The Perfect 4 Day Rocky Mountain National Park Itinerary
Rocky Mountain National Park is a hiker's paradise. With jaw dropping mountain views, stunning alpine lakes, and can't beat waterfalls, this national park is a must-see on any national parks road trip through Colorado. This itinerary will provide hikes to explore the best of the park in four days.
4 day itinerary for Rocky Mountain National Park
This park has some of the best and most ubiquitous hiking of all of the national parks I've been to. Hiking is definitely the best way to see the park.
Day 1: Gem Lake Trail
3.4 miles | moderate | 990 feet elevation | AllTrails
This short hike is the perfect introduction to Rocky Mountain National Park. There is a decent incline the entire way to the lake. Being at higher elevation makes this hike a little more challenging than it would be normally, so it's better to start out with a hike on the easier side to get acclimated.
My favorite part of this hike was the mountain views the entire way up. The hike is a bit outside of the main part of the park, so there are also views of Estes Park.
It ends at Gem Lake which is more of a small pond than a lake. Many people on AllTrails complained about it, but I thought it was still scenic and the views throughout the rest of the hike made up for it.
Day 2: Lake Haiyaha & Emerald Lake Trail
~4.9 miles | moderate | ~1,071 feet elevation | Emerald Lake AllTrails | Lake Haiyaha AllTrails
On day 2, continue with another moderate hike. This time it's a little bit longer. These two trails start as the same trail, but they could be done individually for about 3.5 miles each for a shorter hike. We combined them to see a total of 5 lakes. This was the snowiest and foggiest hike we did, so there were no mountain views for us.
The hike starts at Bear Lake. As far as parking goes, it's very hard to come by here in the warmer months. There's a park and ride shuttle area a few miles away that I'd recommend taking advantage of to avoid trying to find parking.
After starting at Bear Lake, the first lake the trail comes across is Nymph Lake. It's known for being covered in lily pads. After passing Nymph Lake, the trail has a very nice overlook above it as well.
The next lake on the trail is Dream Lake. My favorite view of this lake was past it looking back with the trees reflecting into the lake.
We continued past Dream Lake to Emerald Lake. On a nice day, Emerald Lake has a beautiful color and beautiful mountains as a backdrop.
Back track to Dream Lake where the trail splits to go toward Lake Haiyaha. This was the steepest and slipperiest part of the trail for us. The pictures I saw of this lake looked gorgeous, but I would skip it if it's a foggy day. We could barely see anything at this lake.
The Emerald Lake trail is a very popular and busy one. The portion of the trail that goes to Lake Haiyaha is much less crowded though.
Day 3: Sky Pond
8.5 miles | 1,761 feet elevation | hard | AllTrails
After two shorter and less challenging hikes, the elevation should be less of a problem by the third day. We loved this hike so much that it was the best hike on our list of top 10 hikes in 2020. It starts at the Glacier Gorge parking lot which is also part of the park and ride shuttle.
This is another trail with many stops along the way. The first one is at Alberta Falls. This part of the trail is very popular since it's a short and easy part of the hike. I recommend climbing down a bit to get the best view of the falls.
After the falls, the trail gets a bit more challenging as it climbs to The Loch (or Loch Vale). The views are pretty along the way, but they're even better upon arriving at the lake. The trail continues around the lake with good views the whole way.
The next portion of the trail was the steepest and most slick for us. The last two miles were a big sheet of ice even though it had started to warm up. Upon arriving at Timberline Falls, the sweeping mountains come into view.
This was my least favorite part of the trail. It was hard to enjoy the falls because we had to climb up the side of them. There wasn't much of a trail here and the rocks were covered in ice.
After climbing the falls, the trail arrives at Lake of Glass. I thought the views from here were the best on the whole trail. The lake itself was stunning and then the views of the mountains below could not be beat. It was really fun to see The Loch where we had just been earlier.
The final portion of the trail was hard to follow. I imagine it might be a little bit easier if it wasn't snow covered though. We followed some other hikers who helped us find our way through the icy boulder field that led to Sky Pond. It was an incredibly challenging hike, but the views at the end were absolutely worth it.
Day 4: Ute Trail and Trail Ridge Road
4.0 miles | 216 feet elevation | easy | AllTrails
After a difficult hike the day before, go for an easier one on the last day. After reading the reviews of this hike, we decided to only do the first two miles since it seemed like that's where the best views were without the steep elevation change. In total, it was 4 miles with almost no elevation change. Save this hike for last because it starts at 11,000 feet in elevation so its good to be acclimated to the higher altitude.
This hike has a very small parking lot off of Trail Ridge Road, so I recommend getting there early. The sweeping mountain views are stunning for the entire hike. They don't change much along the way until the end.
Right before we turned around, there were gorgeous views looking into the valley. The trail starts to go straight down, so it was clear that this is where we wanted to turn around.
Spend the rest of the day driving along Trail Ridge Road. Weather conditions often cause the road to close, so we were lucky that it opened up again for our last day in the park. It was first closed because of a wildfire and then because of a snow storm.
There are a plethora of overlooks to stop at and take in the amazing views. Some of my favorite views were out the window of the RV where there was no place to pull over.
We were tired after four days of hiking, so we turned around after the Alpine Visitor Center. I recommend stopping there for the overlook alone. With more time, I would definitely continue to drive the rest of Trail Ridge Road to the other side of the park.
Where to eat around Rocky Mountain National Park
Estes Park doesn't really stand out as a dining destination. There are plenty of restaurants, but it would be easy to save some money and get groceries instead.
Donut Haus
Estes Park, Colorado | Yelp Review
We got donuts from here every day. It's inside of a gas station and they frequently sell out, so get there early. My favorite things were the Maple Pretzel, Pinecone, Gourmet Cinnamon Roll, Maple Nut Frosted Roll, and the Cheesecake Roll. We picked them up in the morning and saved them as a treat for after our hike.
Wapiti Colorado Pub
Estes Park, Colorado | Yelp Review
Rocky Mountain Oysters are a must try in Colorado. This was the only place in Estes Park that I could find that had them. We didn't get anything else here besides Rocky Mountain Oysters which were surprisingly good.
Getting to and around Rocky Mountain National Park
Denver has the closest major airport to the park. There is a lot of great hiking around Denver, so it's worth taking some time to explore before heading to Rocky Mountain National Park. The park is about an hour and a half drive from Denver.
There are shuttles from the Estes Park visitor center to the more popular areas of the park, but a car is going to be the easiest way to get around. During the more popular months, a shuttle may still be necessary since parking can be hard to come by.
To get into the park, there's a $25/car fee for a one day pass or $35/car fee for a week long pass. There's also an annual pass for just this park for $70. I highly recommend getting an America the Beautiful Pass which covers all national parks entrance fees. It's $80 for a year, so it would be worth after visiting three parks.
During the busy months of the pandemic, they also instituted reservations that were required to get into the park. For the most availability on popular days, I recommend getting reservations at least a month ahead of time.
Where to stay around Rocky Mountain National Park
There are four entrances to the park. Three of them are on the eastern side and one is on the western side. Most people stay in Estes Park since that's the most convenient place to stay on the eastern side of the park. Since we stayed in Estes Park, we explored the eastern side of the park and didn't spend any time on the western side of the park. With more time or on a second trip, I would definitely recommend staying a couple of nights in Grand Lake on the western side as well.
There are several campgrounds in Estes Park. We stayed at Manor RV Park. As far as RV parks go, this one was on the nicer side. It was bigger and felt more spread out than other places we stayed. As is the case at most RV parks, the WiFi was not usable during the evenings.
Best time to visit Rocky Mountain National Park
The most popular time to visit the park is in the summer. There will still be a lot of snow and mud on the ground in the spring and late summer. Once the fall hits, there's an increased risk of wildfires. Some trails and roads are closed in the winter.
With all of that in mind, I think early fall is the best time to visit. The aspens are really pretty when their leaves start to change color and the crowds start to die down some from the peak season in the summer. The temperatures are cooler compared to the warm summer months and roads are still open.
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