One of the main highlights of the park is the Trail Ridge Road – this is the highest paved through-road in the country, with a peak elevation of 12,183 feet. Running for 48 miles between Estes Park on the park’s east side and Grand Lake on the west, Trail Ridge Road more than lives up to its reputation. Eleven miles of this high highway travels above the treeline and offers thrilling views of the fantastic scenery all around. Due to its altitude, it is also covered in several feet of snow during the winters and is closed for almost 8 months of the year (mid-October to June). The road only remains open for the first 8.5 miles from the Beaver Meadows entrance till the ‘Many Parks Curve’ point for the remaining 4 months.

The fact that we would not be able to drive through the complete stretch of the Trail Ridge Road was a strong deterrent, that had me almost reconsider the whole trip. However, there were so many other positives of being here during the winters that still made this trip worthwhile!

This region transforms into a winter wonderland after the first few snowfalls in the season and the mountains change into snow capped peaks that glisten in the winter sun. As it gets colder, the lakes start freezing and transform into ice fields that you can skate on. The trails are all mostly open, however there is snow everywhere. How cool is it to have a snowball fight and be able to make a snow angel while on a trail! The visitors also dry up during the winters, which allows you to enjoy all of these in relative solitude. Also, less visitors mean greater chances of seeing wildlife, which there is plenty of in Rocky Mountains National Park.

For day 1 we had a quick breakfast at the ‘Coffee on the Rocks’ and then drove inside the park to make our first stop at the Beavers Meadow visitors center. After picking up the park map and having a quick chat with the rangers, we headed down the Trail Ridge road. Along the way we stopped to do the Upper Beaver Meadow trail, which starts from the main road and is a relatively flat 1 mile trail. There are some great views of the flat meadows all through, and the trail also has several picnic benches along the way to catch a breath and enjoy the views. After the hike, we drove through the Deer Ridge junction all the way to the Many Parks Curve point. Pictures speak louder than words, so here’s a sample of what we witnessed.

We were convinced that we must return here during the summers one day, to witness the rest of the astounding scenery on the Trail Ridge road! After starting to head out, we also made a quick stop at Hidden Valley which transforms into a ski and snow sled area in the winter months. The days start getting rather short by the end of November, so it wasn’t long before the sun started going down. We took the road though the Fall River visitor center to head out of the park and get back to Estes Park for the night.

Our plan for day 2 was to primarily spend time on the Bear Lake road. Luckily, the entire length of this road was open to cars and we decided to make the most of it! We got into the park through the Beaver meadow entrance station and headed straight to Bear Lake which lies 9 miles from the turn-off at Highway 36.

During the summer season, it is advisable to take a shuttle to get here as parking is limited at this extremely popular site. Even though it was the off season, this place was packed by the time we got here. We did manage to find parking easily though and geared up for all the wonderful hikes around this area.

The Bear Lake hike is a 0.8-mile loop around the lake with 30 marked spots along the way, and begins just beyond the Bear Lake Ranger Station. As the trail circles around the subalpine lake, it passes through a forest of spruce, fir, lodgepole pine and aspen, and is supposed to offer some amazing views of Hallett Peak and Longs Peak reflecting off the lake. We saw no reflection as the lake was frozen solid. We did enjoy walking and sliding on the slippery ice though. After the shenanigans on the ice, we completed the hike and had a great time counting down the markers and exchanging pleasantries with fellow hikers along the way. After this, we also did the slightly longer trails leading up to  the Emerald Lake. Along the way we passed by the Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Haiyaha Lake and had stunning views of the mountain scenery all around.

After a couple of hours in this area, we got back into our cars and headed for Sprague Lake which lies just a few miles north east on the Bear Lake road. The lake is named after Abner Sprague, one of the original settlers in the Estes Park area. Sprague began building a homestead in Moraine Park in 1874. His ranch would eventually become a resort that was used for hunting, fishing, ranching, and even golfing. The relatively flat trail around the lake is about 0.9 miles long and offers several benches to sit back and enjoy the peaceful scenery and panoramic views of the Continental Divide, including Half Mountain, Thatchtop Mountain, Taylor Peak, Otis Peak, Hallett Peak, Flattop Mountain and Notchtop Mountain. Along with this splendid view, we also saw a family of 3 navigate the solid frozen lake on their skis! We soaked all of this in and enjoyed a picnic lunch on one of the many benches along this trail.

Our last stop of the day was at the Moraine Park road, very close to the Moraine Park Discovery center.  We spent some time here just watching the creek flow and some elks graze while the sun slowly went below the horizon. Even though it was cold, we were fortunate to have bright and beautiful days that stayed clear of any winter storms. That really made a difference as we were able to make the most of the limited opportunities within the park during the winter months.