Headed out to a cabin in Estes Park next month with a small group. I’ve done a lot of hikes in the park but am looking for some new ones to try. I’ve done Twin Sisters, Hallets via Flattop, Chasm Lake, Sky Pond, Emerald Lake. Thinking about doing Ypsilon but sounds like that’s dependent on Old Fall River Rd being open. Would love to do Longs but it always seems like there’s ice/snow up there when I’m out there and I’m not a technical guy. Will be with young kids so any smaller kid friendly hikes would be welcome as well. TIA
Rocky Mountain National Park - Hiking
- Thread starter JM4CY
- Start date
Man I can't wait to get back out there. Maybe next summer.
Alberta Falls is fairly easy. Gem is not hard but has some steeper climbs.
Alberta Falls is fairly easy. Gem is not hard but has some steeper climbs.
I forgot about Alberta. I think that’s on the way from bear lake on way to sky pond. Good little hike
Try Ouzel Falls and Lake from the Wild Basin Trailhead.
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/us/colorado/allenspark?ar[]=10106828
Has three waterfalls and a lake at the end if you make it that far.
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/us/colorado/allenspark?ar[]=10106828
Has three waterfalls and a lake at the end if you make it that far.
Not hiking but when were out there last summer with our grandkids, we did one of the horse rides for 30 minutes and they loved it. Of course we made their parents actually walk the horses, but the kids all had a great time. The stable was called the Cowpoke corner coral, its owned and ran by a couple here in Iowa from Farmington. They hire a lot of ISU kids to work the summer. I think we paid $20 bucks per kid for the 30 minutes. Its right on the South edge of town.
Ha. I forgot about that one too. I did that one about 10 years ago. Beautiful. Kind of hidden because it’s way down south.
Tenish minute drive from what I remember (and I am too lazy to put it in google maps). From what I remember is it is a roughly 1.5-2 mile one way hike so not long but as has been noted there are portions that are steep but doable. Hell the kids may even enjoy it.
Gem Lake trailhead is located on the road behind the Stanley Hotel. It is about 3.5 miles from the trailhead to the lake. It is a small mountain tarn lake surrounded by huge rocks. This trail is popular with guests staying at the Stanley.
If I remember right, you can take the bus from the big parking lot to bear lake. If you want to hike to Alberta falls from there it’s mostly downhill. You could head back up to bear lake or we took another short downhill route to a small parking lot where the bus can pickup and head back down to the big parking lot. It was very helpful since we had small kids. I want to say the small parking lot was glacier gorge trailhead?
he hates the carrier, always has. We'd lose our sanity letting him walk them on his own. Good to know though. Probably a terrible idea to do a 9 hour road trip at this age anyway.
I have done all the 14k mountains in Rocky Mountain National park. I would say if you want to climb a mountain or head partially up one with smaller kids, try Grays and Torres. It's a good climb. My daughter did it when she was 12 with me. You don't have to do the whole mountain but they can kind of get the feeling of going up a mountain. I would say arrive early to any trail right now since the park has been closed to do Covid. It's going to be a mad house getting parking since people will be flocking to the mountains at that point.
THIS!
We do it monthly, never gets old. There is a cool little pool at bottom of the main falls you can swim in (not sure if you are supposed to). Brisk but invigorating.
Twin Sisters hike (near Ouzel) is a a great hike with a great view if you want more of a vertical challenge but short of doing a 14er.
NOTE - You have to have reservation time to get into RNMP - scope that out, it just opened and was queueing up a week out last I checked.
The walk around Bear Lake would be pretty stroller friendly. Mostly asphalt, If IRRC.
Same with Sprague Lake on the drive up to Bear Lake. Nice little fishing lake with an easy trail around it, plus it has nice picnic areas.
Both of those lakes have spectacular views of the mountains!
Have only been to RMNP once but we did Flattop Mountain and really enjoyed it. About 9 miles RT with 2700 ft elevation gain. Took us about 4 hours total. We saw some elk at the top of the mountain, it was beautiful!
I'm a big user of the app AllTrails for finding hikes. As someone who just recently moved out to Utah, it's been the most helpful resource by far for finding hikes, trailheads, etc. You can see who has done the hikes recently and any comments they have left (i.e. if the trail had snow, had blockage at a certain path, other detours, etc.) Would highly recommend using it to find some options.
I'm a big user of the app AllTrails for finding hikes. As someone who just recently moved out to Utah, it's been the most helpful resource by far for finding hikes, trailheads, etc. You can see who has done the hikes recently and any comments they have left (i.e. if the trail had snow, had blockage at a certain path, other detours, etc.) Would highly recommend using it to find some options.
