Date: Sunday, February 3, 2019

Miles: 2.4 miles

Elevation Gain: 449 feet

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 1 hr 15 min total

Type: Day hike from Denver (30min drive)

Trail Head:

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/hidden-fawn-and-three-sisters-loop

Notes:

My nickname for this trail is “the hangover hike”. It’s the perfect easy, quick drive from Denver. The trailhead never seems that crowded to me, so you can sleep in and arrive mid morning or afternoon without consequence. This trail is a simple loop with connecting trails intersecting– perfect if you are feeling more ambitious and want to add some mileage. You can also simply take the Three Sisters Loop trail and shave off about a mile. The trail has one steep section, about 1.0 mile in if you take the trail counterclockwise. The trail is multi use, but rare to see a mountain bike in the winter. Today the trail was a complete sheet of melting ice– spikes are helpful.

Date: Friday, February 1, 2019

Miles: 5.0 miles

Elevation Gain: 840 feet

Difficulty: Moderate

Time: 2 hr 15 min total

Type: Day hike from Denver (1hr 20min drive)

Trail Head:

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/mills-lake-via-glacier-gorge-trail–2

Notes:

Rocky Mountain NP is one of my favorite places to hike in Colorado. The park is so diverse and has a range of difficulty for trails. Winter is a great time to visit the most popular trailheads, Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge. In the summer, finding parking is close to impossible after 7 AM. We hiked Mills Lake via Glacier Gorge Trail, making the hike a loop by returning from the lake on Fire Trail. We used micro-spikes the whole hike. We originally wanted to complete Black Lake (extra 2 miles beyond Mills), but the snow was too deep. The hike itself is moderate in difficulty, spreading the elevation gain throughout the trail. The trail is relatively easy to find in the summer, but snow pack makes navigation necessary. After the hike we grabbed burgers and fries at Penelope’s, downtown Estes Park.

FYI: RMNP collects a $20 fee per car. We have a National Park Pass ($80). If you don’t want to commit to paying, make sure you enter the park prior to 6AM.

Date: Sunday, January 27, 2019

Miles: 3.5 miles

Elevation Gain: 900 feet

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Time: 1hr 45min total

Type: Day hike from Denver (20min drive)

Trail Head:

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/nightbird-gulch-trail-to-mount-galbraith-loop

Notes:

I have definitely been following a trend this month of easily accessible hikes from Denver! This hike is probably the shortest driving distance from our apartment and offers some elevation gain and views of the city skyline (far on the horizon). Other than that– nothing really special. The trail is easy to find, but pretty narrow throughout the climb, which could be frustrating on a popular day. You can make this trail a little longer by adding on the Mount Galbraith Loop (see Trail link above), pushing your mileage to 4.7 and elevation gain to 1200. That was our original plan, but it was so windy on the ridge line we turned back early. Instead, we followed an unmarked trail (to the right) after Nightbird Gulch leads you to the Mount Galbraith loop– about 1.3 miles from the TH.