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Dave Spates

Dave Spates

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You are here: Home / Rocky Mountain National Park / Spectacle Lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park

Spectacle Lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park

August 17, 2022 by davespates Leave a Comment

Spectacle Lakes and Ypsilon Mountain Rocky Mountain National Park

Contents

  1. Getting to Spectacle Lakes
    1. Chipmunk Lake
    2. Ypsilon Lake
  2. Video of our Hike to Spectacle Lakes
    1. Crux Move to Spectacle Lakes
  3. Spectacle Lakes
    1. Getting to Upper Spectacle Lake
    2. Chiquita Lake Attempt
    3. Spectacle Lakes Hike Review

August 13th 2022 Emily and I hiked to Spectacle Lakes from the Lawn Lake trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park. Spectacle Lakes are located in the Mummy Range section of the park, underneath Ypsilon Mountain (13,520′). 

Hiking Distance – 12.8 Miles Round-trip

Elevation Gain – 3,661 ft (The hike fail to Chiquita Lake added about 1 mile)

Getting to Spectacle Lakes

Starting from the Lawn Lake trailhead, hike 1.4 miles on the Lawn Lake trail until you reach the trail junction for Ypsilon Lake and Lawn Lake. Take the route to Ypsilon Lake. Frem here it’s about a 3 mile slog through a forest with very little overlooks or views. Once the mountains come into view you are getting close to Chipmunk Lake. 

Chipmunk Lake

rock in chipmunk lake, clear mountain reflections
Chipmunk Lake usually provides some of the best water reflections

This is a nice mental break to be out in the open. The shallow lake is usually calm providing nice reflections of Mount Chiquita and Ypsilon Mountain. Descend down the trail and pass the Upper Chipmunk campsite. Some maps show a lake here but all I see are a bunch of rocks. Less than a half-mile away you will run into Ypsilon Lake. 

Ypsilon Lake

west shore of Ypsilon Lake summer time
West shore of Ypsilon Lake during late summer

If you want to explore here there are some social trails that will take you around the lake. Moving forward to Spectacle Lakes, head west over a few log bridges. You’ll pass by a few spectacular cascades while gaining some elevation.

emily navigating up the spectacle lakes trail
Emily navigates up through the rocky drainage, most of these sections are marked with cairns for optimal route
emily hiking up the rocky and grassy terrain on spectacle lakes trail
Some parts of the trail are pretty easy to hike through although there’s still a bit of elevation gain
open Tundra and mountain views
Open tundra, slabs of rock and great mountain views when things open up

There’s a worn path that is pretty easy to follow. There will be a couple more creek crossings and a few more cascades as you make your way up. About 5.5 miles into this trail, you’ll come across a giant rock slab, with the small cascade off to the right. 

Video of our Hike to Spectacle Lakes

Crux Move to Spectacle Lakes

class 3 rock slab on spectacle lakes trail
This is the rock slab that many consider the most difficult part of the Spectacle Lakes trail.

This is the class 3 crux move that can be a bit sketchy for those not used to being on exposed rock. I know anxiety can kick in, and so can complacency, which can cause nasty falls at this section. My advice would be to climb the slab only if comfortable. Don’t climb the slab if wet. The rock has great handholds, use them. Once you get up to where you can comfortably stand, head east towards the cascade. Look for the cairns. This is where the easiest route will continue. 

dave spates climbing up a rock slab wearing a helmet and taking a selfie
Me taking a selfie about half-way up the rock slab

You can alternatively climb up the cascade instead of the giant rock slab. This route looked to be less exposed, as a fall here, you may not tumble down as far as if you were on the class 3 rock slab. 

Emily navigating through the rocky terrain up to Spectacle Lakes
Emily making her final push up to Lower Spectacle Lake

Continue climbing up the cascade that is well marked with cairns until you reach the outlet of Lower Spectacle Lake. 

Spectacle Lakes

wide view of lower spectacle lake seen from above its rocky shore
View from the south side of Lower Spectacle Lake, Emily has her hands up in the distance

Once at the lower lake you will be in one of the most remarkable basins in Rocky Mountain National Park. Climb up the rock slab to the east to get a better view of both of the lakes.

above the rocky terrain of lower Spectacle Lake looking east
near the middle of the Spectacles, looking east at the lower lake

The higher you go the more of the second lake you will be able to see. Hiking to Upper Spectacle Lake will start the bring the next lake into view immediately.

Getting to Upper Spectacle Lake

There’s no defined path to reaching Upper Spectacle Lake. You will have to boulder hop to get there. We did however, find a way easier path on the way back, as compared to the way there. 

upper spectacle lake rocky terrain and ypsilon mountain
Looking down on the rocky shore of lower Spectacle Lake

Check out my Alltrails route if interested

Reaching the shore of the upper lake will take you about .4 miles of some moderate boulder hopping, with about 100 feet of elevation gain and loss.

rocky shore alpine tarn upper spectacle lake permanent snowfield on Ypsilon Mountain
The permanent snowfield on Ypsilon Mountains east face as seen from the rocky shore of Upper Spectacle Lake

The views at the shore of Upper Spectacle Lake are worth the extra time it takes to get there. Even though we saw a good amount of people on the trail this day, we had the Upper Lake entirely to ourselves. 

Chiquita Lake Attempt

Our next destination was Chiquita Lake. There’s a social trail turn off on the way back to Ypsilon Lake, which I also marked on the Alltrails route. Someone on the trail warned us that the grass would be overgrown making it difficult to navigate the bushwhack. He was right. We made it about .4 miles up before I had one too many falls in the tall grass. We were already gassed and decided to turn around. Which really sucks because looking back at the map we were pretty close to getting out of the grass and it would have been boulder hopping and scree the rest of the way. Guess we’ll have to return later in the year to knock this lake out. 

Spectacle Lakes Hike Review

  • Views at Spectacle Lakes are worth the pain. Very rarely do you get an end result as cool as this
  • Not a hike for beginners. Lots of scrambling required. If weather turns bad this hike will get significantly more difficult.
  • Recommend hiking in late summer for easiest access to the lakes. 
  • Most of the trail is marked well with cairns. However we saw a lot of people going way off route. Recommend having some type of navigation system. 

Filed Under: Rocky Mountain National Park

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