Bierstadt Lake is located in Larimer County, Colorado[1] and within the Rocky Mountain National Park.

[3] The Bierstadt Lake Trailhead is located about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) from the turn-off at U.S. Route 36 into the Rocky Mountain National Park.

[3][4] The lake sits atop a lateral moraine on the side and end of Bartholf Glacier and drains into Mill Creek.

Glacial lobes at Glacier Gorge, Loch Vale, and Flattop Mountain joined and moved iced in Barthlolf Park.

Debris trapped in the ice created the Bierstadt Moraine that lies between Glacier and Mill Creeks and is more than 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and is more than 900 feet (270 m) above the floor of Bartholf Park.

[2][10] Author Lisa Foster describes[7] the long glacial ridge[11] as "one of the most dramatic lateral moraines in the Rocky Mountain National Park".

[7] It was first called "Hanging Lake" by Native Americans due to its "perched condition" on the side of Bartholf Glacier.

[13] In 1876, Bierstadt was commissioned by Windham Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl to make an exceptionally large canvas painting of Longs Peak and Estes Park for $15,000, equivalent to $429,188 in 2023.

The two men also looked for a suitable site, with a great view of Longs Peak, to construct an English hotel for the earl.

[16] Harold Marion Dunning, an early historian, chronicled "that Bierstadt's favorite place for mountain sketches and material for some of his famous paintings was on the shore of the lake that now bears his name".