A logistics-focused trip report of Rocky Mountain National Park

Kelly, thank you for the report, and I’m glad you had a fulfilling trip. The timed entry procedures that started during Covid certainly require some pre-planning, timing, and a bit of luck and patience.

First, how was the fishing? Next, did you see any moose? The population has been greatly increasing the past several years, and if any are spotted from the road, cars start pulling over, and soon there’s a ‘“moose jam” along the road.

The giant rental truck explains something I’ve wondered about. Why are so many vehicles with rental plates around here so enormous? Did people just want/need the biggest possible truck/SUV, regardless of the probable price? Was there something undesirable about a smaller SUV or even a car (AWD/4WD or not)? But if bigger is cheaper, that makes sense.

Fall River Road you took up was an excellent choice (especially if you’re driving a rental)! As you noted it’s historical, and long before the paved Trail Ridge Road (the highest continuous paved road in the U.S.) was laid, Fall River Road was the only option. A hundred years ago, Model T Fords backed up the road, as the gearing was better in reverse for the climb.

At the top, the Ute Trail offers a short walk (it becomes a “hike” later) west, from the Alpine Visitor Center. Within 5 minutes, on foot, there’s
a talus rock patch on the left (south), where you can hear (and see) marmots and pikas. Marmots hibernate over the winter, so they’re finishing fattening up for the season, before they turn in for the next several months. Pika stay awake all winter, and spend the summer storing harvested grass for their pantries.

With the severe drought this past winter, and continuing through the summer, it was felt the aspen trees would just have dried up leaves, and the usual brilliant displays of gold/yellow/a little orange would be replaced by just dry and tan. It’s been fairly rainy the past three weeks, though, and the yellow is out in force, and will still be showing for a little while longer! Your timing was perfect.

The Park’s west entrance, just north of the town of Grand Lake, is much less busy than the east entrances, although you still need a reservation if you arrive after 9:00 A.M. This past Saturday, on National Public Lands Day, a team of volunteers (supervised by Park Rangers) installed three bridges over Bowen Creek, on a section of the Continental Divide Trail. Until now, through-hikers had to wade through the water, or try to hop on rocks, laden down with heavy packs. Despite recent cuts in staffing and funding from Washington, D.C., the park is working to enhance the visitor experiences. Glad you came up here.

@cyn, thanks for the detailed reply! The fishing was good as per my husband. I am not sure what all he caught but I heard him talking about cutthroat trout and brown trout.

We did not see any moose, but we saw a ton of elk, mule deer, chipmunks, and wild turkeys.

I cannot imagine doing the Old Fall River Road in reverse, in a model T! Yikes!

I wonder if rental trucks are cheaper (eg less desirable) because although they’re great on trails and in snow, you can’t put luggage in the back without fears of it getting wet or stolen. We only had 3 people in our party so we put the luggage in the backseat, no problem, but with 4 people we would have been forced to used the truck bed for storage. We always pack light so car type is rarely an issue for us.

Thanks for a great report.

Which cabins did you stay in?

Thanks

Em

@Emily,

Our cabin was really funny/quirky. We stayed at Loveland Heights Cottages, https://lovelandheightscottages.com/

Here's some background about our travel style. I prefer staying at Hiltons, Marriotts, Best Westerns, and IHG properties when possible because we travel a lot and use every last point to redeem free travel. Most national parks, however, usually only have a BW or Holiday Inn outside the entrance and the rest of the hotels are independent. RMNP was no exception; it had both of those and they both looked nice (the BW especially got good ratings) but both were majorly sold out due to the fact that it was "leaf peeping season" and the elk rut and also due to the fact that we booked 3 weeks before going.

So I began my search on Booking.com to see what could be had on the independent front. Everything was either "dirt cheap, but you might be murdered in your bed" vibes or "stay on the top of this mountain for only $3,000/night!" Very little in the middle range. I didn't find anything I was satisfied with on Booking (which is a rarity, usually they have a hidden gem or two) so I went to Google Maps, typed in "hotels" and just starting clicking on properties that came up that I had not seen on Booking. That's how I found Loveland Heights; they don't seem to allow bookings off any third-party sites.

The good: it was affordable, $219/night for a 3-bedroom, 1 bathroom cabin with kitchen. Our deck directly overlooked the Big Thompson River, and the stretch along the cottages is private and only for guests. My husband had the river to himself every time he fished and he caught several trout. It was only about a mile outside the main town area and was a quick hop to the Safeway grocery store and 15 minutes from the Beaver Meadows and Fall River entrances. It was quiet, although you do hear some road traffic noise during the day, but the back bedrooms' windows opened directly to the river which was super peaceful to listen to.

The quirky: (I won't call these things "bad" because for us, they weren't deal-breakers, but for some people, I can see that they might be.) We have stayed in two places multiple times for years: one is the Tyler Place Family Resort in Vermont, and one is Epworth by the Sea in St. Simons, GA. Both are OLD family type organizations that have "interesting" linoleum floors, hundred-year old buildings and cabins, bare bones kitchens, etc. But their surroundings (beach, mountains) and vibe (family camp, old St. Simons feel) make up for that. So we have a lot of appreciation and tolerance for things that are "old" and haven't been remodeled, but are still clean and have other perks. Loveland Heights' quirks were as follows. Old brown carpet that truly was probably from the late 70s or 80s, marshmallow-like beds that slanted due to uneven floors, hideous pots and pans in the kitchen (like the worst thin aluminum rental cabin type of cooking utensils), no paper towels, no dishwasher (so had to wash things by hand), they would only give you one trash bag at a time, etc. The shower felt like a 4-H camp shower. BUT none of those things were deal-breakers and gave us several chuckles. The "everyone gets their own room, we are right next to a trophy trout stream, it was clean and safe, and it was only $660 for 3 nights" outweighed everything else, and I would definitely stay there again. Oh, the biggest con (not for me, but my 16 year old moaned about it at length) was the spotty wifi. The property advertises wifi, but when we got there, they told us it's only the lobby of the checkin office that has wifi and none of the cabins do. We were in the cabin directly next to the front office (#16), so we had 1-2 bars of wifi that went in and out randomly. There was no cell service in the cabins, but we also had no cell service in multiple places in RMNP so that wasn't a big deal. (The town of Estes Park has excellent cell service.)