Last month a friend came to visit for the weekend and we decided we should explore those big pointy things with white stuff on the top… (Rocky Mountain National Park)

I had a national park pass from a trip to the Grand Canyon a couple months ago so i got in for “free”.

Keep a look out – they had a few “free entry” weekends throughout the summer – that’s cool!

We headed in through the entrance by Estes Park.  I wanted to make sure that my friend could handle the larger altitude change – she was from sea level, so we had our bag lunch by one of the water falls.

After that, we headed down toward Bear Lake for some not too strenous hiking! Obviously the easy hikes and easily accessible areas will be the most populated. Rocky Mt NP has created a huge parking lot and a shuttle system to get you around the heavily traveled areas.

I must say I am very impressed with ease of transit, the limited wait times for the buses, and the ability to get away from the crowds! We did the mile-ish hike to Alberta Falls

And then the trail around Bear Lake. It was a beautiful walk/hike.

It’s a neat place to bring visitors or just head in yourself!

It is right there – under 2 hours from Denver… Seriously – go take a look!

I can’t wait to get up there and find some other hikes and enjoy more of what Colorado has to offer!