Rocky Mountain National Park...W-O-W. This place is breathtaking. Pictures do not do it justice. I couldn't believe how massive everything was. The mountain range was beautiful, the meadows were green and wide, and the rock was so much fun to climb on. In all honesty, this is never a national park that I just had to go to. I started to see more and more photos of it and sure enough I quickly added it to my bucket list. We have never camped in a national park before. I know it is shameful! We just got our new 4Runner and decided that this was the year to finally do it! There are so many things we had planned for the 4-day weekend. I want to say right off the bat this park is HUGE and we didn't even scratch the surface. Use this post to give you ideas on what you'd like to do.
Day 1 - Salt Lake to Morraine Park, RMNP
I researched which campground would be best to stay at in RMNP based on what activities we wanted to do. My biggest goal was to climb the Edge of Time. Morraine Park Campground is only 20 minutes from the climb. I am going to leave you hanging again, we will talk about both later. First, let's talk about Laramie, Wyoming. The perfect pit-stop for lunch. I lived in Laramie for a few years before moving to Utah. Even though I was very young, I still remember it quite well and always love to stop by when we drive through. The University of Wyoming is a beautiful campus, and where my dad used to work. We stopped in the cemetery across the street to get a walk-in and see some of my family members who are buried there. All of a sudden a huge buck showed up out of nowhere. He is a patronous if I ever saw one. This photo was taken during our intense stare-down. We were able to lock eyes for a good 30-seconds. It was an amazing experience. Now to the food...
We decided to eat at Altitude Chophouse and Brewery. It had the best reviews and looking at the beer menu made my mouth water. We tried the Socks & Sandals White IPA, Pier Pressure West Coast IPA, Pride of Mayberry the Strawberry + Rhubarb Blonde Ale, and an ale brewed with pine. The first 3 beers were so good we ended up getting multiple crowlers to enjoy later. The Pride of Mayberry in particular was DELICIOUS. I hope they continue this one, but it is a seasonal beer. It used to be brewed with peaches which sounded just as good. It was typical pub food, but very fresh and good portion sizes. We got the special of the day which was a fresh fish used in fish'n'chips, and carne asada tacos. A great meal before hitting the road again.
I am going to tell you now, I am the WORST blogger when it comes to food. I always forget to take a picture before I start digging in. But that's a good sign right? It's just that good.
Alright, now let's talk the campground. Be prepared for a line to get into the entrance of the park and to get into the campground. We were not used to the crowds. Most of the campgrounds we go to aren't as regulated as this one, which is a good and bad thing. There had been frequent black bear sightings and they had to give everyone the run-down of how to use the bear box. I had never seen one before. It is just a huge steel box that ensures bears aren't able to access your items. It is by the picnic table which makes it super convenient and protects your gear from the rain. We didn't see any bears but appreciated not having to lock our food in the car every night. Even though we didn't see a bear, we saw elk on our way to explore every day and had deer in our campground every morning. We also saw a coyote while exploring the meadow by the river. It was SO magical. I love seeing wildlife when I am camping/hiking. It is so beautiful to watch them in their element.
Morraine Park Campground is a really nice campground. Aside from the abundant wildlife, it was very clean. The bathrooms were always spotless, there was plenty of room between sites, and the views were AMAZING! There is a shuttle stop very close to the campground that will take you to Sprague Lake and many other stops. That was our original plan to go paddleboard and fish one day. However, the weather was a little difficult. That is the only con I have. It is super windy and rains a little bit every night around 7:00-8:00pm. It stops quickly but it does make cooking harder. I somewhat expected that though. You are at a high elevation and in a huge mountain range with its own microclimate. Just come prepared with towels and rain jackets and you'll be fine.
Day 2 - Climbing the Edge of Time & Fort Collins
The first thing we had to do was go rock climbing! The Edge of Time is a climb I have been daydreaming about for years. It looks beautiful and like such a fun climb. I normally am not a fan of aretes. I don't like feeling exposed, but this one seemed like it was doable. We brought our stick clip because we heard the bolts can be run-out. But of course, we forgot it. It was a little sketchy, but Chris is a beast climber. He is able to push through fear so well. I do not have that skill at all. Thankfully, I can remain calm while belaying, just not climbing. I think it is the height aspect. If you are a big climber and are in RMNP, you should definitely climb this route. Mountain Project will give you an idea of how to approach the climb, but it was a little confusing. Either way you will get there and it is easy to see the crag you are heading towards. The best place to park is Lily Lake. On this map you can see there is a Lily Lake Trail that goes around the lake. You can take this trail, or you can walk the trail that goes around the lake and you will veer off onto a very obvious trail that is the climber approach to the climb.
The climb is quite steep but it is short and well marked as you head up. You should have service and be able to check the GPS coordinates on Mountain Project to see which crag we were at as we approached Jurassic Park. This is such a fun area and if you have time, spend a day climbing here. We got there around 10:00am and were the second people there, which made it perfect to take lots of amazing photos.
That afternoon we wanted to go and check out Fort Collins which is why we didn't climb more. Neither of us had been there and we wanted to check out the New Belgium Brewery and the Odell Brewery. Odell is my favorite Colorado brewery and it was so great to see the brewery and get some delicious beer on draft. New Belgium is huge and had lots of fun things going on. They have an outdoor area with lots of games, a food truck, and dogs everywhere! I forgot how dog friendly Colorado is. I was in heaven. Odell is a similar set-up to New Belgium, lots of things to do, a food truck, and dogs. It is worth checking out both because they are super close to each other. But if you only have time for one, pick your favorite...if you can.
We got dinner at Rio Grande. I devoured chicken enchiladas that were amazing! It was perfect comfort food before we headed back to our campsite. There were tons of other restaurants in the historic downtown area. I don't think you could go wrong with any of them.
Day 3 - Fishing & Estes Park
The last day we planned on just taking it easy. We wanted to go fish and paddleboard at a lake close by, but RMNP was under restriction and the only way to get to the lakes was to take a shuttle. This was totally doable, but we didn't want to haul all of our stuff around so we decided to go for a walk around Morraine Park down by the river and check out the fishing conditions there. There were lots of fly fisherman. We figured it was a perfect place to go and fish later that night, so that is what we did. You can buy your fishing license online. That was super convenient and gave us flexibility on what day we actually wanted to fish. We didn't have any luck. We only had one type of fly and the fish were not interested. That is what we get for not being prepared again! But earlier that day we had a blast in Estes Park. This is the resort town right at the mouth of RMNP. We went to The Barrell bar and sat outside to try even more beer! They had 64 taps and a 5 page list of beer to try. We had a blast here and would highly recommend it. Than we walked into the main area and tried an Italian restaurant Mama Rose's for lunch. Unfortunately, it had very little flavor and was not anything special. There are so many other choices around just take your time and see what calls out to you!
Overall, RMNP, Fort Collins, and Estes Park were so much fun. If we went again we would actually stay in Estes Park but you will miss out on so much wildlife. If you have never been before stay in a campground in a park. You will see tons of wildlife every day. If you want to go on a hike go early so you can beat the crowds and park at the trailhead to avoid taking a shuttle, unless that is what you would prefer to do. I can't recommend what hikes to go on because that isn't what we went there to do. But when I was researching ideas I found a few hikes that we could check out if we had time or wanted to; Mills Lake or Flattop Mountain.
Go explore this park and be wild!
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