Taber: To peter's defense, it is possible those places (Breck/Winter Park etc.) might be associated only with Winter in some minds.

And there was a time in my neck of the woods when Colo Springs/Pikes Peak were very much associated with Summer in Colorado. I'm sure we were ignorant but every church or boy scout group seemed to hike PP (and bring back a corresponding tshirt).

panpeter, the Lake Haiyaha loop is about 6.5 miles. I typically budget a steady hiking pace of ~2 miles an hour, so you could in theory do this in about 3 hours. But to allow for photography stops you should plan for 4 hours.

There may still be some snow on sections of the trail. It will be packed down, but it will tend to decrease your travel time. Here's a photo I took last week. Still lots of snow:
http://www.pbase.com/mangoman/image/150529691/original

That's Emerald Lake at the bottom of the photo. Dream Lake is down the valley to the left of Emerald and Lake Haiyaha is behind the first ridge in back of Emerald. You can see also Mills Lake in the distance.

There is a north facing slope between Dream and Haiyaha. It will probably still have snow in mid- June. Depends on temperatures until then.

Great pic Nelson! I haven't been up there yet this year. The cooler weather has made me push back any camping plans.

Sprague Lake at sunset is somewhat iffy. The sun will be setting behind the Continental Divide and you'll have to be really lucky to get good pics. Your better bet is to try to shoot Longs Peak from Bierstadt or Moraine Park, or even head up on Trail Ridge Road and get some sunset shots there. You'll be much higher up than Sprague on TRR and have a lot bigger views to pick from.

Cub Lake is a great hike in the early evening.

Sprague is the classic sunrise shot, but Bear or Bierstadt work well too.

WhereWeAre is correct that Moraine Park or up Trail Ridge would be a better sunset spot with more options than Sprague. That said, I once got a decent shot of rainbow over Sprague Lake at sunset due to a storm out east, but I probably could have seen that rainbow at the other locations.

wtm003, Thanks, it was an easy day to snap a few good pics, even though it was late morning-early afternoon and not the classic magic light time. I'll share one more, a Colorado blue sky with nice designer clouds.
http://nelsonchenkin.zenfolio.com/p9...ef95#h675cef95

We did a house exchange a few summers back and spent the summer in Boulder. You've got a very limited amount of time, so I'd probably skip Boulder.

However, I would check out RedRocks if you can. If there is no concerts there, they may be showing a movie or something. It is very stunning. If you're a music fan, you'll appreciate the historic concerts that have taken place here.

"Pinch me, I must be dreaming." That's how awesome this place is.

Looking at this thread years later.
What loop are they saying to do in reverse?
Do they mean this

Caņon City --> salida (US 50) --> Leadville (US 24) --> Breckenridge (SH 9)--> Fairplay --> Denver via US285.

or this

hike in Bear lake and spraque lake area and drive Trail ridge road.