Lake Haiyaha has suddenly changed colors in Rocky Mountain National Park

A popular hike in the iconic Rocky Mountain National Park is now even busier after a natural event caused Lake Haiyaha to suddenly and rapidly change colors. Lake Haiyaha, located just beyond the popular Bear Lake in the park, recently changed colors from a clear blue to milky and bright green. Park experts say the color change is a direct result of a landslide in the park that happened above the lake.  

"I see a lot of nature and beauty you can't explain. It is just gorgeous, breathtaking. It has always been crystal clear. You can always see trout swimming around," one hiker said after coming across Lake Haiyaha. 

While many frequent visitors to the park have recently revisited the lake solely to see the new color of the water, others stumbled upon the lake to be surprised by the change.  

"I was shocked by the strange cloudiness and color of the lake today," one hiker said.

Koren Nydick with Rocky Mountain National Park said a landslide in late June made the water change colors for the last several months.  

"We had a debris slide in Chaos Canyon above Lake Haiyaha. It was quite the event. I heard it was very loud," Nydick said. 

Nydick said the color in the water is a result of rocks that ground together during the slide, and the debris ultimately has been trapped in the lake.  

"It was grinding of the rock into rock flour. The rock flour is really fine and does not settle very quickly," Nydick said.  

Nydick said preliminary studies suggest the fish and other plant life in the lake should not be impacted by the change in the color of the water. The park is still waiting on test results from samples pulled from the water. There is no exact timetable on how much longer the water will stay milky green. However, Nydick said some have reported that the color is already slowly fading. 

Nydick said that most lakes in the park are either slightly blue or brown. She said they have noticed some changes in the past to the lakes that could be the result of things like climate change. However, the water color change in Lake Haiyaha is linked only to the landslide.  

It is important to note that several areas near the rockslide are closed to hikers due to ongoing safety concerns. However, the lake itself is still open to the public.  

"It feels almost like another planet, compared to the other lakes further down, I have never seen a lake this color," one visitor said.