Day 7 - Wednesday 5/27/2015 - Fern Falls Hike & Alberta Falls Hike
We ‘slept in’ and got breakfast at the Hampton Inn then was on the road by 8:00am. and headed to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park!
The drive from the Hampton Inn in Golden to Estes Park was about 1 hour 15 minutes. The weather was outstanding! The first hike we did was the Fern Falls hike. On the way to the trail head, we drive through Moraine Park and saw a heard of mule deer there. The hike to the falls from the Fern Falls Trailhead was 5.2 mile round trip with a 700 ft elevation gain, starting at 8165ft and ending at 8850ft. We saw a mule deer grazing right at the start of the hike!
We then did the Alberta Falls from the Glacier Gorge trailhead that was near Bear Lake. The round trip was 1.7 miles and had an elevation gain of 200ft, starting at 9240ft and ending at 9400ft. The hike had some good stretches of snow on it, which was very slick for my very worn hiking boots. We were hitting snow at about the 9000ft elevation line the entire trip. We saw a very friendly chipmunk at Alberta Falls.
We then did a little hike around Sprauge Lake Loop which is about a mile in length. We got a Christmas ornament in Estes Park before heading back. We ate dinner at Blue Canyon in Golden and was back at the hotel by about 7:00pm.
The drive from the Hampton Inn in Golden to Estes Park was about 1 hour 15 minutes. The weather was outstanding! The first hike we did was the Fern Falls hike. On the way to the trail head, we drive through Moraine Park and saw a heard of mule deer there. The hike to the falls from the Fern Falls Trailhead was 5.2 mile round trip with a 700 ft elevation gain, starting at 8165ft and ending at 8850ft. We saw a mule deer grazing right at the start of the hike!
We then did the Alberta Falls from the Glacier Gorge trailhead that was near Bear Lake. The round trip was 1.7 miles and had an elevation gain of 200ft, starting at 9240ft and ending at 9400ft. The hike had some good stretches of snow on it, which was very slick for my very worn hiking boots. We were hitting snow at about the 9000ft elevation line the entire trip. We saw a very friendly chipmunk at Alberta Falls.
We then did a little hike around Sprauge Lake Loop which is about a mile in length. We got a Christmas ornament in Estes Park before heading back. We ate dinner at Blue Canyon in Golden and was back at the hotel by about 7:00pm.
