History

Rocky Mountain National Park was established on January 26, 1915.

Get in

Driving entrances with fee booths:

 • From Estes Park on the east into Moraine Park area, and over Trail Ridge Road
 • From Grand Lake on the west, the west end of Trail Ridge Road
 • Wild Basin entrance (dead ends in Wild Basin area)

No-fee driving entrances (east side):

 • Long's Peak trailhead road (dead ends at the Long's Peak trailhead and campground)
 • Cow Creek / McGraw Ranch road (dead ends at McGraw Ranch and Cow Creek trailhead)
 • Lily Lake Visitors Center parking lot
 • McGregor Ranch/Gem Lake parking lots near Lumpy Ridge

Other entrance points:

 • The park doesn't have a fence around it. You can generally just hike in from anywhere. To camp overnight requires a backcountry permit.

Fees/Permits

Entrance fees are $20 per private vehicle or $10 for individuals on foot or on bicycle, valid for seven days. Holders of the National Park Pass ($50, allows entry to all national park areas for one year) do not need to pay an entrance fee. In addition, there is a $35 pass available that allows entry into Rocky Mountain National Park for one year. If you drive in early in the morning or late at night the fee booth will probably be unmanned. It is rumored that local Larimer County and Grand County residents can pass through the park without paying a fee if they mention that intention to the entrance guards.

Activities

Hiking

 • The park offers 359 miles of trail to hikers, backpackers and horseback riders.

 • Dream Lake & Emerald Lake both beautiful lakes and are fairly easy hikes from the Bear Lake trailhead. Dream Lake is the most photographed lake in the park and is not accessible by car, so that should tell you something. Get there early as the morning light is fantastic.

 • Wild Basin Trailhead, excellent trail for seeing wild flowers and waterfalls. Get there early as the parking fills and there is no shuttle bus.

Get around

Shuttle Bus, this is an excellent service which runs during the summer months when there is almost no parking at the trailheads in the Bear Lake area.

Flora and fauna

Fauna: Elk, mule deer, moose, bighorn sheep, black bears, coyotes, cougars, eagles, hawks

Lodging

Lodging

 • Castle Mountain Lodge -

 • McGregor Mountain Lodge -

Camping

 • Moraine Park Campground is well located for exploring the eastern part of the park, is very clean, and very full in the summer so make sure to reserve your site ahead of time. As there are no showers at the campground you have to go in to Estes Park - we found some at the Laundromat in the same shopping centre as the Safeways.