Sky Pond
Estes Park, CO
A remote alpine lake at 10,900 feet at the base of the Sharkstooth, a prominent granite spire along the Continental Divide. Access requires a 4.5-mile hike from Glacier Gorge Trailhead, including a scramble up Timberline Falls. The lake is surrounded by the dramatic walls of the Cathedral Spires.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- morning
- Crowds
- Quiet
- Shot Types
- landscapewidereflection
- Best Seasons
- summer
Author's Comments
Sky Pond is not a place you happen upon. You earn it. Four and a half miles in from Glacier Gorge, climbing through forest and past two other lakes that would be the destination on any lesser trail, and then the route does something I still find almost confrontational - it asks you to scramble up the side of a waterfall. Timberline Falls is wet rock and exposed footing and the kind of obstacle that turns casual hikers around. That filtering is part of why the lake at the top still feels like a secret. When you crest the final shelf and the pond opens in front of you, the Cathedral Spires rise straight out of the water on the far side, and the Sharkstooth cuts the sky like something drawn rather than weathered into being. At 10,900 feet the air is thin and the light is hard and clean. I have been there in July when the last snow was still clinging to the couloirs and the water held a reflection so still it felt like a held breath. Go in summer. Go early. The wind picks up by mid-morning and the reflection goes with it, and afternoon thunderstorms in the high country are not a thing to negotiate with from an exposed basin. I leave the trailhead before sunrise and try to be at the lake by eight. A wide lens is the obvious choice but I have made my favorite frame here at 50mm, with the Sharkstooth filling the upper third and the water doing the rest of the work. This is backcountry. Bring layers you do not think you need. Bring more water than feels reasonable. Then bring your camera and your patience, and let the place do what it does.
Gallery
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