Any Recent Visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park?

I'll be visiting the Rocky Mountain NP from March 28 to 30, and I'd like to learn about what to watch out for and what to avoid from any recent visitors to the NP or those who are very familiar with the park this time of the year.

I've visited the park on several occasions in the past but always during the summer months, and I know that wildlife sighting can differ greatly depending on the season. The best wildlife sighting I had in the park was in early June when the park was still covered in snow, and I'm hoping for the same in late March.

Also, any advices on safe but great hiking trails would be appreciated, too.

I live about an hour from the park. I don't have a lot of advice, but Trail Ridge Road won't be open all the way across. Are you staying on the Estes Park side or the Grand Lake side? Bear Lake road should be open. The only hike I've done was Alberta Falls, which still had a bit of snow in places in late May. It was a pretty easy hike and the falls are cool.

Unfortunately the park took a bit of damage in the flooding last fall. Fall River Road is closed and looks like it will be all year. Some of the foot bridges got washed out. More info at http://www.nps.gov …yourvisit/flood​_alert.htm. I saw on the news recently that they are doing some repairs on 36 between Lyons and Estes, with some long delays, might want to go through Loveland and go up 34. (Edit: or go up 119 from Boulder and take the Peak-to-Peak to Estes. Awesome drive, but a bit longer)

I haven't been up there since last spring, I should head up there soon - Next weekend looks like it's gonna be nice up there, have fun!

ColoradoCanon wrote in post #16779521
I live about an hour from the park. I don't have a lot of advice, but Trail Ridge Road won't be open all the way across. Are you staying on the Estes Park side or the Grand Lake side? Bear Lake road should be open. The only hike I've done was Alberta Falls, which still had a bit of snow in places in late May. It was a pretty easy hike and the falls are cool.

Unfortunately the park took a bit of damage in the flooding last fall. Fall River Road is closed and looks like it will be all year. Some of the foot bridges got washed out. More info at http://www.nps.gov …yourvisit/flood​_alert.htm. I saw on the news recently that they are doing some repairs on 36 between Lyons and Estes, with some long delays, might want to go through Loveland and go up 34. (Edit: or go up 119 from Boulder and take the Peak-to-Peak to Estes. Awesome drive, but a bit longer)

I haven't been up there since last spring, I should head up there soon - Next weekend looks like it's gonna be nice up there, have fun!

Thanks for the route recommendations and other alerts, exactly what I need. We're staying at the YMCA Estes Park. The weather forecast looks to be quite good. Sure hope to see lots of wild animals.

Expect lots and lots of snow, that's about all I know. This time of year hiking really mostly means snowshoeing, at least above 10,000'. Here are a couple of web cams. Check the time stamp, a bunch of them are offline, so days or months old pictures.

http://coloradolivecam​s.com/colocam-estes1.htm

patrick j wrote in post #16779787
Expect lots and lots of snow, that's about all I know. This time of year hiking really mostly means snowshoeing, at least above 10,000'. Here are a couple of web cams. Check the time stamp, a bunch of them are offline, so days or months old pictures.

http://coloradolivecam​s.com/colocam-estes1.htm

Great, why didn't I think of the web cams!

SYS wrote in post #16779582
Thanks for the route recommendations and other alerts, exactly what I need. We're staying at the YMCA Estes Park. The weather forecast looks to be quite good. Sure hope to see lots of wild animals.

Here's some details on the 36 closures.
http://www.coloradodot​.info …ects/us-36-lyons-to-estes

I've at least seen Elk every time I've been to Estes (They're wandering around town most of the time). Fox and Moose sometimes.. I have yet to see a bear, even though they are common there. Patrick is right, you'll probably need showshoes if you're going very far from the road.

ColoradoCanon wrote in post #16780394
Here's some details on the 36 closures.
http://www.coloradodot​.info …ects/us-36-lyons-to-estes

I've at least seen Elk every time I've been to Estes (They're wandering around town most of the time). Fox and Moose sometimes.. I have yet to see a bear, even though they are common there. Patrick is right, you'll probably need showshoes if you're going very far from the road.

Thanks again for the road closure information. I'll go up to Loveland and then Estes on 34.

I'm hoping that climbing to Dream Lake and Emerald Lake won't pose too much of a challenge. That's my favorite hike in the RMNP, but of course I've only been there during the summer months....

I just came back from hiking up to Emerald lake with the family (youngest son is 7). It is packed snow all the way up so definitely doable without snowshoes - we just had hiking boots. I would recommend gators if you have them, but the kids managed fine without - just got wet feet. It's doable in trainers, but you'll get wet feet and it will be slippery on the steeper parts.

The lakes are all frozen and mostly covered with snow, so not a pretty as in the summer, but the scenery is nice and we all really enjoyed the hike. Dream lake has some blue ice showing (first photo below) and was pretty.

The only 'tricky' part was finding the trail from Nymph lake. You cross the lake and follow the trail up to the left, but there are multiple trails that petered out. We ended up hiking up through some deeper snow on a slope and found the main trail. Basically though if you hike up to the left on the far side of Nymph, you should hit the main trail to Dream and Emerald lakes.

The Alluvial fan area was also interesting. Although the road is washed out in a spot, you can still hike down it and around the area.

We didn't hike around Moraine Park, but it didn't have much snow - looked to be more 'mud season' type hiking. Also saw lots of Elk.

A couple of relatively unprocessed shots, Dream lake and just off the trail near Emerald lake.

ejenner wrote in post #16789422
I just came back from hiking up to Emerald lake with the family (youngest son is 7). It is packed snow all the way up so definitely doable without snowshoes - we just had hiking boots. I would recommend gators if you have them, but the kids managed fine without - just got wet feet. It's doable in trainers, but you'll get wet feet and it will be slippery on the steeper parts.

The lakes are all frozen and mostly covered with snow, so not a pretty as in the summer, but the scenery is nice and we all really enjoyed the hike. Dream lake has some blue ice showing (first photo below) and was pretty.

The only 'tricky' part was finding the trail from Nymph lake. You cross the lake and follow the trail up to the left, but there are multiple trails that petered out. We ended up hiking up through some deeper snow on a slope and found the main trail. Basically though if you hike up to the left on the far side of Nymph, you should hit the main trail to Dream and Emerald lakes.

The Alluvial fan area was also interesting. Although the road is washed out in a spot, you can still hike down it and around the area.

We didn't hike around Moraine Park, but it didn't have much snow - looked to be more 'mud season' type hiking. Also saw lots of Elk.

A couple of relatively unprocessed shots, Dream lake and just off the trail near Emerald lake.

Great, thank you so much for the information that gives me very good picture of what I'm going to be faced with. Nice photos, too!

Nice scenery, I live here and never get up there. Maybe on the free weekend -

http://www.nps.gov/fin​dapark/feefreeparks.ht​m

Just got back from RMNP. Visited Alluvial Fan and Moraine Park on first day to acclimated to the elevation, then hiked up to Emerald Lake the next day. Surprised to see that many hikers. My wife didn't want to go to Dream Lake, so our final destination was Emerald Lake.

Awesome! Gotta get up there soon.