Since we spent the whole summer in Estes Park last year, we were able to repeat some of our favorite hikes, including this one, more than once. I just went back and reviewed my post from last summer when we did this hike for the first time on June 4th. There was much less snow last year, despite it being almost a month earlier. You can see that post here if you’d like to compare. 🙂
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This post is a follow-up to a post on May 27th which covered the eastern part of the scenic crown jewel of Rocky Mountain National Park, Trail Ridge Road (AKA US 34). That post covered Trail Ridge Road from Estes Park to the Alpine Visitor’s center, about 25ish miles. If you’d like to know some of the history and details about this amazing road, you can go back and read that post here. This post covers a bit of the eastern portion again briefly because my sister and her friend were visiting and we had to show them some of the highlights! 🙂 Then we carry on to the western region of the park on Trail Ridge Road.
Today, since it was Monday, we decided to brave Bear Lake and hike to the trifecta of popular Rocky Mountain lakes, Nymph, Dream, and Emerald. I say ‘brave’ because the “season” has definitely begun here in Estes Park. Locals say that the lines going into the park in summer can be miles long. This morning, fortunately, that was not the case. Bear Lake is the most popular area to saunter around Bear Lake or begin many other hikes, and the parking area there is generally closed to traffic by 8:30 or 9 on a summer day. You can still go there, but you must park at the Park and Ride, and catch a shuttle to the Bear Lake trailhead. Well, we found exactly that situation before 9 AM on a Monday. Hmmm. So that is what we did.
curvyroads 