Name: Dream Lake Trail
Rating: 4.7

Toolbox

Plan in onX Backcountry

Driving directions
Download GPX File

Know This Trail?

Upload a photo

Dogs No Dogs

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

Description

From the Bear Lake trailhead, follow the signs for Dream Lake onto this well-traveled, asphalt-sealed trail. Hiking is very easygoing along the Dream Lake Trail as it contours at very mellow grades up the slope.

Just over 1.5 miles from the TH, you'll reach Nymph Lake, a picturesque mountain lake that makes for a good place to take in the surrounding peaks. Continuing up the trail, you'll eventually cross Tyndall Creek and come to a junction with Lake Haiyaha Trail. Hike past this intersection to reach Dream Lake.

Dream Lake is a spectacular, narrow lake that sits in a drainage on the rugged eastern slope of Flattop Mountain. The lake makes for a good resting point on a longer hike, or picnic destination from Bear Lake TH.

Contacts

Land Manager: National Park Service - Rocky Mountain National Park

Shared By:

Brian Smith

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.7 from 50 votes

#3

in Bear Lake

#39

Overall

4.7 from 50 votes

5 Star		72%
4 Star		22%
3 Star		6%
2 Star		0%
1 Star		0%

Trail Rankings

#3

in Bear Lake

#11

in Colorado

#39

Overall

19 Views Last Month

6,525 Since Jan 30, 2015

		2%
		10%
		77%
		8%
		2%
		0%

Add a Photo

Photos

Hallet Peak, 2 am, with moon and Jupiter

Mar 23, 2021 near Estes Park, CO

Oct 1, 2017 near Estes Park, CO

Jan 19, 2015 near Estes Park, CO

Jan 19, 2015 near Estes Park, CO

Aug 24, 2017 near Estes Park, CO

May 2, 2018 near Estes Park, CO

0 Comments

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Unknown

Update Conditions See History

Add Your Check-In

Check-Ins

Jul 21, 2024

Jordan Knox

2mi — 11h 00m

Jul 19, 2024

Lala White

Jul 13, 2024

Brayden Long

Jun 9, 2024

Hy Pearson

Got to Nymph Lake & came back down

Jun 3, 2024

Elisabeth Corello

Passed by Bear and Nymph Lake 2mi

Nov 5, 2023

Evan Lei

2.3mi — 1h 08m

Oct 17, 2023

Bethany Girtler

Oct 8, 2023

Chunrun Zheng

Sep 6, 2023

Binita Patel

Aug 18, 2023

Cole Burks

1mi

Jul 18, 2023

Ashley Baker

Jan 16, 2023

Bryan Adam

snowshoe to the overlook 2.9mi — 2h 30m

Nov 25, 2022

Nicole Arendt

2mi — 2h 00m

Nov 9, 2022

Justin Metcalf

Oct 21, 2022

Ari R.

Sep 7, 2022

Robert Luck

カット

Aug 23, 2022

Rosie Betenbaugh

1mi — 10h 45m

Aug 23, 2022

Rosie Betenbaugh

1mi — 10h 09m

Jul 23, 2022

Josh Cantu

Jul 3, 2022

Joseph Parks

Jun 30, 2022

Alexa Long

1mi — 1h 00m

Jun 27, 2022

A A

Jun 10, 2022

Robin Hopkins

Jun 6, 2022

Chris Jones

quick jaunt to nymph lake 0.5mi

Nov 5, 2021

Faith Ramessar

Oct 4, 2021

Austin Eschweiler

Sep 28, 2021

Bear Rinehart

Aug 19, 2021

Hannah Witter

Jul 11, 2021

Anna West Carpenter

Jul 1, 2021

Leslie O'Lena Smogor

Jun 25, 2021

Rachel Sanders

Jun 23, 2021

K K

1h 30m

Dec 9, 2020

Emily Schwickerath

Dec 9, 2020

Zachary Wemark

Lots of dreams achieved on trail

Oct 9, 2020

Hsueh Yu

Oct 8, 2020

Mary Katherine Henley

Oct 6, 2020

Jennifer Smith

Sep 9, 2020

Son S

Sep 6, 2020

Private User

Aug 19, 2020

Maggie Topalian

Aug 10, 2020

Jim Franecki

Jul 20, 2020

Ron Sparks

W/ Ryan and Morgan 4.2mi

May 31, 2020

Jonathan Nicholas

May 30, 2020

Son S

Mar 16, 2020

Daniel Edward

Mar 13, 2020

Christina Stenberg

Mar 1, 2020

Private User

Jan 16, 2020

Daphne Dubach

Dec 31, 2019

Jonathan Nicholas

Dec 30, 2019

Mark Woods

High winds on a clear day but a beautiful hike up to frozen lakes.

Oct 24, 2019

David Mathes

Oct 12, 2019

Emma Canducci

Oct 2, 2019

Angela Meyer

Beautiful!

Sep 30, 2019

Rachel Hudson

Sep 23, 2019

Ada Hui Xu

Sep 19, 2019

Eddie Maze

Sep 8, 2019

Traci Rainbolt

Sep 8, 2019

Kyle Babson

☺️

Sep 6, 2019

Kyle Babson

Aug 26, 2019

Steve Coyle

Too many people on the trail for my likes. 2.7mi — 1h 37m

Aug 23, 2019

Morgan Jurkowski

Aug 21, 2019

Alexis Zeabari

Aug 20, 2019

Scott Marcus

Aug 19, 2019

Stephanie Palmer

With Collette

Aug 4, 2019

Dustin Draper

Jul 31, 2019

michael kelso

Jul 31, 2019

Hannah Jean

Jul 26, 2019

Maxx Dillon

Jul 13, 2019

Pavel Malyshev

Jul 12, 2019

Hapvin Vincenzo

Jul 11, 2019

Alicia Leo

Jul 9, 2019

Jack A

Jul 5, 2019

Jeffrey Salazar

Wonderful hike but lots of people due to holiday weekend. 3mi

Jun 29, 2019

Lauren Rarden

Jun 29, 2019

Jane Purcell

Jun 27, 2019

K Dennise Garcia

Jun 27, 2019

Eric Folkerth

Jun 8, 2019

Heidi Maisonet

Jun 7, 2019

Trent Caldwell

May 30, 2019

Chris Cuthbertson

May 27, 2019

William Kleeberger

Took longer because snow covered entire trail. — 2h 15m

May 24, 2019

Allison K

May 19, 2019

Hannah Leidall

Apr 30, 2019

Steven Springer

Apr 27, 2019

Charles B

2mi

Apr 16, 2019

Claire Swarts

Apr 14, 2019

Tiffany Wallace

Snow spike hike with Marcia, Dwight, Sam, Leighton, Capri, and Ava 1.9mi — 1h 23m

Apr 4, 2019

Abby Lowe

Mar 30, 2019

German Gerf0727

4h 00m

Feb 11, 2019

Greg Collette

Nov 23, 2018

Austin Briggs

Started before sunrise. Pretty deep snow drift once you get about 0.8 miles in. 2mi

Oct 24, 2018

Birgit Moeller

Oct 7, 2018

Sailaja Kotra-Turner

Sep 26, 2018

Erin Mully

Sep 21, 2018

Tiffany Flournoy

Sep 5, 2018

john folkerts

Sep 1, 2018

Buster Hodges

To Dream Lake and back earlier today 2.2mi

Aug 18, 2018

Bilal Tawil

Aug 11, 2018

Homefront Honey Maddox

Aug 1, 2018

Darlene Crandall

Jul 27, 2018

Jeff D

Only went as far as nymph lake. Kids were getting tired

Jul 21, 2018

Gabrielle Grund

Jul 20, 2018

Anna Bockhaus

Jul 8, 2018

Leah RK

Jul 6, 2018

Jessica Schad

Slightly uphill, but otherwise very enjoyable. 1.1mi

Jul 1, 2018

Sabyasachi Chakraborty

Jun 30, 2018

Kendall Felps

Fairly easy hike up to Dream Lake. Emerald Lake is just a little ways further up the trail.

Jun 29, 2018

Omar Albayati

Jun 25, 2018

Randy Shemanski

7.5mi

Jun 21, 2018

Amy L

Jun 16, 2018

Dalana Parker

Jun 9, 2018

Derek Struck

Jun 1, 2018

Melissa Komadina

May 28, 2018

Isaac Bowser

May 20, 2018

Megan Wert

May 19, 2018

climbing2man Dispensa

Apr 5, 2018

Michael Courtney

Mar 18, 2018

Bomber Smith

The trail was pretty icy. Good for snowshoeing. 1.6mi

Mar 12, 2018

Laura Hoyt

Feb 8, 2018

Kara Lara

Dream Lake - frozen over completely. Beautiful views along the way. @ lake, strong winds funnel thru Flattop Mtn (right) & Hallett Peak (left).

Jan 13, 2018

Brian Ulaszek

Had +/-30" snow base at Bear Lake. Trail from Bear to Nymph to Dream Lake was accessible without snow shoes on compacted snow. 2mi — 2h 00m

Dec 13, 2017

Crispin Brim

Nov 22, 2017

Patrick Csongei

climbed up to dream lake and walked around bear lake also 3.1mi

Nov 22, 2017

Katie B

Snowy hike to frozen lakes 2.2mi

Sep 29, 2017

Edgar Villeda

Sep 28, 2017

Cyan Nowell

Sep 3, 2017

Ajinkya Patil

Aug 21, 2017

Sally Ulianich

Aug 19, 2017

Ashley Mariee

Aug 14, 2017

Kristy Slibsager

Aug 8, 2017

Stephanie Cairney

Jul 24, 2017

Colleen Danner

Jul 19, 2017

Mark Frank

Jul 17, 2017

J Nizzle

Jul 13, 2017

David Owen

Nice hike to Dream Lake today. Partly cloudy. Mid 60's. all in group made it today 1mi

Jul 10, 2017

Jeremy Moneta

Jul 4, 2017

Andrew Demolat

Awesome trail, even though it was constantly uphill. Beautiful lake!

Jun 29, 2017

Joan Willis

Jun 26, 2017

Helina DG

Jun 18, 2017

Andrea C

Jun 8, 2017

Nathan Rosson

Jun 4, 2017

Fan Lin

Half way 0.5mi

Apr 30, 2017

Marie Logue

Dec 28, 2016

Tingwei Chang

dream lake was super windy, so we didn't go to Emerald Lake. Lost the track after the Dream Lake → sign. used GPS to find the trail! 1.1mi

Sep 12, 2016

Sara McClenning

Aug 14, 2016

Jessica Vance

With Jen & Garrett

Jul 6, 2016

Melinda Dawn

Jul 5, 2016

Aaron Spratling

Incredible views of lake and mountains. — 3h 30m

Jun 30, 2016

Mike Clark

May 23, 2016

Marc Hilliard

May 13, 2016

Christopher Brooks

Jan 26, 2016

Stuart Jeck

Jan 22, 2016

Karin Gradziel

Beautiful ice formations in the lake. Trail not clearly marked in winter. Got a bit off path a few times.

Jan 16, 2016

Bethany Carmellini

Dec 23, 2015

Josie Pham

Great conditions for snowshoeing. 1mi — 1h 52m

Jun 7, 2014

Rob Woodson

Jun 5, 2013

Aurora Owen

Nearby Recommended Routes

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

Best of Bear Lake Area Loop

5.7 mi 9.1 km • 1,293' Up 394.25 m Up • 1,309' Down 398.84 m Down

Estes Park, CO

View of Glacier Gorge and Longs Peak from the trail

Lake Helene from Bear Lake

6.2 mi 9.9 km • 1,176' Up 358.38 m Up • 1,176' Down 358.38 m Down

Estes Park, CO

Bear Lake Trail

0.6 mi 1.0 km • 45' Up 13.78 m Up • 39' Down 11.84 m Down

Estes Park, CO

Cub Lake Loop

6.1 mi 9.9 km • 629' Up 191.66 m Up • 626' Down 190.66 m Down

Estes Park, CO

Twin Sisters

7.5 mi 12.1 km • 2,392' Up 729.17 m Up • 2,388' Down 727.97 m Down

Estes Park, CO

Lookout Mountain Trail

4.9 mi 7.8 km • 1,948' Up 593.61 m Up • 1,947' Down 593.37 m Down

Estes Park, CO

Your Rating:
Your Difficulty:
Your Favorites:	Add To-Do · Your List

Dream Lake Trail

“The main thoroughfare between Bear Lake and Dream Lake. ”

1.0

1.6

Point to Point

9,920' 3,024 m

9,489' 2,892 m

432' 132 m

9' 3 m

8%

20%

Toolbox

Know This Trail?

Dogs No Dogs

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

Description

Contacts

Shared By:

Trail Ratings

#3

#39

#3

#11

#39

Photos

0 Comments

Comment Type:

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

Check-Ins

Nearby Recommended Routes

Best of Bear Lake Area Loop

Lake Helene from Bear Lake

Bear Lake Trail

Cub Lake Loop

Twin Sisters

Lookout Mountain Trail

Join the Community! It's FREE