Hiked to Emmaline Lake with a few other beginners from Chicago. Had a blast despite the drastic altitude changes. Loved finding the Cairns to point the way for the last portion of the trip. We almost stopped at what we heard was called Fake Lake only a ridge away from Emmaline. Glad we kept going and found the real deal. Lake was gorgeous and crystal clear. View back out over the valley was amazing! Would love to go back some day!

We tried to drive up to Emmaline Lake because of the great reviews.. My daughter's name is Emmaline. WARNING-The road up the mountain is dirt and gravel. There are no guard rails. It is very, very scary for anyone afraid of heights! Do NOT try it if you have a phobia. It is hard to turn around and impossible sometimes to see oncoming cars because of the twists and turns. yikes. I made it 4-5 miles up the road before I had a panic attack. There was no way I could drive the other 13 miles of horror up with no guard rails to the lake. Seriously...it would have scared anyone. It was too bad. My daughter was sweet and pretended not to be disappointed. She will go back sometime with somebody with stronger nerves. I wish they would put guard rails around the twists and turns on the dirt road where the trees are burned off. I wish we could have seen it! The drive was well worth it through Roosevelt National Forest though. My children enjoyed rock hopping and wading in the streams and stopping at the scenic views.

A great hiking alternative to going to Rocky Mountain National Park as it is not busy and also dog-friendly. When we went there was still some snow on the ground that made finding the trail a bit difficult in places

Driving West on Rt 14, thru Poudre Canyon you see many amazing sites. At the top, going up Cameron Pass, this lake, man made is a beautiful stop.

This is a great hike up to cirque meadows. The first couple of miles are along an old closed road, but the views are great. Very pretty in the fall when the leaves are changing. We love to take the dogs with us on this hike.