Dream Lake | Rocky Mountain National Park Sunrise Engagement Photos
Engagements symbolize the beginning stages of a different season of life. And it’s also the excitement of planning a wedding and cool mountain engagement photos! If you think about it, it takes an adventurous spirit to jump into new beginnings! Celebrate the new adventure with adventure!
Beth and Anthony did that! Welcome to their Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain engagement photos in the beautiful state of Colorado.
They are through and through an adventurous duo. They wanted to have epic views in their engagement photos and were willing to make a little trip out of it.
And I couldn’t have been more excited about it!
I so loved how they were easy going, funny, and up for anything and everything I could throw their way. That is my ideal Andrea Wagner Photography couple description after all! Beth and I went all in with the planning. We spent a few weeks going back and forth on the Colorado location recommendations I sent her. She decided she loved Dream Lake.
A beautiful choice for that Mountain engagement photos vibe!
The Dream Lake trail is in the Rocky Mountain National Park in the state of Colorado. We went in April so there was still snow on the ground. The snow gave it the perfect early spring visual of clear blue skies, snow dusted mountain peaks, and pine trees.
A truly beautiful day! And we were able to appreciate it even more because we almost had to cancel! You see, Anthony is in the military and was possibly not going to get off that weekend as planned. But it ended up working out in the end!
Beth and Anthony road tripped out to Colorado from River Falls WI.
Our goal was to get up and at it right after sunrise so that the hike and location weren’t overcrowded! My husband and I entered Rocky Mountain National Park at about 6:30am and met Anthony and Beth at the Bear Lake Trailhead. There was a significant amount of snow still in mid-April, much more at the trailhead than we had expected but luckily we had spikes for our boots.
We hiked to Dream lake, passing Nymph Lake and Lake Haiyaha first. Because of it being early spring, the lakes were still frozen and it was significantly windy up there! But Beth and Anthony were such troopers. And we had the place all to ourselves which was what we wanted. Mission accomplished my friends.
After the hike, on our way out of the park, we stopped for some final epic views. And we were reminded why we got there at the crack of dawn. The amount of people in line to get into the park at that time (just before noon) was insane! There was over 100 cars waiting to see the beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park. Thank goodness we made it at the crack of dawn for our romantic sunrise session!
Does this make you want to plan your own mountain engagement photos at Dream Lake, in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Where do you begin?
I’ll tell you!
First of all, make sure to look for someone who is knowledgeable or willing to put in the time and research to create the perfect dream engagement session for you and your partner. Just be sure that if you are looking for an adventurous session that involves hiking to come prepared!
The Dream Lake trail (coming from Bear Lake Trailhead) is 2.2 miles round trip.
It takes around 40 minutes in each direction, but it could take up to an hour if you’re not used to the elevation. Dream Lake is at 9,905 ft with a gain of 425 ft of elevation during the hike. So, if you're sensitive to altitude sickness, I do recommend you get there a day or two before your session. This will help you begin to get acclimated to the elevation! If this isn’t a possibility there are some other great options! Some are altitude sickness medication, making sure to stay hydrated, and listening to your body!
Enjoy this gorgeous mountain engagement session!
