Rocky Mountain National Park

A few months ago we were lamenting our mistake of skipping over Rocky Mountain National Park, all because of one closed campground that we wanted to stay at. From Taos, NM to Jasper, AB, this has been the year of the Rocky Mountains and we didn’t even visit the namesake National Park.

So, we returned to Colorado and stayed at Lavern M. Johnson Park during the last week of September. This city park is in the teeny tiny town of Lyons, about 30 minutes east of Rocky. The small campground was just a parking lot but it had full hookups and was within walking distance of everything the adorable town offered. We were also 15-30 minutes from both Longmont and Boulder, which was good for errands.

Rocky requires timed entry reservations but we didn’t have any trouble snagging a few of them the first day they were released. We noted several times that the reservation system must be very effective because the popular trails we hiked weren’t crowded at all.

The first hike we did was a repeat of one that we’d done when we visited Rocky in 2015. The hike went to Bear, Nymph, Dream, Emerald, and Haiyaha Lakes. On our prior visit, someone had taken our photo at one of the lakes and we spent the hike trying to figure out where the photo was taken to recreate it. We found the exact spot at Dream Lake!

The second hike we did was to Sky Pond. This trail has over 12K reviews on All Trails, the most we’ve ever seen! This was a little surprising because it involved a scramble up a small waterfall, which was extra challenging during our visit because it was frozen and slippery.

Last, we drove most of Trail Ridge Rd. This 48-mile scenic drive connects Rocky’s east entrance at Estes Park to the west entrance at Grand Lake. Topping out at 12,183 ft, it is the highest elevation continuously paved road in the US.

Next up is one more adventure in Colorado. We are trying to draw out the hiking season as long as possible!