Tracy and I succeeded in hiking the 12.5 mile out and back trek on Lawn Lake Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. It seemed to be somewhat easy for us, thanks to all our preparation before getting out to Colorado. And the first mile or so of the trail, we’ve completed several times now.
Lawn Lake History
I find the history of Lawn Lake fascinating. In the early 1900’s, they built a dam for this high altitude lake to provide water for irrigation purposes. Unfortunately, it came to disrepair and broke down in 1982. It flooded the valley below creating the Alluvial Fan, which can be seen today. Remnants of the flood down the Roaring River are also seen today. It continued all the way to Estes Park. If you’re interested in the full history of this event, you can find more details on this wikipedia page.
When we hiked the trail, we saw huge boulders along the valley where the Roaring River trickles through which we know must have been pushed down through the valley. It’s amazing to see how strong a force it was. Once we caught the view of the edge of the lake, you can see where the dam once stood. Again, so incredible.
The Beautiful Lake
The location is so beautiful, surrounded by mountain peaks around us. There is a place to camp for the evening, which may intrigue us later on when we do this one again. (Which we will do this one again.) It was remarkably peaceful and picturesque. We also considered attempting the hike to Crystal Lake and the “saddle” but opted against it due to weather. And we didn’t want to push our luck. Below are some of the pictures I took along Lawn Lake Trail and the lake itself.
Hiking down was a fun part, it was starting to rain on us so we trail ran to get below the tree-line. I’d never had that amount of hustle to get down the mountain! Once we got in the shelter of the trees, we slowed and enjoyed the shower.
Lawn Lake Trail definitely lived up to our expectations and we’ll definitely hit it again soon!
