the bus at Glacier Gorge (elevation 9,240 feet). Our destination, Sky Pond, was 4.9 miles out and 1,710 feet above our starting point. We chatted with a few hikers as they passed. Only one had been up to Lake of Glass and Sky Pond. He repeated the warning about the weather, so I asked him about specific concerns. “Lightening… You’re completely exposed up there and have no where to go above the tree line.” We had not heard thunder for at least a half-hour and decided to press on until something changed.
As we made our way around Loch Vale, we could see a waterfall high-up the mountain near the summit. I wondered to myself if the flow emptied into Sky Pond before spilling over into Lake of Glass. It was at least a mile away and had to be 600 feet or more above us. (NPS trail guide puts it around 800 feet.) “Maybe we can get closer to the falls after we visit Sky Pond,” I thought as we continued along the trail. After another half a mile the slight grade and generous switch-backs became a punishing march straight up the mountain’s face. The waterfall did not feed Sky Pond… It was overflow from Lake of Glass. We were going to the summit.
It began to rain as we ascended above the tree line. We paused to put on our rain gear and see rock stairs leading around to a large bolder. They were walkable, but just barely. When we made it to the top of the stairs, we saw several people on all fours descending down an even steeper field of rocks. As they approached, we could see one with a shirt covered in blood. We offered first aid to bandage a laceration he got when he fell from the rock face ahead. “Rock face? What are you talking about?” This was the first I heard of it. He points up the mountain, “Lake of Glass and Sky Pond are up there. If you can make it past the vertical section, the rest is pretty easy. Be careful though, the rocks are slick from all the water. That’s where I fell.” A second person descending told Jessica that she was "an experience rock climber, and decided it was too risky to proceed." My adrenaline spiked. This is the adventure I hoped to find in the Rockies.
We got on all fours and moved slowly up a field of rocks. There was no trail at this point. We came to a 15-20 foot tall wall bookended by a waterfall and the sky. We stopped and weighed the risks for ourselves. I started up the wall to see how difficult it really was to find good hand and foot holds. There were plenty, especially if you climbed in the falls. I made it to the top and pointed out the easiest route I found to Jessica and Amanda. They followed without issue. We continued on all fours for another 300 or so yards and took in our first views of Lake of Glass. It was breathtaking.
We started our hike to Sky Pond by boarding a shuttle at an overflow parking lot near the Bear Lake campground. As we stepped onto the bus, I asked a ranger if the route took us to the Sky Pond trail head. She paused, looked us over, and said “You know the weather is turning up there, right?” I nodded and assured her that we packed the right gear. She shrugged her shoulders, stepped aside, and told us, “This one will take you up there... Don't be afraid to turn around.” We were the last people on the bus and squeezed into the ‘standing area’ (i.e. the isle) of the bus. It was a tight fit.
We got off the bus at Glacier Gorge (elevation 9,240 feet). Our destination, Sky Pond, was 4.9 miles out and 1,710 feet above our starting point. We chatted with a few hikers as they passed. Only one had been up to Lake of Glass and Sky Pond. He repeated the warning about the weather, so I asked him about specific concerns. “Lightening… You’re completely exposed up there and have no where to go above the tree line.” We had not heard thunder for at least a half-hour and decided to press on until something changed.
As we made our way around Loch Vale, we could see a waterfall high-up the mountain near the summit. I wondered to myself if the flow emptied into Sky Pond before spilling over into Lake of Glass. It was at least a mile away and had to be 600 feet or more above us. (NPS trail guide puts it around 800 feet.) “Maybe we can get closer to the falls after we visit Sky Pond,” I thought as we continued along the trail. After another half a mile the slight grade and generous switch-backs became a punishing march straight up the mountain’s face. The waterfall did not feed Sky Pond… It was overflow from Lake of Glass. We were going to the summit.
It began to rain as we ascended above the tree line. We paused to put on our rain gear and see rock stairs leading around to a large bolder. They were walkable, but just barely. When we made it to the top of the stairs, we saw several people on all fours descending down an even steeper field of rocks. As they approached, we could see one with a shirt covered in blood. We offered first aid to bandage a laceration he got when he fell from the rock face ahead. “Rock face? What are you talking about?” This was the first I heard of it. He points up the mountain, “Lake of Glass and Sky Pond are up there. If you can make it past the vertical section, the rest is pretty easy. Be careful though, the rocks are slick from all the water. That’s where I fell.” A second person descending told Jessica that she was "an experience rock climber, and decided it was too risky to proceed." My adrenaline spiked. This is the adventure I hoped to find in the Rockies.
We got on all fours and moved slowly up a field of rocks. There was no trail at this point. We came to a 15-20 foot tall wall bookended by a waterfall and the sky. We stopped and weighed the risks for ourselves. I started up the wall to see how difficult it really was to find good hand and foot holds. There were plenty, especially if you climbed in the falls. I made it to the top and pointed out the easiest route I found to Jessica and Amanda. They followed without issue. We continued on all fours for another 300 or so yards and took in our first views of Lake of Glass. It was breathtaking.
We could see the water flowing out of the lake and over the waterfall we spotted earlier. We could also see several (small) glaciers clinging to the sides of the mountain. I took out our chairs, and we celebrated our accomplishment with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After a short break, Amanda broke out her camera as the rain eased up. Jessica explored the lake. I looked for the trail to Sky Pond.It was higher still. (The trail completely vanishes at the Lake of Glass. It took us 10 minutes or so to spot several--unnatural--piles of rocks pointing us towards the path.)
We made it to Sky Pond after a short hike, but only had a few minutes to stay. Black clouds were lumbering over the peak above the pond and the rain was picking back up. The adventure was fun, but it was definitely time to go. With the rain coming down hard on the descent, Amanda and I partnered to try capturing our adventure to the sky. Jessica also caught several good ones with her camera phone.
Here are some of the images that made it off the mountain along with some photos of our trip up Old Fall River Road (dirt, one-way road without guard rails) and down Trial Ridge Road (highest paved road in the US). I just noticed that we saw the sun rise and set on Wednesday. Both were exciting to experience.
Finally, here are the key road trip stats for the leg from Kansas City, KS to Estes Park, CO:
Next stop: Yellowstone
- Departed Kansas City at 3:09 AM CST on Wednesday, September 2
- Arrived at the Denver Airport around 11 AM MDT to pick up our friend Jessica
- Entered Estes Park at 1:30 PM MDT
- Total distance 694 miles
- 39.3 miles per gallon on average (very low due to 75 mph speed limit in western KS/eastern CO and ascent from ~5,000 feet above sea level in Denver to ~8,200 in Rocky Mountain National Park)
- Average speed 65 miles per hour
Next stop: Yellowstone