Day 2: Exploring Estes Park & the Rocky Mountains
- Abbie Casey
- May 28, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 4, 2019
This was one of my favorite days of our 5-day trip to Colorado! The Rocky Mountain National Park is unbelievable. The mountains are simply amazing and grand. I felt so privileged to be able to drive and hike in such a beautiful mountain range.
- We started the day by stopping at a Denver cafe for breakfast - we really liked the Regal Bakery and Cafe. It was very close to our Air BnB and had the perfect low-key atmosphere. I highly recommend their omelet or burrito bowl with crushed green chile! Also, the service was great and the free coffee refills was the cherry on top.
- After loading up the car, we started the journey from Denver to Estes Park. This scenic drive took my breath away. The mountainous sights were unlike any other that I have seen. Be sure to have your camera out and ready!
- We stopped at the pull-off for the Estes Park entrance on Highway 36 to take in the view and take a photo of the sign.
- We then drove to the Stanley Hotel. The view from this hotel is amazing! They have a great lookout point in the front of the hotel, as well as seating on their porch, and various benches throughout their land. The hotel lobby and gift shop were a must see too. And of course we had to pick up something to document that we went to The Shining hotel! For the movie fanatics, they have plenty of The Shining themed items and even offer tours.
- Next stop: lunch! We parked in town near the Town Center (free parking and decent bathrooms, woo!) and walked to Claire's Restaurant. Unfortunately, the outdoor seating wasn't open yet, but we still had a great window seat with a view. They had plenty of gluten free options and I went with their chicken curry salad sandwich on gluten free bread and sweet potato fries. Oh, did I mention it was happy hour, 2 for 1 mimosas? Now that's what I am talking about! Tim had the pineapple mimosa and I had the cranberry and they were delicious!
- After lunch, we got back on the road to drive to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We made a pit stop to meet up with a college friend who is a park ranger here! She loaded us into her car and gave us the grand tour of the park. She even took us up Trail Ridge Road which has the most amazing views!
- After driving around the park, we decided to go on some trail walks! We made a pit stop at the Moraine Park Visitor Center where we picked up some NPS T-shirts and a coffee mug! Next, we got our map of the Rocky Mountains and its trails. Our ranger pal recommended Sprague Lake and Bear Lake, so we set forth to find these trails. Both were relatively easy to walk, were less than 1 mile each with very little incline, and still offered up some incredible views.
- Bear Lake even had snow! I was very glad I wore pants, a raincoat, and brought sneakers with a tread, as there were some slippery spots on this trail. Being in the National Park was such a neat experience because at the lowest level it was 80+ degrees, but at Bear Lake, it must've dropped to ~50 degrees, and it was even colder on our drive up Trail Ridge Road, where at the farthest point that we could go at the time - Rainbow Curve - it was snowing!
- After Bear Lake, we hopped back in the car to continue to scope out the scenery. We drove around the park for at least an hour just soaking it all in. There are plenty of pull off spots that made it convenient to document the park and its views. One that I would recommend is the Sheep Lakes pull off. And if you're lucky, maybe you'll even see the sheep descend from the mountain to drink from the lakes! We were not lucky, but the view was still incredible.
- After spending our afternoon in the park, we decided to make our way back to Estes Park and have dinner with our ranger pal. We decided on Mama Rose's which is a beautiful riverfront restaurant that has ample gluten free options (it was hard to pick!!) and a hearty wine list. We had a great time chit chatting on their charming porch with glasses of wine and delicious food - I had the polenta verdura and it was tasty!
- After dinner we said our goodbyes to our ranger pal and hit the road to go back to our Air BnB. We could still see the outline of mountains as we drove out of Estes Park during dusk. The drive was easy and our feet were tired. It was a long, but incredible day! And let me tell you, we slept like logs that night.
- Abbie
Comments