Date of Trek: Friday, May 15, 2009

Quick Summary: A driving tour of RMNP with a short stop at Chasm Falls.

Trek Report

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine came to visit me in Denver. On the first day of her stay, I took her to Rocky Mountain National Park because nothing says Colorado like RMNP. We started from the Beaver Meadows entrance (point A on map below) and stopped at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center to check out the road and trail conditions. From there we headed over to the Endovalley picnic area to park. (Point B on the map is the entrance to Old Fall River Road. Google Maps thinks this one way, which fouled up the driving directions.) Old Fall River Road was closed past this point so we parked and hiked up the road to Chasm Falls. During the summer months, you can drive up to the falls.

After exploring the falls, we returned to our car and drove back to Trail Ridge Road. The visitor center had posted that Trail Ridge Road was closed at Rainbow Curve. However, upon reaching the curve’s pullout, we discovered that the barrier was open and we could continue on to the Forest Canyon Trailhead (point C). From Rainbow Curve to the trailhead, there was plenty of snow on the ground. In some places, there was still 10ft or more! I would love to see how the plows push through that much snow. They obviously do, because the road was completely clear. After hiking the short Forest Canyon Overlook Trail through the snow, we headed back to Estes Park, stopping at a couple other pull-outs we had skipped on the way up.

The slideshow shows images from Chasm Falls, Old Falls Road, and various pull-outs along the journey. Since I wasn’t tracking with my GPS for most of the trip, I couldn’t do my traditional trek report, but I felt the trip was interesting enough to warrant a post and video. I’ll be returning to RMNP in the future for more traditional treks.

What You Will See

Where You Will Go