Sky Pond, Colorado, United States

5Kim K 5:00 PM Aug 30, 2022

Amazing views on the climb to the top!
This was a strenuous hike for us. We are 53. My husband rides bicycle regularly and can do 40 miles at a time and this kicked his butt too. Could be because of the elevation too. Me, I do not exercise and it has been awhile since I have hiked. But we both made it to the top!!! It just took us a couple hours longer than most, I am sure. We started at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead at 7:30 a.m. and it took us almost 4-1/2 hours to reach Sky Pond. By tye time we finished, it had taken almost 8 hours. It was 45° when we started the hike at 7:30 a.m. on Wed. August 17th and 73° when we ended. So dress in layers! The scramble up the side of the waterfall wasn't too bad - it was scarier coming back down it. Not as easy to find something to grip onto. When we came up over that waterfall and saw the "pond" we collapsed next to it and started eating our lunch thankful we had made it. Then I heard a guy tell his family it was the Lake of Glass and I looked at my husband and said OMG we are not there yet! From the Lake of Glass it is kind of difficult to figure out where the path is to go to Sky Pond. I kept looking for other people to see where they were going. We figured it out and it wasn't too much beyond the Lake of Glass so make sure you continue on! Honestly I thought the Loch Lake was prettier and then next the Lake of Glass. Sky Pond might be better earlier in the summer, once they open it up. It is a lot smaller than the other bodies of water but it is still breathtaking scenery. You should definitely have a walking stick or hiking poles for the trek back down the mountain. It is very hard on the knees. I had knee surgery in 2014 and my knee was screaming at me not long after we started down the mountain without poles. My photos will show the entire hike up from Glacier Gorge Trailhead, to Alberta Falls, The Loch, Lake of Glass and Sky Pond. We even saw a female Elk on the trail. She was up ahead so we stopped about 50 yards away and kept as still and quiet as possible. Then she came walking right at us, off to the side, stared at us like she was saying we were in her way, went around us and came back to the trail behind us. Very cool.

5Amie J 5:00 PM Jun 23, 2020

Incredible
Sky Pond hike. Wow. Took us 6 hours to complete. We truly loved every bit of this hike. I’m not a huge “hiker” but I love walking in nature and I’m pretty fit and active overall. We enjoyed the views, the waterfalls, the wildlife, the weather, and the greenery. Most of the path was well marked and well traveled from those who went before us. The last mile or two had parts we couldn’t see the path but other people had footprints left in the snow so we found our way. What I didn’t know was that toward the end you have to climb up IN a waterfall to continue the path to Sky pond. Also, there was snow, but not 2 feet deep snow, it was packed down so it was manageable. I wore tennis shoes which provided no grip, but I made it just fine. I had to finally just realize my feet and pants were going to be soaked. Once I decided to just walk in the snow and water it was easier..I just had wet feet. Something else that’s also good to know is that the snow area was a comfortable temperature outside (maybe upper 50s) and I did it in a t-shirt and long pants. That made the hike so much more enjoyable for me to not be freezing cold. We saw chipmunks, a marmot, birds, and an elk pass the walkway on our journey back to Glacier Gorge trailhead just passed Loch lake. For me, the view at the level of the waterfall looking down over Loch was even more stunning than Sky pond. I would recommend bringing water, chapstick, a camera or cell phone for pictures, a rain jacket (we caught some decent rain along the way), and layers because most of the hike was comfortable but it got cool at higher places once it started raining.