Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado - March 1st, 2022
Our goal for the day was to purchase our America the Beautiful national park pass for Season Four. Well, that was a good excuse to drive up to our favorite national park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and go snow shoeing for a day.
It was a sunny, warm day. The temperatures were well above freezing. At the trailhead, temperatures were in the 40’s, almost 50. Just outside the park in the town of Estes Park, it got up into the 50’s.
The trail we picked out was Hollowell Park and Mill Creek Basin Loop. We stopped at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center to ask about the trail conditions. The ranger warned us that the Hollowell trail is hard to follow in the winter and that we would probably be breaking trail. Other trails that the ranger suggested were Cub Lake, Deer Mountain, and Chasm Falls via Old Fall River Road. Chasm Falls is a short hike and is also a road walk, although the road is closed and snow covered in the winter. Deer Mountain is a little longer than we wanted to do that day and doesn’t have much snow on it since it is exposed to the sun. However, it has wonderful views most of the way up. We had never hiked Hollowell Park before, so we stuck to our original plan.
There were quite a few deer hanging out at the trailhead when we started and they were still there when we got back. The snow on the trail was really soft, somewhat mushy in places, especially in the sun. In fact, there were a couple of spots that were bare dirt. However, there were also spots where the snow was several feet deep and one spot in the shade that was still icy. Since the snow was soft, even with snowshoes on, we post-holed a couple of times.
The views from the trail are not the most stunning in the national park, but it was still beautiful. We pretty much had the trail to ourselves. The only other people we saw while on the trail were a couple of snowboarders coming down the trail. We could see some ski or snow board tracks snaking their way down the nearby slope. We would prefer they would come downhill off-trail. It makes us a little nervous having snowboarders coming down at us as we try to get off the narrow trail to let them go by.
The ranger was right, it is hard to follow the trail. There were tracks that we followed most of the way, so we didn’t check the map, until we came to the end of the tracks, about a mile in. As we checked our location on our AllTrails app, we realized we were way off trail. We decided to break trail up a steep slope to a rock outcropping to sit and have a snack before heading back to the trailhead. Making it up to the rock outcropping definitely gave us a good workout!
After our snack break, it was a little tricky coming back down the slope, but we managed to make it back down without any injuries. We should have been checking the map more regularly to make sure we were still on the trail. Oh, well, we still had a great time even if it was not the path we intended. Our totals for the day were 3.1 miles with an elevation gain of 538 feet in two hours and 45 minutes. This was hike number 4 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2022.
Before heading back home, we stopped in Estes Park for a late lunch. The town definitely has a better feel in the winter, without all the crowds of people and traffic. We ate at Poppy’s Pizza & Grill. There may be better restaurants in town, but Poppy’s holds fond memories for us. It was a tradition for us to stop at Poppy’s after a day in Rocky Mountain National Park when the kids were little. We took many out-of-town guests there as well after showing them around the national park.
We feel so fortunate living so close to such a wonderful national park. Being able to head up there and enjoy it for a day is always a treat. It never disappoints us.
Check out our related video: Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park
(Ann)