The Best Adventure Travel Guide for Estes Park, Colorado
Visiting Estes Park
As someone who lived in Estes Park for three months in the summer of 2024, I am here to give you all my best advice on places to go and things to do while visiting!
Rocky Mountain National Park
It’s no secret that RMNP is what attracts so many people to Estes Park! This National Park is huge and there is so much to see in it! There’s truly something for everyone, even if you’re not into hiking!
Here are the best places to visit if you don’t want to hike:
- Trail Ridge Road – This is the most scenic road in the whole park! It’s the highest paved road in the U.S.! There are plenty of pull-offs along the way, so you can get out, take pictures, and enjoy the beautiful views!
- Alpine Visitor Center – Take Trail Ridge Road to get here! This visitor center is huge! It offers gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains and is the perfect place to get souvenirs!
- Bear Lake – This includes a little walking, but the short 0.3-mile trail to this lake is absolutely worth it!
If you’re up for an adventure, and a bit of hiking, here are my best recommendations for easy hikes:
I highly suggest downloading AllTrails and upgrading to Premium so you can download maps of your hikes and use them while offline!
- Haiyaha, Emerald, Dream, and Nymph Lakes – 5 mi // 1,085 ft elevation gain // approx 2 hr 34 min
- The Loch via Glacier Gorge – 5.4 mi // 1,062 ft elevation gain // approx 2 hr 40 min
- Mills Lake – 5.2 mi // 826 ft elevation gain // approx 2 hr 21 min
- Alberta Falls & Bear Lake – 2.5 mi // 380 ft elevation gain // approx 1 hr 7 min
Now, let’s get to the good stuff! I need to start off by saying that some of these hikes should only be attempted if you are experienced and understand the terrain. With that being said, here are my best recommendations for hikes:
- Longs Peak via The Keyhole Route – 13.3 mi // 4,934 ft elevation gain
- Spearhead – 12.5 mi // 3,4441 ft elevation gain
- Navajo – 9.4 mi // 2,949 ft elevation gain
- Mount Ida – 9.5 mi // 2,411 elevation gain
- Mt Meeker – 10.2 mi // 4,625 ft elevation gain
- Chapin, Chiquita, Ypsilon (CCY) – 8.4 mi // 3,458 ft elevation gain
- Mills, Black, & Frozen Lakes – 11.5 mi // 2,539 ft elevation gain
- Sky Pond – 8.6 mi // 1,774 ft elevation gain
Activities in Town
There are a lot of other fun activities right in and around Estes!
Here are some of my recommendations:
Travel Responsibly
While visiting this beautiful location, please remember to follow Leave No Trace principles! Rocky Mountain National Park is such an incredible place, and let’s keep it that way!
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoy your stay in Estes!
