CLOSE TO PARADISE: ESTES PARK & ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK MORNING One of the most popular parks in the country, Rocky Mountain wel-comes 4 million visitors a year and still manages to offer quiet solitude. FROM TOP: BEAR LAKE IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, GLENN RANDALL; TRAIL RIDGE ROAD S, MILES/ANDREA BUROLLA. COLORADO challenge, try the 2.8-mile Mills Lake trek. You’ll be rewarded with grand views of 14,259-foot-tall Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the Winds, a whimsical rock formation named for its shape. Pull over at Moraine Park for prime wildlife watching. More than 3,000 elk and 800 bighorn sheep live in the park, and this U-shaped valley is a regular gathering spot for bugling elk. Inside the park, the Rocky Mountain Conservancy offers year-round semi-nars, guided fly-fishing, naturalist tours, hiking and photography classes. Take a drive on Trail Ridge Road , the highest paved through-road in North America. This roller coaster route crosses the Continental Divide and offers breathtaking photo ops as you climb past subalpine forests and windswept tundra to 12,183 feet above sea level. Or enjoy a family wildflower hike to Gem Lake or Bridal Veil Falls . For a little more Kent Mountain Adven-ture Center , the first outfitter in the US to offer breathtaking (literally) cliff-camping excursions, has new activities: a kids mountaineering camp, a New Year’s Eve Longs Peak trek, backcountry ski classes/guiding, and a year-round “snow-climbing school.” Or get above it all a different way at the Open Air Adventure Park (1) , where rope bridges, aerial tightropes and swinging logs challenge folks 5 years old and up. QUICK TIP After a 10-year hiatus, the popular Lazy B Chuckwagon & Supper Show has returned. Check out its crowd-pleasing cowboy-style chuckwagon dinner followed by a Western musical stage show. COLORADO.COM / 121
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2017: Page 121
