The Dream Lake Colorado hike is one of the most popular short trails in the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), located near the town of Estes Park, Colorado.
This lake is part of the Emerald Lake trail, which is a nice, family friendly hike that features a total of three different scenic lakes on the main trail — Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake — plus two more optional lakes you can visit with side trails (Bear Lake and Lake Haiyaha).
Wildlife sightings are also common on this trail, and it’s a good starter hike for acclimating to the higher elevations in the Rocky Mountains.
This guide will explain how to do the Dream Lake Trail, how to get permits and parking, where to find the trailhead in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and everything else you need to know before you go!
Where To Stay In Estes Park
Quick Facts*
- Distance: 2 miles (3.2 km) round trip
- Elevation Gain: 450 feet (140 m)
- Start Elevation: 9,450 feet (2,880 m)
- End Elevation: 9,900 feet (3,020 m)
- Duration: 1.5 – 2 hours round trip
- Difficulty: Easy
*These stats are for the roundtrip hike to Dream Lake without doing Emerald Lake and the optional side trails for Bear Lake or Lake Haiyaha
Dream Lake Colorado
Dream Lake Trail: What To Expect
The Dream Lake Colorado hike takes you to two different alpine lakes, with an option to do three more lakes if you have time.
It’s a relatively short and easy hike to Dream Lake, and should be manageable for all ages and ability levels. The elevation might make you feel a little out of breath at first, but it’s good for building up to some of the harder hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park.
This lake is part of the Emerald Lake hike, and one of the great things about it is that you can turn around at any point on the trail. Even if you stop at Dream Lake and don’t go all the way to Emerald Lake, you’ll still see plenty of good scenery on the way there.
A friendly little chipmunk
Wildlife sightings are another great thing about the Dream Lake Trail. The most common animals to see here are elk, but it’s also possible to see black bears, moose, deer, and other kinds of animals. Pets aren’t allowed, and you’ll want to keep small kids within sight.
This hike is extremely popular and often very busy, so it’s a good idea to start early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and you’ll also need to get access permits for Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ll explain that process in more detail later in this travel guide.
The sections below will explain each part of the Dream Lake Colorado hike and what to expect. It’s a great starter trail in RMNP!
• Trailhead To Nymph Lake (Part 1 of 2)
Distance: 0.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 250 feet
Time: 20-30 minutes
The Dream Lake Trail starts with a brief ascent up to Nymph Lake, which is the smallest of the three lakes on the main trail. It’s a paved path at first, but quickly turns into dirt and rocks.
Near the trailhead, you’ll come to a junction where you can turn right for Bear Lake, or turn left for Nymph / Dream / Emerald Lake. You can come back here later and see Bear Lake on the way out, if you want. It’s right by the trailhead, so it can wait.
After about 20-30 minutes of hiking, you’ll reach Nymph Lake, which is filled with lily pads. There’s a nice bench where you can sit and take a break from the trail.
Nymph Lake
In the early morning, we encountered a group of elk walking right across the hiking path! It seems to be common at this lake.
Nymph is nice, but it’s more of a pond than a lake. It’s not as good as Dream Lake or Emerald Lake. It’s more like a preview of what’s to come next.
We saw several elk on the way to Nymph Lake
• Nymph Lake to Dream Lake (Part 2 of 2)
Distance: 0.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 200 feet
Time: 20-30 minutes
The short climb from Nymph Lake to Dream Lake starts out a little steep, but soon becomes flatter.
This part of the hike is when things start to become scenic, and you get an amazing glimpse of Rocky Mountain National Park, with views all the way out to Longs Peak.
Amazing views of Rocky Mountain National Park
After about 20-30 minutes of hiking from Nymph Lake, you’ll reach a junction with a sign to turn left for Lake Haiyaha, or turn right for Dream Lake and Emerald Lake.
Shortly after passing the sign, you’ll arrive at Dream Lake, which is bigger and better than Nymph, and you can start to see Hallett Peak in the background.
Dream Lake
• The Other Lakes
After enjoying the nice views at Dream Lake, you can continue hiking to Emerald Lake, or retrace your steps back to the trailhead. Some people who aren’t used to a lot of hiking may call it quits at Dream Lake.
If you have the time and energy, I would highly recommend hiking all the way to Emerald Lake, because it’s the best of the three lakes on this main trail by far. There are also optional side trails to see Lake Haiyaha or Bear Lake.
If you decide to continue the hike and visit Emerald Lake and/or the other lakes, you can read more about that in my complete guide for the trail.
Read More: Emerald Lake Trail
Emerald Lake is stunning and well worth the extra bit of hiking from Dream Lake
Entrance Fee
For most months of the year, you need a national park pass AND a timed entry permit to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, which also applies to the Dream Lake trail since it’s part of RMNP.
The national park pass is easy to get and you can buy it online or in person. We normally get the annual pass and visit several U.S. parks in a year, but they also have daily passes. More information and current fees can be found on the RMNP website.
A timed entry permit is also required to do the Dream Lake Trail. This one is a bit annoying, but it’s intended to manage crowds at RMNP. There are some exceptions to this rule if you arrive very early in the morning, or very late in the afternoon.
You can read more about the timed entry permit and how to get it on the RMNP website.
Dream Lake Trailhead: How To Get There
The Dream Lake hike starts from the Bear Lake trailhead, which is located at the end of Bear Lake Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
Here are the GPS coordinates: 40.312007745083704, -105.64600936235149
You can also use the Google map below to navigate you directly to the parking area, which is a 45 minute drive from the town of Estes Park, or 2 hours from Denver Colorado.
On maps, it’s called the Bear Lake Trailhead, but you can rest assured that the Dream Lake Trail also starts from this same location.
Trailhead Conditions
The road is paved and in good condition all the way from Estes Park to the Bear Lake trailhead, so you don’t need high clearance or anything special to reach it.
When you first turn into Bear Lake Road, there’s a booth with friendly rangers from the National Park Service checking entry permits. At the trailhead, there are some information signs, vault toilets, trash bins, a water bottle filling station, and a trail map.
The trailhead has a huge parking lot with more than 200 car parking spaces, but because of the crazy popularity of this hike nowadays, the parking fills up very quickly. If the parking lot is full, you can use the Park & Ride shuttle bus service provided by NPS.
U.S. National Park Regulations
The Dream Lake trail is part of Rocky Mountain National Park, so the usual U.S. national park regulations apply.
As always, please remember to keep the trail clean, be considerate of other hikers, and leave no trace. Thanks and happy travels!
Estes Park Hotels
Best Time To Visit
The Dream Lake Colorado hike is nice at any time of day, but I think it’s definitely best to go in the early morning.
It’s very hard to get parking for this hike because of its extreme popularity, and by going in the morning you also avoid a bit of the crowds and heat. It’s good for photography, too, because you can see reflections on the lakes.
The Dream Lake hike is open all year, but the best months to visit are from May to October, when there isn’t snow or ice on the trail. You can check current trail conditions on the RMNP website before you go.
More Colorado Hiking Guides
Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed this guide for the Dream Lake trail in Estes Park (Rocky Mountain National Park).
Don’t forget there are several other nice lakes that you can visit on this same trail! You can read more about this in my complete guide for the Emerald Lake Trail.