Snowshoeing Rocky Mountain National Park

RMNP Snowshoeing Overview

Snowshoeing Rocky Mountain National Park is a great way to experience the park during the much-less busy winter season. From January to March, Rocky Mountain National Park offers free, ranger-led snowshoe walks at various locations inside the park. On the east side (Estes Park), kid-friendly snowshoeing is every Saturday from 2-3PM, while a longer, more intense snowshoe hike is offered on Tuesday and Thursdays from 12:30-2:30PM.

RMNP Snowshoeing : Before you go

Snowshoe Hike Reservations

Though the snowshoe hike is free, reservations are required, and are limited to 20 participants. Reservations open one week in advance, and can be made on the Rocky Mountain Conservancy website:

Snowshoeing reservations at Rocky Mountain National Park

I’ve noticed that the kid-friendly, Saturday sessions fill rather quickly. The Tuesday/Thursday snowshoe walks don’t seem to fly off the shelf quite as fast.

What to Wear/Bring

I lucked out with beautifully sunny weather, but the air was still chilly, especially in the shade. I wore my water-resistant snow boots, gloves, hat, several layers of shirts, a jacket, and snowboarding pants over tights. Sunscreen for your face is a good idea, as are sunglasses and a backpack with some water and a snack.

Snowshoes/poles are not provided, so you’ll need to bring your own or rent.

snowshoe rental estes park

I borrowed snowshoes from a friend, but I had to rent some poles. Estes Park Mountain Shop rents snowshoes and poles, along with all kinds of other winter gear like cross-country skis, sleds, microspikes, etc. If you are coming from anywhere to the east (Longmont, Loveland, Denver, Boulder, etc.), their shop is an easy stop on your way into RMNP right off of highway 34. They were super speedy getting me my poles and their pricing was great. I’d recommend renting from them if you don’t own your own snowshoes/poles.

Getting to Bear Lake Trailhead at RMNP

For my Tuesday afternoon snowshoe walk, our meeting location was the Bear Lake trailhead. Though the parking lot at Bear Lake is always full during the summer, I was happy to see tons of open spots in January:

The snowshoe hike starts at 12:30 but they ask that you arrive by 12:15 to check in with the ranger and get your snowshoes on. Be sure to factor in about 20 minutes to get to the Bear Lake trailhead from the the Beaver Meadows entrance station.

SNOWSHOEING RMNP

We started on the path next to Bear Lake, but within a few minutes went off-trail, heading uphill towards the east to practice walking in deep snow.

Ranger Steve led our snowshoe walk, and every 10 minutes or so we’d stop and he’d pull something out of his bag to teach us something about wildlife at RMNP during the winter.

After a quarter mile or so, we looped back to Bear Lake and walked on its frozen/snow covered surface.

How thick does ice need to be to Walk On?

Ranger Steve said that ice needs to be at least four inches thick to safely walk on it.

Here’s the view from the middle of Bear Lake in January:

From Bear Lake we snowshoed the summer trail to Nymph Lake. Unlike during the warmer months when there is a steady flow of hikers, we saw hardly anyone while snowshoeing Rocky Mountain National Park.

From Nymph Lake we took a winter trail back to Bear Lake where we finished our two-hour ranger-led snowshoe walk.

Snowshoeing RMNP : Overall Thoughts

The ranger-led snowshoe walk at RMNP was a great introduction to something I was hesitant to try by myself. I loved experiencing the quiet, less-busy side of RMNP that winter offers. The group had 20 participants, so the pace was a bit slower than I would have liked. That said, I’m glad I did it, loved learning about winter wildlife at RMNP from Ranger Steve, and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to try snowshoeing Rocky Mountain National Park.