The Perfect 3-Day Itinerary for Rocky Mountain National Park & Estes Park!

Rocky Mountain is really a hiker's dream. There are scenic drives and plenty of easy walks for non-hikers, but if you like to hike, you'll love this park. Or maybe I should say parks, because the valleys and meadows around here are called parks, as in Estes Park. This is Moraine Park. This is Horseshoe Park. The term came from early French fur trappers and I just love that it has stuck around. These big u-shaped valleys are evidence they were carved by glaciers, as is the jagged and imposing Hallett Peak. We were so fortunate to see some wonderful places this year, like the Utah National Parks, Yellowstone, and the Canadian Rockies. And these views right here are among my most treasured memories. This is Rocky Mountain National Park. Let's give a little introduction to Estes Park, which is our home base for the next few days. Estes Park was created before the National Park. The residents of Estes lobbied hard to turn their backyard into a national park, which they wanted to call Estes National Park. So this town has had a long and proud connection to Rocky Mountain National Park. We're riding the trolley downtown to shop and eat. We're on Elkhorn Avenue right now. This is the main shopping center or district for Estes Park. So there's a lot of t-shirt shops, restaurants, ice cream stores. This is the original taffy shop. This place has been in business for over 80 years and they still use the original taffy pulling method, which even if you don't get taffy, you should just stop and watch it. It's mesmerizing. But Matt and I went in and we bought a few different kinds of taffy. We've got salted caramel, raspberry lemonade, blueberry, and cotton candy. And I have to say, this is not the yucky taffy they throw at you at a parade. This is the legit yummy stuff and it's been owned by like two families over the last 80 years. These cute brothers are in there selling it. I would highly recommend checking out the taffy shop. They stop traffic in all directions so that people can cross the street. Only time this is legal is if we're doing it, even if we don't need to. Crossing the street diagonally. All right, what do you got? What's it called, Matt? Big Daddy. Ooh. Burger, baguette ring, pulled pork. This YouTube channel has really done a damage on my diet. So let's see if we can eat this thing. Oh man. Okay, now let's get back into the National Park. Before this was a National Park, a dam was constructed in this valley within today's park boundaries. The 95-foot high dam held fine for 79 years, but in 1982, it broke. Water from the reservoir came crashing down into this valley where it turned Fall River into a roaring river, crashing into and through Estes Park, causing millions of dollars in damage and the loss of several lives. Today we can see the 500-foot wide alluvial fan that was created from the flood. We're now entering the old Fall River Road, a scenic drive that will take us to the top of the mountains. The narrow dirt road is one way only. I loved this because it gently rises through this valley, providing a number of different looks. This stop looks back at a beautiful meadow before we really start the climb. Some stretches ride through the forest, and others provide views of the canyon walls with towering cascades. Welcome to the old Fall River Road. This was the original road that got tourists to the top of Rocky Mountain National Park. The road received a lot of damage in the 1950s, and they thought about just ending it all together. It was dormant for like 15 years. There was enough demand to bring this road back because it's such a beautiful scenic drive. Ready for a little tingle up your spine? You can go visit the actual Stanley Hotel. This is where Stephen King came up with the idea for The Shining. And even though I'm not a horror movie fan, and I really don't believe in the paranormal, this hotel is spooky. Now for about 10 bucks you can just park here and walk around the lobby a little bit. But we paid for a tour, and they actually offer a few different types of tours. They have a Shining tour, they have a night tour, they even have like a seance reader guy. So if you really want to get spooked out, you can come check out the Stanley Hotel. It was a good time. So Stephen King stayed in room 217, and that's right there. You can go get your picture taken right outside of his room. And actually you can, people can stay in room 217, and she told us some interesting stories about room 217 on the tour. Did we see ghosts on the tour? We saw pictures of ghosts, and she told us to be looking in mirrors because they like to show up in the mirrors. The real star of the show is actually Dumb and Dumber. I mean none of the movie The Shining was filmed here at the Stanley Hotel. Dumb and Dumber that was filmed here, this is so cool. So these, there's a lot going on right now, these are the stairs that they pull up to in their ridiculous overpriced outfits. In the movie they're supposed to be in Aspen, Colorado, but they're actually here in Estes Park. They pull up here and they start handing out the money like crazy. Now today they have actually blocked off the driveway here, and they've created a hedge maze that has to do with The Shining because everybody, when they come, they want to know about the hedge maze. We're inside the Stanley Hotel now, and it is really cool in here. It's a beautiful hotel. These are the stairs where Jim Carrey races Mary up the stairs. Of course he falls, he grabs her ankles. In the movie the interior here is a lot whiter, and she said that the hotel was white in here, but then Stephen King came. Long story, but he didn't really like the movie actually, and so when he got the rights to his own story and movie back, he came here to do a mini-series, and he said no we need to paint these dark. So they've actually painted all the wood in here dark since Dumb and Dumber was filmed. This is the bar where Jim Carrey says, and I don't care. Right here behind me, and then over here is the sign, man walks on the moon. No way. And then he runs out the bar here. I loved driving Fall River Road, but honestly this next experience was probably my favorite in Rocky Mountain National Park. I'm standing here at National Park Gateway Stables. They are located right on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. At the recommendation of one of our viewers, Old Ranger, I took my son for a horseback ride. Truth be told, I have a goal to go horseback riding in every national park I can. My ride through the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon will be really tough to beat, but this was very close. Okay, I gotta see this guy. Rebel? Sweet. Hey Rebel. He's a good guy. It was a rainy day and the company gave us the option to cancel it with a full refund, but my son and I were really looking forward to it, so we bumped it back to the last ride of the day, hoping the skies would clear. The stables are outside the park, but the ride goes into the park. We got a kick out of our guide who had a very difficult horse. Others in our group had never been before and they also had trouble controlling their horses. Pro tip, don't ever let your horse eat grass. What's up? I was proud of my son and how well he did on the ride. Basically, we climbed up the valley alongside Fall River before circling back once we got to the top. It was near the top that the sun finally broke through and it was exceptionally beautiful the rest of the way. Just a fantastic ride through incredible scenery. During the ride it cleared up and it just got really really beautiful. It was a fantastic experience. I rode Rebel. My son behind the camera rode Gambler and we had a great time. The ride was really beautiful. The sun came out and it was just fantastic. We finished off our day at Antonio's in Estes Park, where we ate the biggest pizza we've ever seen. Whoa, baby. If you take a little girl like me, you can eat a big girl like me. Now it's time for the premiere experience in Rocky Mountain National Park, driving the Trail Ridge Road. This road was constructed to replace the old Fall River Road as the main route from the east side to the west side of the park. It connects Estes Park to Grand Lake. It's over 40 miles long and takes two hours to drive plus time for stops. Our first stop is Hidden Valley. There was once a ski resort here but now it's home to the Junior Ranger Headquarters. They gave us a fun little scavenger hunt packet to explore the nature trail with. We found the tundra and the tree line up on the mountains with the binoculars. We use this to look at all the colors in a rock. We felt the trees and the bark. The Trail Ridge Road is different than the old Fall River Road in that it climbs the mountain quickly then rides high on the ridge for several miles. Like the Mount Blue Sky Road, we're up here among the tundra. Rocky Mountain thunderstorms blow in quickly and we found ourselves in a crazy hailstorm. So we took refuge in the Alpine Visitor Center, the highest visitor center in the National Park System. We actually drove this road in two parts. We drove the second half after doing the old Fall River Road which explains the gorgeous blue skies on the way down the west side where we saw more pristine lakes, green valleys, and wildlife. This side also had some cool historic cabins to wander through, a remnant of the old west days before this was protected as a park. If you're visiting Rocky Mountain and you'd like some help, we have a travel itinerary on our website. It gives you a simple game plan for visiting the park as well as Estes Park, including a walking tour. You can get this on our website at wereintherockies.com. If you're looking for more great Colorado content, check out our five best scenic drives in Colorado or our full nine-day Colorado road trip video. Thanks for watching!