Rocky Mountain National Park's Greatest Hikes
Lace up your boots and get ready to discover the huge wilderness of Rocky Mountain National Park, where the windswept tundra accommodates an ecosystem of hundreds of species of wildflowers, and the sculpted peaks silhouetted against the blue sky function a dramatic reminder of the last ice age. Traverse this great backbone of the Continental Divide and listen for bugling elk or spot recent bear scat beneath your feet. Come celebrate the 100th anniversary of one of America’s oldest national parks in the time-honored tradition – backpack on, strolling sticks in hand and sense of surprise restored.
It’s a giant place, so that can assist you discover your approach, listed here are some of Rocky Mountain’s finest hikes.
Bear Lake
Bear Lake is without doubt one of the park’s most popular locations for first-time guests, and with good reason. From here you’ll have a front-row vantage point of the dramatic glacial valleys and hulking granite summits that make Rocky Mountain such a singular landscape. With ten lakes within the area and superb vistas, you need to positively anticipate large crowds.
Hikes right here range from simple jaunts round Bear Lake (0.5 miles) or to Alberta Falls (1.6 miles) to more difficult excursions that follow the glacial valleys up to their origins. Mills Lake (5.6 miles) is a good choice, as is the Loch (6.2 miles), which will be extended to the exquisite Lake of Glass and Sky Pond (9.eight miles), both of which are as serene as their names suggest. And while Flattop Mountain (12,324ft, 8.8 miles) is probably not the park’s greatest summit, there’s no denying its magnetic pull from down below. Use the park shuttles to get to the trailhead.
Bear Lake to Fern Lake
This dayhike is a ranger favourite and identified for its numerous scenery. On this hike you'll climb as much as the treeline and an alpine lake earlier than dropping back down by fields of scree and right into a forested valley. Here you’ll pass more lakes, waterfalls, ski town posters aspen groves and elk-inhabited meadows.
Thanks to the park shuttle system, this is a one-way trip that requires no backtracking – and what’s more, it’s mostly downhill. You can’t miss Lake Helene, which sits serenely beneath the imposing tough-cut cliffs of Notchtop and Flattop mountains. To do this hike, park at Fern Lake Trailhead (the endpoint), then take the shuttle to Bear Lake Trailhead. Shorten the trip by simply going to Lake Helene and back (5.eight miles).
Longs Peak & Chasm Lake
Iconic in each way, Longs Peak is the pinnacle of RMNP and certainly one of Colorado’s classic climbs. The tallest peak within the park (14,259ft), its exhilarating and exhausting Keyhole Route is on many guests’ to-do list. The highest of this route is the crux, consisting of slender traverses, vertiginous cliff faces and heart-pounding clambering up polished slabs of rock. Most people begin the climb by 3am in order to reach the summit before noon.
The good news is that you don’t have to succeed in the summit or turn your legs to jelly. Chasm Lake, situated on the foot of the Diamond – Longs’ legendary east face the place technical climbers rope up to scale the 1000ft wall – is routinely rated as one of many park’s finest hikes. Chasm options all of the spectacular scenery of the peak without the risk and arduous ascent. Nevertheless, at 8.four miles spherical journey, you’ll still should be in excellent shape.
Gem Lake
At the northeastern finish of the park is Lumpy Ridge, composed of 1.8-billion-yr-old granite formations that have been sculpted by the elements relatively than by glaciers. This markedly different model of abrasion has resulted in an array of whimsically shaped boulders, balancing rocks and colossal domes. The trail to Gem Lake is a good way to explore the world, with superb vistas back to the Continental Divide all the way up to the bijou-like lake.
It’s a giant place, so that can assist you discover your approach, listed here are some of Rocky Mountain’s finest hikes.
Bear Lake
Bear Lake is without doubt one of the park’s most popular locations for first-time guests, and with good reason. From here you’ll have a front-row vantage point of the dramatic glacial valleys and hulking granite summits that make Rocky Mountain such a singular landscape. With ten lakes within the area and superb vistas, you need to positively anticipate large crowds.
Hikes right here range from simple jaunts round Bear Lake (0.5 miles) or to Alberta Falls (1.6 miles) to more difficult excursions that follow the glacial valleys up to their origins. Mills Lake (5.6 miles) is a good choice, as is the Loch (6.2 miles), which will be extended to the exquisite Lake of Glass and Sky Pond (9.eight miles), both of which are as serene as their names suggest. And while Flattop Mountain (12,324ft, 8.8 miles) is probably not the park’s greatest summit, there’s no denying its magnetic pull from down below. Use the park shuttles to get to the trailhead.
Bear Lake to Fern Lake
This dayhike is a ranger favourite and identified for its numerous scenery. On this hike you'll climb as much as the treeline and an alpine lake earlier than dropping back down by fields of scree and right into a forested valley. Here you’ll pass more lakes, waterfalls, ski town posters aspen groves and elk-inhabited meadows.
Thanks to the park shuttle system, this is a one-way trip that requires no backtracking – and what’s more, it’s mostly downhill. You can’t miss Lake Helene, which sits serenely beneath the imposing tough-cut cliffs of Notchtop and Flattop mountains. To do this hike, park at Fern Lake Trailhead (the endpoint), then take the shuttle to Bear Lake Trailhead. Shorten the trip by simply going to Lake Helene and back (5.eight miles).
Longs Peak & Chasm Lake
Iconic in each way, Longs Peak is the pinnacle of RMNP and certainly one of Colorado’s classic climbs. The tallest peak within the park (14,259ft), its exhilarating and exhausting Keyhole Route is on many guests’ to-do list. The highest of this route is the crux, consisting of slender traverses, vertiginous cliff faces and heart-pounding clambering up polished slabs of rock. Most people begin the climb by 3am in order to reach the summit before noon.
The good news is that you don’t have to succeed in the summit or turn your legs to jelly. Chasm Lake, situated on the foot of the Diamond – Longs’ legendary east face the place technical climbers rope up to scale the 1000ft wall – is routinely rated as one of many park’s finest hikes. Chasm options all of the spectacular scenery of the peak without the risk and arduous ascent. Nevertheless, at 8.four miles spherical journey, you’ll still should be in excellent shape.
Gem Lake
At the northeastern finish of the park is Lumpy Ridge, composed of 1.8-billion-yr-old granite formations that have been sculpted by the elements relatively than by glaciers. This markedly different model of abrasion has resulted in an array of whimsically shaped boulders, balancing rocks and colossal domes. The trail to Gem Lake is a good way to explore the world, with superb vistas back to the Continental Divide all the way up to the bijou-like lake.