Rocky Mountain National Park

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Everyone gets that Winter itch when you want to travel, but you’re not really sure where to go. If you don’t ski or snowboard you typically will opt for somewhere warm - however, we wanted to embrace Winter and getaway to Rocky Mountain NP for a weekend.

We started our first day off by getting breakfast in Estes Park and then heading into the National Park. We then drove as far as we could into the mountains until the high pass gets closed for Winter. You are literally in the clouds at this point and it can lead to really incredible views when the clouds pass.

Then, since we had a mild day we wanted to get our main hike in on day one. So we drove up to hike to the lakes. You pass one at a time from Bear Lake, Dream Lake then Emerald Lake. The first lake is very easy to get to and the second lake gets totally frozen over so you can walk across it, which is a really cool experience. However, the hike to the third lake was almost more difficult than it was worth, especially during the snow.

On our second day we wanted to go to Moraine Park. Thi sarea was honestly amazing. The river that runs through the mountan was really pretty and fun to explore around. We even go to see some deer in the park as well!

On the way out of the park, we stopped in Estes Park to pick up a sweatshirt, lunch and visit the Stanley Hotel from The Shining - which was actually really eerie and neat. There also was a whole fudge factory which made it way too easy to drop fifty bucks on candy! We also stopped at Red Rocks Amphitheater before making it back to Denver Airport!

***We actually made another quick visit to RMNP in May 2021 and the upper road was still closed and we got hailed out and back into our car - but we did see a plethora of elk!***