Loving Coloardo
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Joined: Jan 2001
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From: Mish-she-gan
Loving Coloardo
We are enjoying Estes Park. Woke up today with a bull elk eating flowers on our cottage front porch and a herd surrounding my Audi! Hiked Bear Lake, Alberta Falls, and Glacer Gorge trails today. Awesome area. I loved the drive in on Rt 34...... Just what the doctor ordered after the boring flat land drive to get west.
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From: EstesPark/BocaRaton
If you're there long enough -- meaning to get your lungs acclimated and legs limbered up -- do this:
Get up early, go into the Park and leave your car at the Fern Lake Trailhead (it's on the map; early because the parking lot fills up). Walk out to the shuttle stop, get the bus, and stay on it past the museum all the way to the ParkNRide. Then get the other bus up to Bear Lake.
At Bear Lake, head up the Flattop Mountain trail, but cut off after a mile or so to Odessa/Fern Lakes and stay on that trail back to the Fern Lake Trailhead and your car. It's maybe 10 miles altogether with some up at the start, but then it's mostly downhill through a very spectacular part of the Park. Take lunch and lots of water; make a day of it.
Another good hiking starting point is about 25 miles south on the Peak-to-Peak Highway (CO-7), near Ward. Turn off to Brainard Lake, pick a trailhead, and head up. Lake Isabel, for example, is remarkable. All-in-all, it's hard to go wrong up there. HPH
Get up early, go into the Park and leave your car at the Fern Lake Trailhead (it's on the map; early because the parking lot fills up). Walk out to the shuttle stop, get the bus, and stay on it past the museum all the way to the ParkNRide. Then get the other bus up to Bear Lake.
At Bear Lake, head up the Flattop Mountain trail, but cut off after a mile or so to Odessa/Fern Lakes and stay on that trail back to the Fern Lake Trailhead and your car. It's maybe 10 miles altogether with some up at the start, but then it's mostly downhill through a very spectacular part of the Park. Take lunch and lots of water; make a day of it.
Another good hiking starting point is about 25 miles south on the Peak-to-Peak Highway (CO-7), near Ward. Turn off to Brainard Lake, pick a trailhead, and head up. Lake Isabel, for example, is remarkable. All-in-all, it's hard to go wrong up there. HPH
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 45,738
Likes: 8,264
From: Mish-she-gan
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 45,738
Likes: 8,264
From: Mish-she-gan
If you're there long enough -- meaning to get your lungs acclimated and legs limbered up -- do this:
Get up early, go into the Park and leave your car at the Fern Lake Trailhead (it's on the map; early because the parking lot fills up). Walk out to the shuttle stop, get the bus, and stay on it past the museum all the way to the ParkNRide. Then get the other bus up to Bear Lake.
At Bear Lake, head up the Flattop Mountain trail, but cut off after a mile or so to Odessa/Fern Lakes and stay on that trail back to the Fern Lake Trailhead and your car. It's maybe 10 miles altogether with some up at the start, but then it's mostly downhill through a very spectacular part of the Park. Take lunch and lots of water; make a day of it.
Another good hiking starting point is about 25 miles south on the Peak-to-Peak Highway (CO-7), near Ward. Turn off to Brainard Lake, pick a trailhead, and head up. Lake Isabel, for example, is remarkable. All-in-all, it's hard to go wrong up there. HPH
Get up early, go into the Park and leave your car at the Fern Lake Trailhead (it's on the map; early because the parking lot fills up). Walk out to the shuttle stop, get the bus, and stay on it past the museum all the way to the ParkNRide. Then get the other bus up to Bear Lake.
At Bear Lake, head up the Flattop Mountain trail, but cut off after a mile or so to Odessa/Fern Lakes and stay on that trail back to the Fern Lake Trailhead and your car. It's maybe 10 miles altogether with some up at the start, but then it's mostly downhill through a very spectacular part of the Park. Take lunch and lots of water; make a day of it.
Another good hiking starting point is about 25 miles south on the Peak-to-Peak Highway (CO-7), near Ward. Turn off to Brainard Lake, pick a trailhead, and head up. Lake Isabel, for example, is remarkable. All-in-all, it's hard to go wrong up there. HPH
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Joined: Mar 2003
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From: Loveland, CO
We are enjoying Estes Park. Woke up today with a bull elk eating flowers on our cottage front porch and a herd surrounding my Audi! Hiked Bear Lake, Alberta Falls, and Glacer Gorge trails today. Awesome area. I loved the drive in on Rt 34...... Just what the doctor ordered after the boring flat land drive to get west.
