Day 6: Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Today, we spent an extra day in Denver and visited Rocky Mountain National Park 🏔️. It took about 1.5 hours to drive from Denver to the visitor center. At the foot of the mountain, Estes Park has plenty of restaurants, fast-food spots, and convenience stores for supplies. ⚠️ Summer is peak season! You need to reserve a timed entry slot online by 7 PM the night before, otherwise, you can only enter before 9 AM or after 2 PM. ⚠️ Bear Lake requires an additional Timed Entry+ reservation. If you can’t get one, you can take a shuttle bus from the Estes Park Visitor Center to Bear Lake. You’ll need to transfer at a Park & Ride station, and the one-way trip takes about 1 hour. That’s what we did! 🚌 🔗 Reservation Link Bear Lake is absolutely stunning! 🌲💙 Many people picnic and hike here. We took some photos before heading to Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. The trail is all uphill—very physically demanding—so bring plenty of water and sunscreen! 🧴💦 The full hike takes about 1.5–2 hours to reach the innermost Emerald Lake. After taking the shuttle back down, we drove to Alpine Ridge Trail, the highest point in the park (about 50 minutes from the entrance). It’s a bit chilly up there—bring a jacket! 🧥 Along the way, there are multiple scenic overlooks. We drove straight up and stopped at viewpoints on the way down. At the summit, we even spotted a herd of elk! 🦌 Elk are common in the park and usually come out in the late afternoon or evening, so keep an eye out—you might see some right in front of you! #Denver #RockyMountainTravel #RockyMountainNationalPark #USTrip ✈️🇺🇸