Solitude In Winter
Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park Invigorating And Peaceful
By Reid Neureiter
For the GPHN
Park Hillers looking for a brisk winter outdoor activity should consider a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Unlike during the summer months, when so many visitors swarm the park’s more scenic areas, there are many fewer visitors in the winter, allowing for some solitude among the towering cliffs, icy lakes, and frozen waterfalls.
In winter, the National Park Service plows and maintains paved select park roads allowing access to some of the best trailheads, including the Sprague Lake, Glacier Gorge, and Bear Lake trailheads. The park’s website does warn that roads are “often icy and snowy, especially in shady areas,” and recommends that visitors be “prepared with 4WD/AWD/snow tires and know how to drive in wintery conditions.”
Park Hill resident Michelle Golla, 53, and her family of five from Eudora Street spent the week before Christmas in Estes Park, 70 miles from Denver at the base of the RMNP. During their visit, they made two hikes in the park, including the Deer Mountain Trail and a second to the frozen Emerald and Dream Lakes, starting from the Bear Lake Trailhead.
Golla, a personal trainer and fitness coach, raved about the beauty of the winter mountain environment and the views, and strongly recommends checking being prepared and properly equipped.
“Check the weather,” she said. “You want to make sure you dress in layers. If it is below 20 degrees, you need two layers of pants on, and wool socks.”
Golla also recommends bringing a backpack with snacks and enough water. “You need to stay hydrated. It is misleading because of the cold temperature, but hydration is important.”
Because the most popular trails become snow packed, snowshoes are not necessary. But microspikes or other traction devices for your footwear may be critical on the sometimes icy, steep trails. “If don’t have proper gear, you will have a challenge. You have to have really good traction for your boots,” Golla said.
Kelly Wulf, 21, of Leyden Street, spent some of the time she was home over winter break from the University of Virginia hiking in RMNP. On Jan. 8, Wulf, a junior studying public policy, accompanied two friends for her first winter hike in the park. They started at the Glacier Gorge trailhead at 7:30 a.m. and made an 8-mile round trip to Sky Pond, an elevation of 10,900 feet. The route also passed a frozen waterfall and two other lakes — The Loch and the Lake of Glass — which Wulf found particularly impressive, frozen in a rippled texture.
“It was stunning, with everything from the tapered Venetian glass surface of the ice, to the jagged white peaks,” she said. “It was one of the best hikes I have every been on, albeit, also one of the most difficult. I had more of a hard time because I did not have spikes on the bottom of my shoes, but it was definitely worth it.”
Wulf’s advice is to start the day early in the morning when it is more serene, with fewer people. In addition to traction devices, bring walking poles to add stability on some of the less-packed down areas of the snowy trail.
Rocky Mountain National Park offers a variety of winter hiking options, including short walks to easily accessed frozen lakes such as Bear Lake and Sprague Lake which are just a few dozen yards from the parking lots, to more difficult and remote hikes like Mills Lake (six miles round trip) or Lake Haiyaha (five miles). There is a park entry fee of $25 per car. Visitors can consult with the park’s website for current information on road and trail conditions at nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/trail_conditions.htm.
Some of the more popular winter destinations were adversely affected by last summer’s Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires and remain closed, but park staff will continue to assess these areas for fire activity, safety and downed trees.