I expect this warm up to have a pretty significant impact on melting and opening up of some lakes in the park. That being said we have a long way to go. There is a lot of snow in the higher elevations in Rocky right now.
In the fifteen years I’ve been photographing Rocky, I personally cant remember a year where there was this much snow present so late into the spring. I’d suggest that everybody get used to the fun of post holing when hiking for at least the next few weeks.
The two images included in this post are from the last two weeks. Conditions will change quickly and everybody needs to be prudent and safe when walking near frozen and thawing bodies of water. It’s often difficult to tell whether your standing on snow along the shoreline, or snow on top of soft, unstable ice.
Moraine and Horseshoe Park are free of snow. The meadows are just starting to green up and both Fall River and the Big Thompson are starting flow at a good pace. I’m eagerly awaiting the wildflowers in Moraine Park this year as the combination of heavy moisture and the revived soil from the Fern Creek fire could make for an interesting display.
Sprague Lake is completely free of ice now. The last little bit of ice on Sprague melted off at the end of last week. Bierstadt Lake was still covered by ice as of this weekend. The edges had just begun to thaw out and I expect Bierstadt to open up quickly from here on out as it was apparent the ice sheet is very soft.
Bear and Nymph lake still remained buried under the heavy snowpack. Dream Lake’s outlet has begun to thaw out and there is open water to be found.
At this point, lakes at about 10,000 ft or higher in Rocky Mountain National Park are going to be frozen well into June. The higher lakes are buried under considerable snow so it’s going to take a lot of energy to thaw them. Until then, the lakes, streams and waterfalls at lower elevations should keep photographers busy.