CO Road-trip 2012: Day 5

In the middle of the night we noticed a couple of times that Penny was panting in her dog bed. We ignored it and went back to sleep. Later, I woke to the distinctive aroma of dog poop. Penny developed an upset stomach and couldn't hold her bladder. We moved her into the bathroom and tried to clean up as much of the poop from her bed as possible. A few hours later we got out of bed again because we could hear her pacing in the bathroom. Upon opening the bathroom door we were met with a rank-smelling cloud. She had gone to the bathroom at least two more times. For the rest of the night we tried to take her out every hour. However, I was planning on doing a hike this day while B was at her conference, so she would have to be kept in the bathroom while we were gone.To prepare for the mess that would surely await us later in the day, I went and bought some cleaning supplies after I dropped B off at the conference. I dropped off the supplies in the cabin and let Penny out one last time before leaving. B planned on checking on her at lunch. I drove into Rocky Mountain National Park at ~8:45a. At the entrance station I was informed that the Bear Lake Road would be closed at 9a due to construction. I hurriedly drove up the Bear Lake Road to ensure that I would get past the section that they would close. I was not alone.I was following quite a few cars through the construction and predictably the Glacier Gorge Trailhead was full when I drove by it at ~9:15a. Therefore, I had to start at the Bear Lake Trailhead. My destinations for this hike (description here) included Glass Lake and Sky Pond as well as Glacier Falls on a little side-trip on my way back to the trailhead. To begin, I hiked downhill past the intersection with the trail coming from the Glacier Gorge Trailhead and continued towards Alberta Falls. There were some people on the trail here. At the base of Alberta Falls a trail crew was repairing part of the trail and had it roped off. I walked around their roped-off area and got down to creek side to get a look at the 25' waterfall. After taking a few pics I got back on the trail and continued uphill just east of East Glacier Knob. After Alberta Falls I encountered quite a few less people. As I came around a corner just after another trail junction, I was met with a fantastic view looking west up Loch Vale and a little wind.Just before reaching the junction with the Mills Lake Trail, there were some great views looking into Glacier Gorge to the south. At the junction, I stayed right to keep climbing up into Loch Vale. After a few switchbacks and surpassing 10,000', I arrived at the eastern end of The Loch (top-right). I followed the trail along the northern shore and found a couple of fantastic viewpoints over the lake, which were my favorite of the hike. Taylor Peak and Powell Peak loom over the cirque that holds Glass Lake (sometimes referred to as Lake of Glass) and Sky Pond, my destinations. Past The Loch, the trail parallels Icy Brook as it climbs towards Glass Lake. Just below Glass Lake the well defined trail ends adjacent to Timberline Falls. Here, I met a couple from Iowa and another couple that had just gotten engaged at Glass Lake (which they thought was Sky Pond).The Iowa couple followed me up the slope to Glass Lake (above) and Sky Pond (right) and back down. We followed the creekbed up to the lake and found it to be just as windy as the engaged couple had described. However, it wasn't as cold as they described and it was absolutely beautiful. I took a little bit of time to take some pictures before we moved on. We followed the northern shore of Glass Lake along a use-trail and made our way up to Sky Pond. Just below Sky Pond is a nice little waterfall, which I visited briefly. Also near this spot was another group of hikers looking like they were about to head down. At Sky Pond, the Iowa couple and I ate lunch and wandered around a little to take some pics. Taylor Peak is directly behind the lake to the southwest and The Sharkstooth (below) is to the west. This was the highest point along the hike at ~10,900'.After making it back down to the base of Timberline Falls, the Iowa couple said goodbye and headed off as I lingered a little while longer at the waterfall. Eventually, I made my way back past The Loch and came to the Mills Lake junction. This time I took the Mills Lake Trail to do a short side-trip to Glacier Falls. After only a few minutes I turned off of the main trail on a small, lightly used trail down to the base of the waterfall, which I had to myself. I took a few pics and headed back to the trail junction. I saw a few more people as I made my way back to the trailhead, most of which were on the trailhead side of Alberta Falls.Back at the Bear Lake Trailhead, I checked out Bear Lake which wasn't too impressive. However, this was because I only looked out over the lake from the eastern shore and didn't realize that there were good views of Longs Peak from the northern shore. On my way back to the YMCA, there was a bull elk munching on some grass only a couple of feet off the Bear Lake Road. After getting Penny some bland food (vet recommeded) in town, I came back to the cabin. B joined us a little while later and we had a simple dinner and Penny seemed to enjoy her combination rice and baby food. After dinner, B had her poster session. Penny seemed to be doing better and we were hoping for a better night. I was looking forward to doing another hike.