2 Days in Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of my favorite national parks that I've been to so far. I absolutely love Colorado in general, and despite this being my third trip to the state, when my boyfriend and I took a trip back here about 2 years ago, it was my first time exploring RMNP. Here's how we spent two days exploring the park, and why you should add it to your list fo places to visit!

Table of Contents

• RMNP and Time Entry Permits

• Day One: Gem Lake & Trail Ridge Road

• Day Two: Bear Lake, Alberta Falls, & Alpine Lakes

• Estes Park

• Final Thoughts

Rocky Mountain National Park & Timed Entry Permits

Rocky Mountain National Park is located in northern Colorado and covers 265,807 acres. The park truly encompasses a mountain environment, containing meadows, alpine lakes, snowcapped peaks, etc. There are over 300 miles of hiking trails throughout the park of all different lengths and levels of difficulty. This park was established in 1915 and is one of the most popular parks with about 4 million visitors each year. This park does cost $30 per vehicle to enter unless you have an annual or lifetime national park pass. If you are flying into Colorado to visit the park, the best airport to fly into is the Denver airport, about 1.5-2 hours away from the park. The weather in the park can change drastically, so it is important to be prepared and pack for different weather conditions. Depending on when you are planning to visit, it is also important to check the conditions of the trails as well as Ridge Road, as this park can see snow into the summertime.

RMNP requires a timed entry permit from the end of May- to mid-October. Permits can be purchased at https://www.recreation.gov/timed-entry/10086910 There are two different timed entry options, timed entry and timed entry + Bear Lake Road. Depending on what you are planning to do and see in the park determines which permit is best for you to get, however, I recommend the timed entry + bear lake road if you are unsure, as this gives you access to pretty much the entire park. You can read a little more about each permit on the website though and decide which makes the most sense for you. To purchase the entry permits, you just go to the website, choose the date you are planning on visiting and select your time frame. You must enter the park in the two-hour time frame that is listed on your permit. If you accidentally buy the wrong ticket like I did, they do open up a select number of tickets the night before, or you can enter Bear Lake Road before 5 am or after 6 pm without the timed permit.

Day One: Gem Lake and Trail Ridge Road

Honestly, before going on this trip, I had read about the timed entry passes and was so proud of myself for getting them beforehand with no issues. Well turns out, I clearly didn't read into each one enough and got the wrong passes. We only had the regular timed entry permit the first day, so we were limited on which parts of the park we could go to this day, which was fine, we still had a great time. We started our day hiking Gem Lake. Gem Lake is a 3.4 mile out-and-back trail located near Estes Park. The trail has about 800 feet of elevation gain and had beautiful views on the way up, although hiking was definitely a little bit of an adjustment for my east coast lungs! Gem Lake is an alpine lake situated at the turn around point of this hike. While the actual lake itself is a little underwhelming (it's more of a pond) the actual hike up had great views and the lake was a peaceful resting spot to eat a snack and hangout before heading back down.

Since we were limited as to where in the park our permit allowed us to go, after finishing our hike we decided to do some sightseeing from the car and drove Trail Ridge Road. This is a scenic drive that stretches 43 miles throughout the park and leads to the park's highest point at the Trail Ridge Road Visitor Center located at 12,183 feet of elevation. We spent some time at the visitor's center shopping and grabbing lunch at the cafe. The views surrounding the visitor center were absolutely (literally) breathtaking! I don't know why the altitude always surprises me when I travel out west, but despite getting out of breath with every step I took, the views made it so worth it! Throughout the drive, we saw so many peaks, open valleys, and elk. The views were constantly changing and there were several pulloff overlook points throughout the drive. This is a great way to see some amazing views of the park without having to do a strenuous hike! Due to the weather in the park, this road is only open from late May / early June to mid-October weather permitting, so make sure to check the national park website beforehand! It is also significantly cooler at the top, so I recommend bringing layers no matter what month you are visiting.

Day Two: Bear Lake, Alberta Falls, & Alpine Lakes

Day Two was my favorite day! To do these hikes, you're going to need the timed entry + Bear Lake Road permit. Unfortunately, since I had originally pre-purchased the wrong permit ahead of time, I had to join in the permit lottery the night before day 2 and the only permit I could get this day was for the 5am-7am time slot. Originally this was kind of annoying, as our hotel was about an hour from the park and we had a long day the day before, but it ended up working out great because we beat all of the crowds and the midday strorm that came rolling through! It's moments like these that really show that while it's great to plan things while traveling, going with the flow is sometimes the best way to do it!

We started day two at Bear Lake. The lake was pretty, but nowhere near compared to the other lakes we saw this day! Bear Lake is opened year-round and sits at the base of Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain. There are multiple different trails that extend from this trailhead, so this is definitely a great place to start. I'm definitely glad we started with this lake, or I think I would have been a lot more underwhelmed. The lake is a short walk from the parking lot and was a nice, easy start to our early morning.

After spending some time at Bear Lake, we continued onto the Alberta Falls and Bear Lake combination trail. This was a simple 2 mile or so out-and-back trail with an elevation gain of less than 400 feet. Right off the bat, you're met with gorgeous forest views following Glacier Creek. At the end of the trail, you'll find Alberta Falls which stands at about 30 feet tall. It was a very easy hike with a rewarding waterfall view!

I was already happy with the short hikes we did, but nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of the next hike. Another extension of the Bear Lake trailhead, our next hike was the Nymph, Dream, Emerald, and Haiyaha Lake combination trail. This hike was about 5 miles, took about 2.5 hours and is one of my favorite hikes that I've ever done. All of these are alpine lakes and are all beautiful in their own ways. In my opinion, the hike gets better with each lake that you hit. The first lake we hit was Nymph Lake, the most basic of the four in this alpine lake series, but still beautiful nontheless. Nymph Lake is only about half a mile from the trailhead with an elevation of about 9,900 feet. This is probably the smallest of the four lakes, and it is surrounded by pine trees and mountain views. When we went, the lake was covered in lily pads, which was so cool to see!

Continuing on the combination trail about .6 miles or so, and you'll hit Dream Lake, the next beautiful alpine lake. Dream Lake was so beautiful, and the scenery surrounding it was amazing. Sitting at about 9,900 feet of elevation, the views here are much more open, and the water is actually crystal clear, with a blue tint. We saw a lot of people fishing at this lake while we were exploring. Just when I thought I had already experienced two of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen, I was in for a big treat with the next two!

Next up, about .7 miles down the trail we encountered the first lake that truly took my breath away, Emerald Lake. Sitting at a little over 10,000 feet of elevation, this lake was enclosed in mountain peaks. It was so peaceful to just sit here and enjoy the surroundings. The lake gets it's name from the dark emerald green color it turns in the summer time and it offers such a peaceful atmosphere.

And lastly, we have my favorite lake of the alpine series, Lake Haiyaha. I don't even think I need to tell you why this one made me audibly gasp once I made it through the boulder field leading up to it. This lake is known for its turquoise water and the massive boulder field that surrounds it. Sitting at an elevation of about 10,200 feet, it is about .4 miles past Emerald Lake. This is definitely the most picturesque lake, and the color of the water is caused by glacial silt. I wish I brought my bathing suit, because there were plenty of people braving the cold water here!

Since we got such an early start, we finished our hiking by around 1:00pm. This was perfect, first of all, because we had little to no crowds throughout the entire hike, but also because despite the clear blue skies in these pictures, it started to thunderstorm just as we were finishing our hike. Since rain was forecasted for the rest of the day, and we had already done about 6 hours of hiking, we decided to head into Estes Park, located right outside of RMNP to grab some lunch, walk around and do some shopping.

Estes Park

If you're visiting RMNP, you have to stop at Estates Park right outside of the park. It's a really cool mountain town that kind of reminded me of Jackson, Wyoming. There are a ton of locally owned restaurants and cafes, shops, amazing views, a scenic riverwalk, and the chance to see some wildlife. We saw a few elk just hanging out in the parking lot as we were walking to lunch! Some great food places to check out here are Smokin' Daves BBQ, The Rock Inn Mountain Tavern, Kind Coffee, and Estes Park Brewery. I definitely recommend taking some time to check out the town, even if it's just to grab a quick bite to eat!

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the two days we spent in Rocky Mountain and truly can't wait to go back, I know there's so much more of the park to explore! My favorite parts were deifnitely the drive along Trail Ridge Road and the apline lake hike. I'd love to hear about some of your favorite spots or hikes in the park in the comments below so myself and others can get even more inspiration for our next trip. My best tips for visiting RMNP would be to pack layers, make sure you secure your permit early, bring plenty of water, and go early to avoid crowds.

Thanks for reading, and as always, there's always more to be explored :)

-nicole elizabeth