Backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park
4 Days / 3 Nights in Rocky Mountain National Park Backcountry
Planning The Trip
Rocky Mountain National Park is one of of the most iconic US National Parks, and one of the hardest to get the coveted backcountry camping permits. There are 250 individual campsites in RMNP spread over the entire park, which sounds like a lot, but clearly it’s not enough as the permits sell out nearly instantly, particularly for the popular camp sites.
The permits go on sale at 8am Mountain Time on March 1st. Brian and I were both online just before 8 with a plan. Because we were looking for 2-3 nights, we had chosen 4 different hiking routes in different areas of the park and prioritized them. He was shooting for priority 1, while I looked for the second choice route. If priority 1 wasn’t available, he would move on to 3, and me to 4. Priority 1 was the Glacier Gorge / Andrew’s Creek campsites which are both notoriously hard to get. We also had two different weeks in July we were available, and were flexible on start day, so we figured we’d shoot our shot and have a plan b, c and d if not. Our plan B was Sourdough/Fern Lake/Odessa Lake/Spruce Lake area, there are quite a few campsites in that area.
The Recreation.gov site lets you put sites in your cart for 15 minutes, so we were communicating as we went. Brian immediately told me our first choice was sold out, but I got lucky with our second choice and put Odessa Lake in my cart immediately, and then added Mill Creek Basin for the next night. There was nothing else available, and we already had a 3night trip planned in Maroon Bells area, so we were happy with two nights. Fast forward to July when we weren’t able to complete our 3 night hike doing the 4 Pass Loop Hike (TLDR: Brian got altitude sickness), we looked to add an extra night to RMNP and lo and behold, Andrew’s Creek was available the day after Mill Creek Basin.
Prepping for the Hike:
Time to Hike!
…But first, the secrets of parking at Bear Lake.
Bear Lake trailhead timed entrance permit starts at 5am. OR you can enter the park BEFORE 5am with no permit if you want to “beat the crowds”. Reading about parking the night before, all the literature told us that parking at Bear Lake Trailhead was notoriously difficult and we should just give up now and park in the park and ride. Because our plan was to eat lunch at the car on Day 1 and return to the car on Day 3 for lunch and re-stock, the park and ride plan really didn’t work for us. Plus we’re no quitters* (*at parking.)
We were unwilling to get up at 4am, so we were betting on the crazy people that arrived before 5am being done at Bear Lake when we arrived. The long line to get in to the park made us nervous. As soon as we entered the park, there were signs telling us the lot was full. We nervously ignored all of it and drove straight to Bear Lake.
On the drive we discussed how long we were willing to wait for a spot. There was a ranger at the entrance to the parking lot and we watched her tell the car we’d been tailing the WHOLE WAY up that there was exactly one spot left. Devastating. She was kind about it — said we could go in and look, but we couldn’t just park and wait. We drove as slowly as possible and looked hopefully at any movement in the lot.
Then a car’s reverse lights came on. Then another. We happily parked and thought we were SO luckly. That is, until we saw cars leaving the entire time we finished getting our packs ready. When we came back for lunch: plenty of spots. On day 3 when we passed through: plenty of spots. Basically as long as you DON’T try to get a spot at 5am, you’ll probably be okay.
Day 1: 5 Alpine Lakes + 1 of our very own
Day 1 started with one of the easiest (and therefore most popular) day hikes in the park. We followed the crowds to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake, watching the crowds thin out at each stop. We were going to head back to the car after Emerald Lake but on the way back down, at the split near Dream Lake, we decided to head to Lake Haiyaha – adding on 2 miles roundtrip. This was one was much less busy, a LIKELY result of the much steeper terrain with a technical scramble at the end – climbing over boulders to get to the view. Brian said this one was his favorite, but it was probably just that there were so many less people.
We got back down as fast as the crowds allowed. We made sandwiches at the car — a meal we didn’t have to carry, which meant we could have chips. Best Decision Ever. It’s hard for me to eat a sandwich without chips, I feel like I’m in trouble.
Then it was time to head into the back country and hike in to our campsite at Odessa Lake. We passed Bear Lake — our fifth lake of the day, and turned toward Odessa. 1,200 feet of gain over about 3 miles. We debated the merits of adding Lake Haiyaha to an already long day and joked that Side Quests should be added only after the main hike is complete. Eventually we started descending toward Odessa itself, a steep, rocky drop.
Odessa has two campsites, and the first to arrive gets to choose. Fortunately, that was us, and we picked the one facing the lake without even bothering to look at the other. Correct call, no regrets. This was perhaps the best campsite of my life.
We got to camp at 3:20. We’re getting efficient at setting up the tent finally. I soaked my feet in the (very cold) lake, rinsed out my clothes, hung them to dry, and opened my Kindle Scribe. I brought it specifically so I’d feel obligated to journal enough to justify its weight in my pack.
Day 2: Moose, Rain, and a Trail We Definitely Underestimated
The rain started coming down hard almost the moment we’d settled into the tent. Excellent timing, genuinely. We both slept well and woke up around 6:45 to strong wind and decided that was a good enough reason to stay cozy and read a while longer. We had a leisurely breakfast and coffee in the sun once things calmed down — we had less distance and less elevation ahead of us than the day before, so there was no reason to rush. By the time we actually left camp, it was 10:45.
The day started with a big descent from Odessa toward Fern Lake, plus a side quest we’d added to Spruce Lake. The trail sign for Spruce said “unimproved,” which I was anxious to discover the meaning of. It was a solid ascent and the trail was hard to follow in places, but we made our way. It was worth it: beautiful, quiet, and I got to lay on a rock next to the water for a while.
Then we saw a moose! She was across the lake from us. We watched her for awhile, she was far enough away that we felt we weren’t a threat to her, and just as we were commenting on the fact that the last female moose we saw was with her baby, this mama moose’s baby appeared! The baby had been hidden in the trees and came out to nurse from its mom (!!!) and then drink some of the lake water. We watched them for awhile before heading out.
Then we began descending toward The Pool, where we planned to eat lunch. It started raining right as we finished. We tried to wait it out under a tree in ponchos for about fifteen minutes. It wasn’t letting up, so we started what we thought was a 2 mile easy hike towards Mill Creek Basin. Neither of us had realized that it was a very steep, 2-mile ascent. Made even less pleasant by the pouring rain
About a quarter mile in, we ran into moose #2 — this one on the trail, much too close, also with a baby. We stopped, backed up, and waited her out. She saw us, she knew we were there, and she wasn’t budging. After all, she was there first. No photos of this moose, between the rain and keeping our distance the photos were not good.
Once we finally got moving again, we trudged up the surprise elevation gain. The rain stopped, as if on cue, as soon as the climb ended. We were soaked, but at least we were able to set up camp set up and make dinner without rain. We hung our clothes to dry in what I can only describe as a hopeful, symbolic gesture — before the rain came back for round two. I was chafed in some genuinely unpleasant places by this point and privately decided that if it was still raining in the morning, my hike to the car would be the end of my hiking for the week.
Day 3: Alberta Falls, The Loch, and the Glacier We Didn’t Reach
We awoke to a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, but hadn’t been up long enough to dry our soaking clothes and shoes. I had two hiking outfits, so I was fine. Brian had one. We waited until 9am for things to dry out enough to be tolerable, then hiked the 2 miles back to the car, where lunch and dry clothes were waiting for us like a reward. And chips.
Knowing we had a big ascent ahead, we ate, changed, reloaded the bear box, and set off toward Andrew’s Creek. This was probably my favorite day of the trip. A steady, manageable climb took us past Alberta Falls and up to The Loch, which I’ve decided to be my favorite lake of the whole trip. From there it was a steeper push to the Andrew’s Creek campsite.
We took an hour to relax and eat, then attempted the climb toward Andrew’s Glacier. This did not go well. Alltrails showed a different route than the actual cairns on the ground, and neither option looked especially inviting. I stopped about 1km away from the glacier when my fear of dying overcame my desire to see a glacial lake. Brian made it to a vertical cliff face with roughly 400 feet of ascent to go before he called it. We slowly and carefully descended back to our camp.
Day 4: Sky Pond, or: The “Easy Day” Lied
Day 4 was supposed to be the easy one — mostly descent, with one side quest to Sky Pond. It was not easy. Sky Pond involves a steep, rocky trail and a vertical waterfall climb that took me a solid 20 minutes to mentally and physically recover from once we were past it. I spent the entire time at Lake of Glass and Sky Pond dreading the return trip. It turns out this was one of the few times when the descent is actually easier. This 2 mile round trip section of the day took us over 2 hours.
From Sky Pond, we retraced our steps from Day 3. An easy descent past the Loch, Alberta Falls, and back to the car!
