Rocky Mountain National Park

Reviews 3

AL

Alice Wang

Picturesque. Scenic. Breathtaking. Rocky Mountain National Park (thereto known as RMNP) is the place to go if you love views of majestic snow-capped mountains, wooded forests, lakes, and alpine tundra. Its also the place to go if you love hiking, biking, backpacking, camping, and wildlife. I fall into both those categories, so for the 4th of July weekend my parents and I took a trip out to Colorado to explore RMNP. We drove in from Boulder and came in through the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center. From there, we drove to the Park and Ride near Glacier Basin to take the free shuttle to Bear Lake. During the summer, many of the parking lots fill up quickly and these shuttle buses provide access during the peak hours. There are three different shuttle routes: Bear Lake Route, Moraine Lake Route, and the Hiker Shuttle Route (from the Estes Park town into RMNP). The bus dropped us off right at the Bear Lake trailhead. We did the Bear Lake loop (0.5 miles, elevation gain 160 feet), which was a nice, easy walk around the lake. Afterwards, we hiked to Emerald Lake (1.8 miles, elevation gain of 425 feet). This hike includes three lakes - Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake. From the trailhead to Nymph Lake is 0.5 miles, from Nymph Lake to Dream Lake is 0.6 miles, and from Dream Lake to Emerald Lake is 0.7 miles. Its not a very long hike but because of the high altitude, it took me a lot longer to hike the ~2 miles here than it would have if I hiked it somewhere with a lower altitude. So take that into consideration if youre trying to squeeze in a lot of hikes in one day. Depending on how your body reacts to altitude changes, you may find yourself resting more than you think. We hiked back to the trailhead and then proceeded to Alberta Falls (0.8 miles, elevation gain 160 feet). Dream Lake was my favorite. I love the scenic views of the forests and the streams with the mountain backdrop. Emerald Lake is also very striking, especially since youre so close to the snow-capped mountains. The next day, we drove Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake. We made a couple of stops on Trail Ridge Road, such as Rainbow Curve, Forest Canyon, and Rock Cut. At Rock Cut, we hiked the Tundra Communities Trailhead. The views on this road are spectacular and awe-inspiring. I especially loved the Forest Canyon Overlook, and we even saw a ton of marmots and elk here. The marmots got really close to us; they had an insatiable curiosity (probably wondering if we had food). Youll see a lot of alpine tundra terrain here, also known as the "land above the trees." In this ecosystem, youll see lichens, flowering plants, and cushion plants (looks like clumps of moss). The alpine tundra ecosystem is very, very fragile. Recovery takes hundreds of years, so do not venture off the trail when youre exploring this area. Its very unique and very delicate. We stopped for a break at Alpine Visitor Center (elevation of 11,796 feet) before driving down the mountain. We made a stop at Milner Pass to step on the Continental Divide before proceeding the rest of the way to Grand Lake. I wasnt super impressed with Grand Lake, but it is ideal if you want to get on the water and go boating or waterskiing. In the summer, thunderstorms often show up in the afternoons. Be careful and stay below the tree line during this time. We luckily didnt run into any thunderstorms, only a few drizzles. In terms of wildlife, we saw moose, elk, marmots, pika, and squirrels. Im a big fan of National Parks, and Ive been pretty much all the major big ones. Im also a huge lover of the mountain-forest-lake landscape, hiking, and seeing wildlife, so RMNP had the perfect combo for me. Colorado is a wonderful place to be if you have the itch to explore the great outdoors. I would highly, highly recommend anyone to venture out to RMNP.

JE

Jessi Charm

We went to Wild Basin at the suggestion of a park ranger at the main rocky mountain entrance up north. Definitely get a wild basin map due to the lack of cell reception. We turned around and drove about 20 mins south to the basin entrance and discovered parking was full. Fortunately found parking on the side of the main road not far away. The rangers said the county doesnt care where you park which was cool so we didnt have to worry about getting towed. Let me say that if you are in the same situation that taking your bikes is everything. We parked, biked back down to the full parking lot, biked about 2 miles to the start of the trailhead. We popped by the ranger station to buy bottle water $1 each. Then we chained our bikes by the trailhead start. Our destination was Ouzel falls -about 2.7 miles of uphill hiking. Its pretty doable for all fitness levels but there are some rather steep parts going up. You will have great views of rushing water and falls most of the way. Its well trafficked by people and many use ski poles for support. Some walk bridges make great pic spots. The best part of reaching the bottom of the Ouzel falls was the realization that I could get up top. If you make youre way to bottom left side base of the falls - there are some rocks along the wall you can climb over to get up top. When I went last week there was a snow cap that if you you stay to the left and keep climbing you will actually reach a little path that takes you to the top. Then hang right, walk through a bit of low trees/brush, and you will find yourself standing ontop of Ouzel Falls. I wore grip gloves for this but you may not need them there was a small group of teenagers when I got there who took the same route. Its worth it for the view and the pics! Go back down the same way. This was about a 6 hour hike and bike for us since we lingered awhile at the falls. I wish I had worn hiking boots by the time we scaled back down because i almost twisted my ankle a few times on the trail rocks. When you return to the trailhead the 2 mile bike back to the parking is much better cause its downhill. I had about as many steps that day as a 1/2 marathon.

VI

Virginia Liao

My review is for the hiking trails surrounding Glacier Gorge. My bf and I hiked the Alberta Falls, Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake trail. We did the Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake trail first before driving to Alberta Falls located just a few minutes south. If you look at the map, the first 3 trails can easily be done as theyre connected. There is a rest stop at the start of the Bear Lake trail to get water or bathroom break. There wont be any bathrooms once you start. There is a shuttle bus that runs along the Bear Lake road connecting the major trailheads of the area. Bear Lake was probably the best in scenery compared to the later lakes that we visited. We finished our hike of all 4 hikes in about 4 hours including picture snapping and the return trip. I think the Alberta Falls has nice viewings of rock formations but the waterfall isnt that great to look at and I would even go far as to say that this is a skippable hike if you are short in time. For lunch, most people drive on Trail Ridge Rd up to the Alpine Visitor Center (also we we got data connection again). There are bathrooms, a souvenir shop and even EMT are on standby if anyone feels short on breath (the air gets thinner as you go further up the mountain so be sure to keep that in mind if you have elderly folks in your group). Even when we went in July, we still saw some unmelted snow and snowcaps on mountains along the range. You will see deers too and there are road signs posted about them. After lunch, we continued to drive along Trail Ridge Rd to optimize our time on the mountain since the Rocky Mtn is too expansive to take in just for 1 day or even 1 week. We made stops along the road to view the different mountains that had visitor information along with them. I highly recommend downloading Google Maps of the places you want ahead of time as data connection will be very limited up there.

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