Rocky Mountain National Park is located about an hour and a half north of Denver, Colorado. It is a beautiful park that offers quintessential views of the Rockies. This was my first time visiting this park, but I can see myself visiting again and again in the future. Our first day there, we visited the Bear Lake region of the park, typically one of the most heavily visited areas.
After taking the shuttle, we arrived to the Bear Lake area of Rocky Mountain National Park in the early morning. There are several great hikes in this area.
We started with the loop around Bear Lake. This is a short, easy, relatively flat trail that circles around the lake, providing great views of the mountains of the park.
After completing the loop around the lake, we headed up for a bit longer and a little more strenuous of a hike. This trail took us past Nymph Lake and on to Dream Lake. The trail does continue on to Emerald Lake, however at the time we were there, the trail was very icy and snow-covered, so we didn’t make it all the way to Emerald Lake.
The views of Nymph Lake and Dream Lake were spectacular. We did have to cross some small patches of snow along the way. We had a few wildlife sightings including a few elk throughout the trail.
On our way back down from these lakes, we took a side trail to Alberta Falls. This trail loops back around to the parking lot and is an easy way to get more awesome views.
This area of the park is beautiful, however it is very popular. It’s important to get there early. The parking lot right at the trailheads fills quickly, but they offer a shuttle from a remote lot, which is what we did.
Like I said, this was my first time at Rocky Mountain National Park and it did not disappoint. Beauty was found in every turn.
It's a Magical Life 