Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
To give you a sense of what you can do in four perfect days, this itinerary summarizes my early summer trip to Rocky Mountain National Park from June, 2022. All of those Pinterest blogs will tell you you need AT LEAST a week in the park, ideally two to four weeks. Look, I have unlimited PTO at work and I still don’t have that kind of time. Who does? You can do Rocky Mountain National Park in four days. Have more time? Great. Have less time? Still okay.
What is the bare minimum amount of time to say you’ve “done” a national park? That’s not for me to decide. Given the distance of RMNP from a major airport (DEN/DIA about 1.5-2 hours), you could do RMNP as a day trip from Denver or Boulder if you planned your permits well enough. (See my previous post about how to secure a permit.)
We spent two full days, one morning, and one night in the park. Below is our day-by-day itinerary for four perfect* days in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park:
*okay we made a miscalculation on our Sunday ride home from the park, so it was not entirely perfect.
Friday:
Though our trip had been in the works for months, the week of our trip, fate threw us a curveball. One friend was not able to make it at the very last minute, so thanks to a cheap ticket, my sister ended up joining my college roommate and me at the last minute. We all flew in late Friday night into Denver, arriving by 10pm. So we would not need to drive our rental car through the mountains at night, we stayed at a nondescript hotel “by” the airport. Note: nothing is BY the Denver airport because it is out in the boonies. We rented a car at Avis and drove to the hotel. Dinner was Applebees. They aren’t all winners, folks.
Saturday:
We got up early-ish to enjoy the free breakfast (them) and a hotel work out (me). We made it to Estes Park in time for a late lunch at Notchtop, which had plenty of food options for everyone (vegetarian, vegetarian-adjacent, and no-eggs). They forgot part of our meal, so they comped us a cinnamon bun the size of our heads. I did not get a photo of it, so please take my word for it. Delicious!
We stayed at the Estes Park Resort, which had fairly reasonable rates a few months out when we booked. They do a LOT of weddings here so there were bridal parties everywhere on the terrace. I expected more outdoor activities given the website photos and descriptions. If you’re staying here for that, don’t. Stay here because it’s on the lake, has free parking, and is outside the city center. The marina is next door, where you can rent paddleboards and kayaks. Our room had two queen beds and a small balcony/patio overlooking the lake. We ended up not eating there, although reviews were good.
In reading about Estes Park, many guidebooks said to stop outside of town for groceries. No need – there is a large Safeway right in the middle of downtown. We picked up snack packs, extra water, fruit and trail mix. Colorado is one of those weird states with package stores for liquor and wine, and there were several by the Safeway and one by our hotel. Be forewarned, the altitude is no joke and you might not need as much booze as you expect.
Saturday night was warm and pleasant so we walked the path around Lake Estes into downtown. On the way we saw several elk cross right in front of us into a smaller lake! Our first brush with wildlife! We had dinner at a taco place high up above the town, walking up many many flights of stairs. I have not been able to figure out the name of the taco place we ate at; I am a terrible travel blogger. In general, EP seemed busy on a Saturday night, so make reservations ahead of time. We walked back along the lakeside path in the dark, and felt fairly safe doing so.
Sunday:
We got up relatively early for our Trail Ridge Road permit, picking up some coffee and breakfast sandwiches at that local favorite, Starbucks, to tide us over. Since I knew there were not many dining options in the park, we brought snacks from Safeway as well. The Fall River Visitors Center is just outside the gate, so we stopped for passport stamps. Our first stop once inside the park was Sheeps Lake. We actually went to Sheeps Lake every single day at least once in the search for Bighorn Sheep. (Spoiler, we NEVER saw any). The sheep come down from the mountains to the water for important minerals. In doing so they must cross a busy road inside the entrance. The Bighorn Brigade is a volunteer cadre that will stop traffic to allow the sheep to cross and keep people away.
While we did not see sheep we did see moose in Sheeps Lake! We saw two from a distance, which felt very lucky to see a moose so quickly into the park. Our permit was for the non-Bear Lake Corridor, so we planned on driving across Trail Ridge Road (see post for details). Old Fall River Road was partially closed during our visit. Our next stop was the Hidden Valley Junior Ranger Center, where we got a stamp in our parks passports AND got sworn in as Junior Rangers. They don’t just swear anybody in, you know. If you have kids, Hidden Valley is a great spot to learn about the park, do some easy trails, talk to park rangers, and use the RR.
My sister offered to do the driving through the park, so she chauffeured us across Trail Ridge Road towards the Alpine Visitor Center. As you drive across TRR, you pass through four ecosystems- montaine, subalpine, alpine tundra and riparian. As you get further away from the riparian towards alpine, it gets colder and much windier. The landscape changes, as do the animals. We saw elk and marmots throughout the park, which are especially to spot on the wide open tundra.
The guidebook The Best Easy Day Hikes in RMNP (Bookshop af link) had a list of trails that were, yes, easy, along TRR. The Tundra Communities trail was our favorite, although the altitude was REALLY getting to me (12,000+ feet). It was less than a mile and I thought my head was swimming in my brain. We made a lot of marmot friends, took selfies, and enjoyed the alpine tundra vistas. By the time we got to the Alpine Visitors Center (another stamp!), we were ready for some lunch. The cafe at the Visitors Center has simple hamburgers, wraps, and soups. The food was well picked over by the time we came in for a late lunch, and a huge swell of people came into the center after us since a huge storm came through! We watched the cold rain from the comfort of our indoor table.
After the Visitors Center, we pressed on to the other side of the park, including a stop at the Continental Divide Trail to hike around. My sister continued our drive down the other side of the mountain range into the Kauwaneechee or Grand Lake Visitors Center (stamp 3!). This side of the park is far, far less busy than the east side of the park, partly due to major forest fires they have had over the past several years. Since the drive added another hour+ each way, AND we didn’t even see any animals, the west side of the park was very disappointing to us.
On the way back home, my friend and I made a grave error: my friend and I cracked open a beer to enjoy while my sister drove. This was a terrible mistake, since the altitude on the way back up over the pass made us feel extremely ill. DO NOT DO THIS. We made it back to the hotel but felt sick all night.
Monday:
After an early night, we got up early again for our Bear Lake Corridor entry pass. This was to be our biggest day in Rocky Mountain National Park during our four day itinerary. We stopped by the Trailhead Cafe by the Fall River entrance for an enormous breakfast. I had the biscuits and gravy and it was awesome. What we couldn’t eat became lunch leftovers for our hike later. The Trailhead Cafe is on one half of a huge gift shop with clean bathrooms and drinking fountains, and is worth a stop on your way into the park.
We stopped by Sheeps Lake – again – but still saw no Bighorns. Julia drove us to Bear Lake Road, where we showed our timed entry permit to enter the corridor. I had researched a number of hikes in the Easy Trails book, planning to park at the Park n Ride (PNR) to take a shuttle to the Emerald Lake trails. However, RMNP was busier than anticipated. Some websites and blogs said you needed to get into the park pre-6am for a parking spot! After driving around in vain for a parking spot for 20 minutes, we gave up on the PNR to find another trail. Our “perfect” itinerary was taking a turn.
A few miles away we found the trailhead for Cub Lake, also on the PNR shuttle route but with two small parking lots that were not even close to full. Our “perfect” itinerary was getting back on track! Cub Lake begins flat in a field in the valley, and climbs up around a series of small lakes to reach Cub Lake, before finishing a loop almost parallel to the out path on the other side of the river. The trail was about 6 miles, relatively flat, and at a low elevation in the valley, although by the end of the hike we would have sworn it was ten miles long.
However, we did see….ELK AND MOOSE! The hike began through a prairie where a large herd of elk and calves were relaxing. We quietly walked by them, careful to give the herd plenty of space. Did you know baby elk chirp? It’s true! A few miles further on, we came upon Cub Lake. Several hikers alerted us that a moose was at the back of the lake, so we were careful on our approach. Two dozen people were also sitting quietly on the trail and hillside watching the moose eat in the lake. Eventually the moose moved on and we continued the hike. Another mile down the trail we found another moose – this time a large bull moose up on the hillside chomping through branches. He was almost impossible to see if you didn’t look closely!
After our dusty hike, we got another stamp at Beaver Meadows (just outside the park), then went into Downtown Estes Park for some food. We walked along the small downtown, looking for souvenirs and sweatshirts. Brownfield’s Souvenirs & Outdoor Gear had the best selection AND best prices out of any shop. I picked up a sweatshirt that I wear all of the time, and some patches of the hikes we did.
For dinner, we first got a free beer tasting at the Estes Park Brewery. Then we did more free whiskey and moonshine tastings at the Estes Park Distilling Co right on the main strip. My friends split a pizza, and I got an enormous salad that hit the spot, plus cocktails. The whiskey and moonshine bottles were around $30 and made a great souvenir. My favorite was the honey whiskey. There is surprisingly little photo evidence of this evening.
Monday night was clear with no moon, so after dark we headed back into the park to go stargazing. We had the best luck at Hidden Valley, as there were the fewest lights and the surrounding hills blocked any light pollution from the town. We did drive along TRR to find higher viewpoints, but none compared to Hidden Valley.
Tuesday:
Tuesday was our last day of our four-day itinerary and we didn’t want to pass up one last chance to see the sheeps. We were able to get another timed entry ticket for Tuesday late Monday night, so we headed back into the park and straight to Sheeps Lake. The sheep were zero-for-three on our visits, but we did get to take in the Bighorn Sheep interpretive talk. You know I love a tour!
We headed back to Denver via a different route, through the canyons in a last-ditch effort to see more sheep. In a twist that everyone saw coming, we saw zero animals whatsoever. Despite the detour, all three of us made it to the airport with plenty of time before our flights.
In summary, we spent four perfect days on our RMNP trip, and about 2.5 days in the park total in our itinerary, while also enjoying what Estes Park had to offer. Rocky Mountain NP was easy to access, and far more easy to intermediate hikes than I anticipated. Mid-June was also a great time to go. Temperatures the week before we were there were close to 85 degrees, cooling down to the 70s while we were there. Nights were chilly – we had planned on drinks by the campfire but even that was too cold. If you are looking for a long weekend getaway in Rocky Mountain National Park, this perfect itinerary can’t be beat!
love national parks but wish your dogGO could join you? Follow my trusty pup on her visits to redwood and Lassen National parks.
