Last Sunday, we drove about 2 1/2 hours from Colorado Springs to Rocky Mountain National Park. We entered from the town Estes Park.
Because of COVID and the parks popularity, a reservation system was put into place. This is the first national park we’ve had to make a reservation to enter. We weren’t able to get in until 3PM, so we planned to make the most of our short time there.
We chose to drive to and park in the Bear Lake area. We enjoyed stunning mountain views in all directions as we drove.
We parked and started hiking at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. A ways down the trail, we veered off onto the Alberta Falls Trail.
It was a pretty and shaded area. There were trees, rocks and streams along the way.
We brought a jog stroller, which was easy to push along the trail, but we later found out that strollers aren’t allowed.
We walked up to the most beautiful rock wall, and we looked down to see Glacier Creek below.
We continued our hike, and we arrived at Alberta Falls.
Alberta Falls is a 30-foot waterfall that flows down a small gorge on Glacier Creek.
We stood around watching and listening to the waterfall for awhile, and then we started our trek back the way we came.
We walked about 5 miles total that day. We were worn out by the time we got back to the beginning of Glacier Gorge Trail. Still, we walked a short distance over to Bear Lake to check it out as the sun was going down.
All-in-all, we felt like we had the perfect experience at Rocky Mountain National Park for the amount of time we had there. If we visit it again in the future, we’ll head north toward the Alpine Visitor Center. We were told that is one of the most scenic drives in the country.