Rocky Mountain National Park is known for its spectacular mountain scenery and wildlife. The park has over 300 miles of hiking trails with 60 mountain peaks over the elevation of 12,000 with Long’s Peak being the highest at an elevation of 14,259 feet. The park is also known for its wildlife, including Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Black Bear, Mule Deer, Moose, Coyote, Mountain Lion, Snowshoe Hare, Beaver, Pika, and many others.
The Trail Ridge Road is the highest paved through-road in the country, with a top elevation of 12,183 feet. It is very popular tourist attractions with many pull-outs for scenic viewing
The Alluvial Fan at Rocky Mountain National Park was created in 1982 when the earthen Lawn Lake Dam gave way, 29 million gallons of water washed down the Roaring River and flooded the town of Estes Park with 6 feet of mud and water. Today at the Alluvial Fan, you’ll find a mountain of boulders that were pushed down the river and a stunning waterfall cascading down it.
Alberta Falls is a nice waterfall that can be reached by an easy 1.6 mile round trip hike on the Alberta Falls Trail. It begins from the Glacier Gorge Trailhead, located on Bear Lake Road almost 8 miles from the turn-off at Highway 36. The Bear Lake Road area is very popular so you may want to consider using the free park shuttle to reach the trailhead during the peak tourist season.
You can continue on to Mills Lake via the Glacier Gorge/Loch Vale trail that bears right. The trail ascends for about another half mile to a second major three-way trail junction. The left-hand trail leads into Glacier Gorge and to Mills Lake. Adding Mills Lake makes the hike a 5.6-mile round trip and is well worth it.
The Trail to Mills Lake is relatively easy hike with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.
Along the hike back to the trailhead we were treated to some wild raspberries.
