Visiting Rocky Mountain National Park was at the top of our list for our ten-year anniversary this year. Fresh air, mountains, wildlife, and the beauty of late September turned out to be a recipe for one of the best trips we have taken as a couple.

Five Days in RMNP

If you’re just here for a bullet-point itinerary without commentary or my photos, skip to the bottom! 🙂

We were lucky enough to get five glorious days in Rocky Mountain National Park. For us, the easiest way to get there was via the Denver International Airport. Denver is an excellent place to fly into because it is loaded with places to sleep, vehicles to rent, restaurants, and entertainment if city adventures are your thing. When we go on vacation, it’s to get away from the hustle, so the sooner we could get out of Denver the better!

I am the type of vacationer that has a plan for every day. When I go somewhere, I research every little bit of it I can because I want to feel like I’ve done everything in that place I would want to do. I don’t want to feel like I need to go back unless I really want to, NOT because I missed something.

***It is very important that you are familiar with the timed entry tickets to get into RMNP.***

The night before we wanted to visit the park, I logged on to recreation.gov and purchase Park Pass Option 2 (No Bear Lake access) and 7-day visitor pass. Timed-entry permits go on sale at 5pm(MT) or 7pm(ET). You will want to be signed in to your account and ready to reserve your entrance time at exactly when the tickets go on sale. They sell quickly, and if you don’t get one you will have to enter the park before 9am or after 3pm, when general entry is allowed. We purchased the 9am-11am entry for our day in RMNP.

We had a late flight into Colorado. We basically got off the plane, hopped on a shuttle to pick up our rental car, and then went straight to the hotel to sleep.

DAY ONE

We live in Michigan, so when we got up at 4:00 in the morning in Denver, it was 6:00am at home. This turned out to work to our advantage for most of the trip. We checked out of our hotel after a shower and some breakfast. We traveled west, out of Denver, toward the mountains. I had put in a grocery order at Walmart that we needed to pick up at 7:00am. The plan was to pick up our groceries for the week so we could cut back on the amount of times we needed to go out to eat.

Instead of driving straight to RMNP, I also wanted to enter on the far west side of it so we could drive all the way through the park on Alpine Ridge Road. By doing this we got a feel for what was in the park, we got to see the whole thing, and we were able to take advantage of the nice weather before they closed down the road. September in the Colorado mountains can be unpredictable. Snow can come out of nowhere, and the park service could shut down the road at any time.

We entered the park on the Grand Lake side at about 9:00am, picked up a map, and asked the ranger at the booth if they had any recommendations for the day. She informed us that there was snow coming and they would likely close the road. If there was anything we wanted to see in the tundra, we needed to do it that day.

We drove through some of the forest that had been burnt by a wildfire just a few years before. There are plenty of places to pull off the road and snap a few photos. The views are extraordinary at every stop, so if you have time, I highly recommend it.

We stopped at the top of Alpine Ridge at the visitor center and hiked to the top of the hill. There were cute souvenirs, a restaurant if you’re hungry, and vast amounts of scenery to take in. We were lucky enough to see elk out the windows while we were shopping.

On the way down the mountain toward Estes Park, we stopped at the Ute Trail and walked it to Tombstone Ridge. This trail goes on for miles, but it was beginning to rain and we didn’t want to get stuck with no cover, so we turned around after seeing Tombstone Ridge.

This is where we had our first close-up encounter with a bull elk. We stayed well out of his way, but he didn’t mind us being there. We kept quiet and left him plenty of space. He bugled and lumbered away like we didn’t exist. It was amazing!

We continued down the mountain and stopped at any place that looked interesting. We were lucky enough to see a moose and dozens of mule deer on our drive. When we arrived at Estes Park, we checked into our hotel and made ourselves something to eat.

At 4:55pm exactly, I’m not kidding, I logged into recreation.gov to purchase our entry tickets for the following day. Bear Lake was on our list for the next day, so it was VERY important that I was situated and ready because these tickets sell incredibly fast and parking is limited! We chose to enter the park between 5am-6am.

DAY TWO

We woke up early, ate breakfast, packed a lunch, and then entered the park through Beaver Meadows. We parked at the Bear Lake Trailhead and walked around Bear Lake (.6 miles) as the sun was coming up. The trees along the shore were lit up so beautifully as the sun started to touch them.

After a warm-up around Bear Lake, we hiked the trail to Nymph, Dream & Emerald Lakes (3.5 miles). We were happy to get to Bear Lake as early as we did because the trail was filling up with people on our way back to the car.

Next, we drove a short distance down the mountain to Sprague Lake (.8 mile hike). This is a popular place to spot wildlife, but we didn’t see any. It’s possible that near dawn or dusk we would have more luck seeing creatures, but it was nearly 10am when we arrived to walk around the lake.

Sprague Lake would be a nice place to eat lunch, but we decided to drive down to the Big Meadow. We parked on top of a hill where we could watch other hikers and try to spot wildlife while we took a break and ate our sandwiches.

After we were recharged, we went to the Fern Lake trailhead. We planned to hike all the way to Fern Lake, but there was a thunderstorm coming, so we turned around at The Pool on the Big Thompson River. We saw many Elk here. The terrain change was much different than Bear Lake. The forest was much more open, and it was fascinating to walk through some of the burnt forest from the fire.

We left the park around 4:30 and went back to our hotel for dinner and hot showers! Our plan for the next day didn’t require us to buy timed entry tickets, so I could let my anxiety have a break

DAY THREE

We slept-in a bit on our third day at RMNP. We needed to arrive at YMCA Jackson Stables by 8am. The stables were easy to find and the staff there was very friendly. We took a 3-hour horseback ride to Mill Creek, but they have multiple options for rides with varying distances and lengths of time.

After the horseback ride, we had lunch and decided to hike to Gem Lake (3.1 miles). You do not need a timed entry ticket for this hike. I have mixed feelings about this hike. Many places review this as a moderate hike, but I think the amount of stairs made it more strenuous than many of the other hikes we did.

The views of Estes Park are unmatched from this elevation.

This hike also was the scene of one of the scariest times of our lives. I can’t stress how important it is to constantly check the weather. The storms in Colorado develop quickly and being caught in a lightening storm on the side of a mountain is not something you want to experience. After checking the weather compulsively, it looked like it wasn’t supposed to start raining until about 4pm. We began our hike at 12:30, thinking we had plenty of time to hike to the top, see Gem Lake, and make it back to the vehicle before getting wet. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn’t always do what the forecast says. On our way back down, at around 2pm, we could see a wall of clouds coming over the next mountain top.

Lightening was striking across the valley over Estes Park. We, and many of the other hikers, were quickly moving down the mountain to avoid the rain. We weren’t lucky enough to make it in time, and were nearly struck by lightening. The bolt struck a tree within 10 feet of my husband and knocked us both to the ground. He blacked out temporarily, ripped his pants, and had scraped his knees and hands. I never lost consciousness, but started panic when I realized what happened.

We safely made it back to the car and went back to our hotel. We were rattled, but felt lucky to have made it out without any major injuries.

After the storm had passed, we decided to take it easy and drove down to some of the local parks in Estes to see elk. We found a lot of action at Moraine Park! Being the end of September, they were very active. We saw a few bulls sparring, chasing cows, and bugling. We were thankful for the nice distraction from what had happened to us that afternoon.

At 4:55pm, I was back on Recreation.gov to buy our park pass for the next morning with the option to enter Bear Lake again. We planned to get right back into the action!

Day FOUR

At 6am, we were back in RMNP and spotted this guy on the side of the road on our way in.

We started our morning at the Glacier Gorge Parking Lot with intention of hiking to Sky Pond. Because of more rain on the way, we didn’t make it all the way to Sky Pond. The Loch is on the way, is exceptionally beautiful, and that is where we ended up stopping to turn around. There is a split in the trail on the way back to the parking lot, and the weather had cleared by the time we got there. We decided to hike to Mills Lake and Jewel Lake, and then returned to the car.

Alberta Falls is on this trail, too. This wasn’t exactly our plan, but this turned out to be our favorite combination of hikes.

After that, We drove over to the Falls Creek area and checked out the Alluvian Fan trail. This trail was well used, short and busy. Truthfully, it was not all that interesting after seeing such stunning hikes earlier in our trip. However, we did see a moose in one of the open meadows before leaving.

The weather couldn’t make up it’s mind about exactly what it wanted to do for the rest of the day, so hubby and I spent a little bit of time driving around the park and stopping to take in the beautiful scenery. The rest of the afternoon, we spent shopping in Estes Park and taking it easy. He wasn’t too excited anyway about logging a bunch of miles on the mountains with his knees scraped the way they were from the lightening incident.

DAY FIVE

Our plans for the fifth day needed to completely change. Originally, we wanted to go back up into the tundra area, but because of the snow at the upper elevations, the road was closed. Our plan was to hike Mt Ida and drive on the Old Fall River Road. Instead, we decided to head back toward Denver.

Instead of driving straight back, we took the Peak to Peak scenic byway. We also took a detour and visited Red Rocks. We underestimated the difference in temperature between Rocky Mountain National Park and Red Rocks this time of year. It felt like we went from winter to early summer between the two! Near Red Rocks, we found a hike called Walker’s Dream. The hike was not difficult, packed with history, and there are excellent views of Denver from the top.

Are you ready to plan your own vacation? I sincerely hope that our experiences help you decide what you would like to do and see at RMNP!

Here is a condensed version of our itinerary for quick reference:

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Reserve a place to stay in Estes Park, there are more things to do on the East side of RMNP.
Download AllTrails app and use it for planning hikes.
All of your hikes should start early. Afternoon showers happen almost daily. Thunderstorms are no joke. In the fall, if it’s raining at the bottom, it’s snowing at the top.
Plan on packing layers, bring rain gear.
I planned this to start with lower-elevation hikes to help us acclimate and reduce the chances for altitude sickness. Except the Ute Trail, which we did at that time due to pure convenience.

TRAVELING TO

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DAY ONE:

• 6am – From Denver, drive west on I-70 and then north to Grand Lake to enter RMNP from the west entrance.
• 7am – pick up Walmart Order in Evergreen on the way through.
• 9am – arrive at RMNP at Grand Lake
• Drive the Alpine Ridge Trail
• Stop at the Alpine Ridge Visitor Center, hike the .5 mile trail to the top. There is a cafe
  and gift shop.
• Hike the Ute Trail to Tombstone Ridge (We turned around when it started to decline
  into the meadow). We saw Elk here.
• Check in to your hotel/VRBO when you get to Estes.
  4:55pm – seriously. Log in to your recreation.gov account and get ready to buy the Park
  Pass Option 1 INCLUDING Bear Lake Access. Reserve the 5am or 6am entry. Parking is
  limited and this is the most popular part of the park.
  

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DAY TWO:

• 6am – Enter RMNP at Beaver Meadows from Estes Park.
• Park at the Bear Lake Trail head.
• Hike (not a hike, more like a walk) around Bear Lake (0.6 miles)
• Hike to Nymph, Dream & Emerald Lakes Trail (3.5 miles)
• Drive down the Mountain to walk Sprague Lake. (0.8 miles) Sprague is a popular
  place to spot critters. We didn’t see anything but fish.
• We parked at the Big Meadow and ate our lunch
• Go to the Fern Lake trailhead. We planned to hike all the way to Fern Lake, but there
  was a thunderstorm coming, so we turned around at The Pool on the Big Thompson
  River. We saw many Elk here.
• We left the park around 4pm, ate dinner
• 6pmish – return to the park and drive around near Moraine Park. The elk come out and
  do Elk stuff.

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DAY THREE:

• 8am – YMCA Jackson Stables 3 hour ride to Mill Creek (Reserve this well ahead of time).
• 12:30 – lunch
• Afternoon – Hike Gem Lake (3.1 miles). Watch the weather! You do not need a timed-entry permit for this one
• 4:55pm – Buy Park Pass Option 1 INCLUDING Bear Lake for 6am the next day
• Estes Park had Elk to watch in the evening, Moraine Park, Sprague Lake are good places too

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DAY FOUR:

• 6am – Park at Glacier Gorge Parking Lot, Hike to Sky Pond. We didn’t make it to Sky Pond
  because of weather. The Loch is on the way, beautiful, and that is where we stopped
  and turned around. The weather cleared by the time we got to the split in the trail. We
  went to Mills Lake and and Jewel Lake, then returned to the car. Alberta Falls is on this
  trail, too. This was our favorite combo of hikes.
• Alluvian Fan
• Afternoon shopping, dinner
• 6pm – Drive around the Fall River area, wildlife viewing area. We saw moose here.

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DAY FIVE:

• Drive back to Denver on the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.
• visit Red Rocks?
• Hike to Walker’s Dream. Super cool history and views of Denver from the top.
• Mt Ida was on our list, but we weren’t able to because of snow and road closures. Driving up the old Fall River Road was another on our list we were unable to do

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Overall, our trip went smoothly. We saw some amazing things, a ton of animals and experienced weather like we never imagined. Typically, we don’t like to visit the same place twice, but this one might be an exception!