This charming small town serves as the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park and promises tons of fun in the holiday season and beyond. Outdoor adventures and nature lovers will find stunning mountain scenery, skiing and snowshoeing adventures, incredible wildlife sightings, hikes to frozen waterfalls, and scenic drives. Discover the many things to do in Estes Park in winter in this ultimate guide.
Hidden Valley, Estes Park is the only place in Rocky Mountain National Park where you can sleigh down the slopes. Visitors can rent snow saucers, snowboards, snow tubes, and sleighs.
Winter in the Colorado Rockies is stunningly pretty. The roads are plowed and safe and the scenic drive promises backdrops of snowy peaks lined with tall pine trees.
Trail Ridge Road is the most famous of Colorado’s scenic byways. Completed in 1933, this road holds the distinction of being the highest byway and also the highest motorable road in the country.
This road has amazing views of the snow-covered peaks of the Continental Divide. You can also see quite a bit of Rocky Mountain wildlife on this road.
The Continental Divide is a series of high, towering mountain peaks in the US that continues all the way from Alaska through Canada to New Mexico in the south.
This attraction is a formation in the free area of Rocky Mountain National Park along Lumpy Ridge. To reach the Twin Owls trailhead, drive on Devil’s Gulch Road from Downtown Estes Park. The hike is just a mile long easy round trip and has views of the Twin Owls Rock Formations.
Lake Mary is located at a lower elevation and has flowing water, it looks like an electric blue in the noon sun. Bear Lake has an elevation of 9450 feet and has amazing backdrops of the Continental Divide and Hallett’s Peak and completely freezes in winter.
Rocky Mountain National Park is known for its abundant wildlife. Spot elks, deer, moose bighorn sheep and even bears!
Snowshoeing is the best way to explore the Rocky Mountains in winter. Try the Lake Loop Trail or the Lawn Lake Trail, Gem Lake, Lumpy Ridge Trail, Sprague Lake Trail, and the Emerald Lake Trail.
Learn more about the history of Estes Park, its settlement, and the history of the Rocky Mountains. There are galleries about Colorado wildlife, early settlements, and history of Elkhorn Avenue.