Rocky Mountain National Park's Greatest Hikes
Lace up your boots and get ready to explore the vast wilderness of Rocky Mountain National Park, the place the windswept tundra incorporates an ecosystem of hundreds of species of wildflowers, and the sculpted peaks silhouetted in opposition to 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 contemporary bear scat beneath your feet. Come celebrate the a centesimal anniversary of one among America’s oldest national parks within the time-honored tradition – backpack on, walking sticks in hand and sense of surprise restored.
It’s an enormous place, so to help you find your method, listed below are a few of Rocky Mountain’s finest hikes.
Bear Lake
Bear Lake is one of the park’s hottest destinations for first-time visitors, 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 in the area and superb vistas, you need to definitely anticipate large crowds.
Hikes here range from straightforward jaunts round Bear Lake (0.5 miles) or to Alberta Falls (1.6 miles) to more challenging excursions that follow the glacial valleys as much as their origins. Mills Lake (5.6 miles) is an efficient choice, as is the Loch (6.2 miles), which may be prolonged to the exquisite Lake of Glass and Sky Pond (9.8 miles), each of which are as serene as their names suggest. And while Flattop Mountain (12,324ft, 8.8 miles) is probably not the park’s best 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 diverse scenery. On this hike you may climb up to the treeline and an alpine lake before dropping back down by means of fields of scree and right into a forested valley. Right here you’ll pass more lakes, waterfalls, 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 largely downhill. You can’t miss Lake Helene, which sits serenely beneath the imposing tough-minimize 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 journey by simply going to Lake Helene and back (5.8 miles).
Longs Peak & Chasm Lake
Iconic in every approach, Longs Peak is the pinnacle of RMNP and one in all Colorado’s traditional climbs. The tallest peak within the park (14,259ft), its exhilarating and exhausting Keyhole Route is on many visitors’ to-do list. The highest of this route is the crux, consisting of narrow traverses, vertiginous cliff faces and heart-pounding clambering up polished slabs of rock. Most people begin the climb by 3am in an effort to attain the summit before noon.
The nice news is that you don’t have to achieve the summit or turn your legs to jelly. Chasm Lake, situated at the foot of the Diamond – Longs’ legendary east face the place technical climbers rope as much as scale the 1000ft wall – is routinely rated as one of the park’s greatest hikes. Chasm features all the spectacular surroundings of the peak without the risk and arduous ascent. However, at 8.4 miles spherical trip, you’ll nonetheless need to be in very good shape.
Gem Lake
On the northeastern end of the park is Lumpy Ridge, composed of 1.8-billion-12 months-old granite formations that were sculpted by the elements moderately than by glaciers. This markedly totally different fashion of erosion has resulted in an array of whimsically shaped boulders, balancing red rocks posters and colossal domes. The trail to Gem Lake is a good way to discover the world, with superb vistas back to the Continental Divide all the way up to the bijou-like lake.
It’s an enormous place, so to help you find your method, listed below are a few of Rocky Mountain’s finest hikes.
Bear Lake
Bear Lake is one of the park’s hottest destinations for first-time visitors, 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 in the area and superb vistas, you need to definitely anticipate large crowds.
Hikes here range from straightforward jaunts round Bear Lake (0.5 miles) or to Alberta Falls (1.6 miles) to more challenging excursions that follow the glacial valleys as much as their origins. Mills Lake (5.6 miles) is an efficient choice, as is the Loch (6.2 miles), which may be prolonged to the exquisite Lake of Glass and Sky Pond (9.8 miles), each of which are as serene as their names suggest. And while Flattop Mountain (12,324ft, 8.8 miles) is probably not the park’s best 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 diverse scenery. On this hike you may climb up to the treeline and an alpine lake before dropping back down by means of fields of scree and right into a forested valley. Right here you’ll pass more lakes, waterfalls, 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 largely downhill. You can’t miss Lake Helene, which sits serenely beneath the imposing tough-minimize 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 journey by simply going to Lake Helene and back (5.8 miles).
Longs Peak & Chasm Lake
Iconic in every approach, Longs Peak is the pinnacle of RMNP and one in all Colorado’s traditional climbs. The tallest peak within the park (14,259ft), its exhilarating and exhausting Keyhole Route is on many visitors’ to-do list. The highest of this route is the crux, consisting of narrow traverses, vertiginous cliff faces and heart-pounding clambering up polished slabs of rock. Most people begin the climb by 3am in an effort to attain the summit before noon.
The nice news is that you don’t have to achieve the summit or turn your legs to jelly. Chasm Lake, situated at the foot of the Diamond – Longs’ legendary east face the place technical climbers rope as much as scale the 1000ft wall – is routinely rated as one of the park’s greatest hikes. Chasm features all the spectacular surroundings of the peak without the risk and arduous ascent. However, at 8.4 miles spherical trip, you’ll nonetheless need to be in very good shape.
Gem Lake
On the northeastern end of the park is Lumpy Ridge, composed of 1.8-billion-12 months-old granite formations that were sculpted by the elements moderately than by glaciers. This markedly totally different fashion of erosion has resulted in an array of whimsically shaped boulders, balancing red rocks posters and colossal domes. The trail to Gem Lake is a good way to discover the world, with superb vistas back to the Continental Divide all the way up to the bijou-like lake.