Last week our cousin Rachel was in Denver to visit us and we decided to take a day trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park! Shelby and I had actually never been there before, believe it or not, and it turned out to be a pretty perfect day! So I wanted to share how to spend one day in Rocky Mountain National Park in the summer.
Now through October, Rocky Mountain National Park is requiring visitors to have a timed entry ticket. If you are visiting in the next few months you need to be aware of this, otherwise, you will not be able to enter the park. If you missed the early release dates of these tickets though, don’t worry, they release a certain amount of additional tickets at 5 PM for the following day. This is how we were able to grab a pass, but be aware you need to be on it! We were on the site right at 5 PM sharp and while we were successful, we noticed that all the passes were gone in just a few minutes. So set an alarm and get ready!
Since we were just making a day trip from Denver (it’s about a two-hour drive to the Estes Park entrance) we planned out an itinerary for the day to squeeze in the park highlights before heading back to Denver. Our timed entrance ticket was for 7 AM-9 AM, and our goal was to be at the park entrance by 7 AM. We left Denver at 5 AM and watched the sunrise during our early morning drive. Smoke from wildfires in CA has been a big issue in CO lately, but on this day the sky was clear and bright!
We pulled into the park right at 7 AM and headed directly to the Bear Lake trailhead. We’d heard that parking at the trailhead fills up by 7:30 AM, and I would say that is accurate. We managed to grab one of the last spots (and it’s a pretty large parking lot) but if you wanted to arrive later the park does offer a shuttle and you can park back closer to the entrance and take a bus to the trail. We grabbed our hiking gear and set off on the trail.
We followed the Emerald Lake trail, which is a 3.2 mile out and back trail that features 4 alpine lakes, and is just simply a gorgeous hike! The first lake we encountered was Nymph Lake, and it was covered in beautiful lilypads and there were several fishermen getting set up for a day of fishing in the lake.
From there we hiked up to Dream Lake which, sorry for the pun, was a dream! Seriously so pretty! Probably our favorite of the lakes we saw.
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Then we made it up to Emerald Lake. This one was also very pretty, but a very popular spot, even on a weekday. Despite the crowds, we found a little rock to sit and enjoy the views, have a snack, and rest before we headed back down.
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When we got back down to the bottom we opted to hike the loop around Bear Lake. This trail is fairly flat and at just .7 mile around would be good for anyone at any skill level to do.
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After completing our hike, we got back in the car and set off to drive the Trail Ridge Road- a 39-mile scenic drive that has various overlooks you can stop off at. This road is only open for driving in the summer (and after driving it I can see why) so despite having plans to return to the park later this fall, we prioritized it this trip since it will likely be closed next time we were at the park. We took our time, pulling off at various places and stopping at the Alpine Visitor Center to eat our packed lunch, and the drive took us around 3 hours.
We exited the park on the other side, in Grand Lake, and stopped there briefly to grab a coffee and walk around before heading back to Denver. It was a really fun day, with a good mix of hiking and driving, and the perfect way to spend one day at Rocky Mountain National Park in the summer! We can’t wait to go back and see it in the fall!
-Ash
P.S. You can see some of our past trips to other national parks here.
Hey people!!!!!
Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!