Elk hang out around the surrounding area here! I've never seen Elk up close, so this was a treat!…read more This Visitor Center is great for tourists as well as locals. Parking is plentiful. There's a parking lot out front which fills up with people watching the Elk, walking around here, & taking the shuttle buses into town and to the Rocky Mountain National Park. You can obtain lots of free information on the Estes Park area including outdoor activities, lodging, activities around town, dining, & shopping. During the peak summer season, you can take the free town shuttles to this Visitor Center, then transfer from here to the free RMNP shuttles. Avoid parking and traffic issues during the busiest times of the year. Outside are some green areas (parklets), a pedestrian bridge that will take you across the river (where we saw Elk), some art, and the Estes Park Veterans Monument. It's a nice place to wander while stretching your legs.

Estes park is a magnificent place with tons of nature including native plants, trees and animals…read more It's a must see when visiting Colorado.

This Visitor Center is not run solely by the NPS. It has a unique public-private partnership with…read moreH.W. Stewart, Inc, the Rocky Mountain Nature Association, the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, & the National Park Service. Even though we arrived during the Government shutdown, it was still able to be open to the public. Thank goodness! We were so sad that other Visitor Centers were closed. We stopped at the top in the Tundra zone and found the Alpine Visitor Center closed. This Visitor Center is just outside the park entrance off of Highway 34 remains open daily from 9am-5pm and is open all year round. We had exited the park at the Fall River Station when we saw this and decided to stop in at the end of the day. The Fall River Visitor Center is the newest Visitor Center. It has a good number of exhibits featuring some of the wildlife that you might see in the national park. The Visitor Center also has a store, and a ranger desk. There are some rubber stamps for your parks passport. This visitor center also has public toilets available. We were here briefly, but it was a nice little stop!

This visitor center is located just outside of the Fall River Entrance Station in Estes Park. There…read moreis a welcome sign nearby that people like to pull over and get a photo in front of. The Fall River Visitor Center is a nice building with exhibits and park rangers on hand to answer questions. It is also a gift shop and bookstore. While here, do not forget to get your national park passport book stamped. Next door is a restaurant if you are hungry and looking for a bite to eat. After entering Rocky Mountain National Park through the Fall River Entrance Station, you can access either Trail Ridge Road or Old Fall River Road. Old Fall River Road is the original road through the park. Both roads are seasonal and close in the winter. Either route will take you all the way to the Alpine Visitor Center. Rocky Mountain National Park requires a timed entry reservation made in advance to enter the park. The Fall River Entrance is currently under construction for road widening, a new entrance sign and entrance station kiosks. This will help reduce traffic congestion going into the park. The visitor center remains open during this time.

Nice scenic overlook from Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. At around 12,000 feet…read moreelevation, this overlook gives you a nice view of the Never Summer Mountains and the Gore Range. The jagged peaks of the Gore Range are named for Sir St George Gore, an Irish aristocrat who went on a hunting expedition in the area in the 1850's. The Never Summer Mountains were created by volcanic activity between 29 and 24 million years ago. There is a small parking lot near the overlook that you can park at. I made a short stop here after visiting the nearby Alpine Visitor Center. The overlook can only be accessed in the summer months because Trail Ridge Road closes during the winter season.

A mile from Lava Cliffs Overlook, passing the Trail Ridge Summit, you arrive at Gore Range…read moreOverlook. Gorge Range is the highest point of the road at 12,183 feet and naturally offers dramatic snow-covered mountain views. Up ahead is the Alpine Visitor Center which makes a great stopping point if you're ready to head back. This is one of the best places to get a view of the west of the park, with spectacular views of the Gore Range mountains, which run for sixty miles. next stop--the Alpine Visitor Centre

This place is absolutely stunning!! You have to go if you are in the Colorado area!!…read more We got in around noon and went to Bear lake and Alberta falls! Both were incredible. We also drove around a bit and it was just dream like! There are sooo many elk! Drive slow and watch for wild life!! Hiking can be difficult even on the well maintained paths. Make sure you wear solid footwear! Take lots of pictures and know your cell phone service may not work inside the park. Always remember to carry out what you carry in! That includes things like banana peels and orange rinds! Don't leave anything behind! Enjoy this absolutely gorgeous national park!!

The views are spectacular from every angle throughout the park!…read more Rocky Mountain National Park was established on January 26, 1915 and was dedicated on Sept. 4, 1915. We had already planned to come here on Oct. 1, 2025 which coincided with the first day of the Federal Government Shutdown. We arrived before anyone was at the Entrance Station to take entrance fees & reservations. We later exited & reentered the park and there was a guy at the entrance booth. He didn't seem to know what was going on and the fees/reservations were not collected. I had gone online to recreation.gov and made a reservation for a timed entry to the park. There was a $2 fee. There are 2 reservation options: Timed Entry with or without Bear Lake Road Reservation. First wildlife we saw were the Mule Deer. During our visit here, we heard Elk bugling, saw Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, chipmunks, & birds. Trail Ridge Road is a major road which is also part of US Highway 34. It takes you up to the Alpine Tundra and is the highest continuous paved road in North America. Some of the stops are: Fairview Curve, Medicine Bow Curve, Lava Cliffs, Rock Cut, Forest Canyon, & Many Parks Curve. With the different elevations in the park, the terrain also changes! I was amazed with how the landscape was so vast & stunning from the grassy meadows to the Alpine Tundra! Trail of Aspens - there's a plaque with information about it at Hollowell Park. Look in the distance above the sign and you'll see them. Going in the Autumn time, it was so easy to see them as they were changing colors! Sprague Lake - saw lots of Trout in the shallow water before reaching the lake itself. Took the Trail Ridge Road up to the Alpine Tundra area where the Alpine Visitor Center is. This visitor center is the highest one in the National Park System at 11,796 feet. It was closed, but the Trail Ridge Store with a coffee stand next door was open. The elevation here can bring on altitude sickness. The elevation reaches over 12,000ft. Everyone should be careful and drink plenty of water. We live at Sea Level in Los Angeles and acclimating to the elevation helped somewhat. We still had a bit of trouble catching our breath. Coming back down, we stopped by the Sheep Lakes Information Station. I think we were too early to see the sheep. We didn't see any Bighorn Sheep there. Alluvial Fan - Pretty cool area! There was a Lawn Lake flood on July 15, 1982. An alluvial fan is basically a fan-shaped deposit of sediment. There's a bridge across Roaring River near the base of the Alluvial Fan. You can walk up a little bit for a view of the water falling or a selfie with the river in the background. We spent about 8 hours in the park. Most of it was driving and taking in the sights. No hiking for us, but we did get out and do some of the short walks out to see things. Our last stop was at the Fall River Visitor Center. It is located just outside of the park. Lucky for us that this is run in a partnership with the NPS & by the Rocky Mountain Conservatory and was open! We were able to see the exhibits and use the park stamp for my parks passport book. Next door is a store that we also visited and took advantage of their restroom before heading into the town for dinner. I hope to make it back again! Seeing the wildlife and the tundra area were highlights.

The displays are old, but it's about geology. How much does that really change between the 90s and…read morenow?

Moraine Park is a beautiful area of Rocky Mountain National Park that was carved out by glaciers…read morethat once flowed through this region. Today it is a large meadow located off Bear Lake Road. I was able to pull over and enjoy the surrounding meadows with the Rocky Mountains in the background. During certain seasons, you can spot elk and other wildlife in Moraine Park. The Moraine Park Discovery Center is a structure that is located on Bear Lake Road across from Moraine Park. It is about a mile from the Beaver Meadows Entrance Station. The Discovery Center opened in 1923 and has a gift shop, bookstore and exhibits that give information about the park and this region. This educational center is really nice and offers something for everyone. There is a park ranger on hand to answer any questions that you may have. The large window inside gives you nice views of Moraine Park. There are also restrooms and a short nature trail here. You can access trailheads for both Cub Lake and Fern Lake from Moraine Park. The Moraine Park Museum and Amphitheater is nearby at the base of Eagle Cliff Mountain.

While visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, I spent some time in Estes Park after each day in the…read morepark. You have to go through this town to get to a couple of the park entrances. I grabbed dinner at a few restaurants and spent some time in Stanley Park. The view of Lake Estes from the park is stunning. The downtown area in Estes Park has a number of restaurants and retail stores. For activities, there is an Aerial Tramway to Prospect Mountain's summit or you can jump on a jeep tour. If you love outdoor activities, this is a great place to visit. Sadly, there was a huge wildfire going on when I was here that caused a lot of smoke. But overall, Estes Park is a great town to visit and has lots to do.

The downtown is full of shops and mass amounts of people who capitalize off tourism from those…read morevisiting Rocky Mountain National Park. The shops sell stuff to the tourists and it's basically all souvenirs. We had ice cream and it was mediocre. The service is horrible here in general. I don't know what it is, but I think it's because the employees seem to be seasonal workers that really don't care. I also got the vibe that many locals hate tourism from the National Park so you get a mix of experiences from those businesses that truly care about your experience and others that don't at all and are annoyed by the amount of tourists in their town. The crosswalks in downtown go straight and horizontal so every now and then you get crossing guards yelling that you can now cross in all directions. The downtown doesn't have enough parking so it's hard to find a spot to park.

I enjoyed hiking the nature trail here at Bear Lake. Because this is such a popular area of Rocky…read moreMountain National Park, it requires a timed entry reservation with Bear Lake Road access to get in. To reach Bear Lake, must enter through the Beaver Meadows entrance station to get into the park. Rocky Mountain National Park requires a timed entry reservation to enter the park during certain hours. After entering, you then have to show your "Timed Entry + Bear Lake Road" reservation at another entrance station at the beginning of Bear Lake Road. The road to Bear Lake is around ten miles. Just keep in mind that the parking lot will probably be full upon arrive. They do have a free shuttle that will take you to the beginning of the trailheads if you are not able to find parking. I got lucky and was able to pull into a parking spot when a car was leaving. I did three hikes during my full day here at Bear Lake. I started off with the nature loop that goes around Bear Lake. Then I did the hike to Alberta Falls followed by the hike to Emerald Lake. All of these trails start at the same place. There is a ranger station at the beginning of the trail that has a park ranger on hand to answer questions and to hand out maps. Bear Lake is so beautiful. The walk around the lake is easy and scenic. The Bear Lake loop trail offers spectacular views of Hallett Peak and the surrounding mountain peaks. Bear lake was formed during the ice age by a big chunk of ice. Keep an eye out for wildlife and other little critters that hang around the lake. I was able to do some bird watching while on my hike. A Steller's Jay followed me around the whole time that I was on the trail and provided some fun entertainment. I also enjoyed photographing the colorful wildflowers along the trail.

Bear Lake is a popular destination within Rocky Mountain National Park. Many trails start and end…read morewith Bear Lake, ones that are both easy and more challenging. It is stunningly beautiful. We did not set out to do this trail. We took the Mills Lake via Glacier Gorge Trail (a little over 5 mile hike) and saw a sign that Bear was an additional 0.6 miles out to it and back to the trail we took so we added this to our hike. Bear Lake sits at 9,450 feet in elevation so make sure to give your body time to acclimate to the high altitude before doing any strenuous hikes if you are new to hiking in high elevation. It's a gorgeous lake with benches around to sit down and soak in the views and is a peaceful place to visit.

Beautiful shady walk! Lots of pretty bridges to cross. Lots of benches next to creek for stopping…read moreto take in the view. I was able to breastfeed my son at one of the benches which was nice.

The Riverwalk is great. I USA start around the visitor center, walk by the river for a bit, then…read morereturn along the main street. There are tons of food and ice cream options as well as a couple of parks and some art. Stations for kids to play music are scattered along the way.

The trail around the lake is busy but beautiful! We were captivated by all of the views and cute…read moredogs on leashes. The trail is smooth and pretty flat overall especially on the first half. There is parking all around the lake. There was not a lot of shade but fortunately it was in the mid 70s so not too bad. We opted to park at the visitor center and walk over. The center has nice bathrooms and a gift shop so that was a nice thing for us too. If you like easy walks or bike rides with great views be sure to add this to the list!

My absolute favorite running trail! I ran in the morning and it wasn't too crowded, weather was…read moregreat, felt safe, and it was beautiful. The only issue I had was wanting to stop and take pictures instead of running. There were elk a couple mornings, but I didn't see them everyday :( The trail is 3.7 miles around with a few big hills. There's a parking garage and a few lots throughout, including a camping area. The welcome center is nearby to get water or use the bathroom, and there are bathrooms near the bike/ boat rental place but their water fountains weren't working. I love this trail and recommend running here if you're visiting the area!

We went on a Rocky Mountain Winter Adventure at the beginning of February 2026. It was the…read moreoff-season for Estes Park, but the weather was beautiful. There was only 3 of us other than the tour guide. Our tour guide, CE was incredibly kind, knowledgeable, and willing to make the tour whatever we wanted it to be! We saw deer, elk, and various birds. Again, this was the off-season, so may be able to spot more in different times of the year. We were offered snacks, water, and hot chocolate. There was little snow, but we were able to sled! All in all, would recommend this tour/excursion to anyone looking to experience the Rocky Mountain National Park!

WOW. The views were out of this world…read more I think our tour guide was Wesley (I remember he lived in an RV with his gf), but I might have his name wrong. He was an amazing tour guide. He was very informative. Had some dad jokes. Was a good driver bc I wouldn't trust myself on road haha. It was absolutely terrifying at some points. I'm afraid of heights. The tour was not long enough. I wish we could have seen the other parts of the park with water which that could very well be another tour and I'm don't know it. Highly recommend this company tho. It was worth every penny and his food recs were spot on too!