On our most recent visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, we did something that we’ve wanted to do for a long time – we staid a night on the West side of the park near Grandby and Grand Lake, Colorado. (Up until now, we’ve always staid in Estes Park, which is on the East side of RMNP.)
We spent our time in Grand Lake splashing in the largest natural lake in Colorado, eating pizza at White Buffalo, and hiking to East Meadow where we spotted a moose.
The hike to East Meadow begins at the East Inlet trailhead at 8,390 ft in elevation. From here you can see Grand Lake in the distance.
One of the reasons we chose this destination is because our daughters (ages 4 and 2) can hike most of it on their own. The total distance is close to 3 miles round trip.
We followed the East Inlet trail for .3 miles to Adams Falls where there is a viewing deck. The waterfall is a popular destination for park visitors, but once we passed the falls, the trail became much less crowded.
After enjoying the waterfall, we climbed the path to the side of the falls to meet back up to the East Inlet trail. This is a steeper section of the trail where we held on tight to our children’s hands.
We followed trail signage towards Lone Pine Lake. The trail levels as you walk through a pine forest.
Soon we arrived at an open meadow where families were fishing and playing in the stream.
One of my favorite things about hiking in July are the colorful wildflowers. My least favorite are the mosquitoes. I always forget to bring bug spray.
Even pesky mosquitoes didn’t stop us. We continued on to East Meadow which was beautiful – the contrast between the wide open blue skies and the lush, green meadow was striking.
Click here to see a full view of the meadow. Did you see the moose?
We spotted a mother deer and her twin fawns several times on our hike.
Perhaps they were curious what our two girls were singing as they walked along the trail.
The hike to the East Meadow featured waterfalls, mountain streams, moose, deer, wildflowers, and boulders for our girls to climb. This was the perfect hike to start our family vacation.
Additional Articles about Rocky Mountain’s West Side:
Our daughter celebrated a big milestone this summer. She learned how to ride a bike without training wheels.
Last weekend we decided to pack up her bike and check out the trail around Lake Atalanta in nearby Rogers, Arkansas. The city’s website says the park was renovated in 2016 and has ‘4 miles of hard surface trails and 10 miles of soft surface multi-use trails’.
The Lake Atalanta Loop is a little under 2 miles. For those wanting to extend their ride, the trail head also connects to Downtown Rodgers and the Railyard Bike Park.
We enjoyed practicing bike skills including slowing down on hills and sharing the trail with fellow park goers. People were out biking, walking, kayaking, running, fishing, and even practicing yoga on paddle boards.
Several tables were available to enjoy picnics with a lake view.Butterflies were attracted to the colorful wildflowers that surrounded the lake. Kids and pets enjoyed splashing around the creek.The park has a couple of playgrounds as well as restroom facilities.
We are all proud of our determined little girl for learning to ride a bike, and we are looking forward to finding more fun places to practice biking in Northwest Arkansas.
Emerald Lake is one of the most iconic destinations in Rocky Mountain National Park. If you haven’t taken the trip past Nymph Lake and Dream Lake to visit this inspiring spot, I highly recommend it. It’s one of our favorite 2-4 mile hikes in the park.
However, if you are looking for a greater challenge, you can see Emerald Lake from a whole new perspective by hiking from Bear Lake up to the Emerald Lake Lookout via the Flattop Mountain trail. The starting elevation at Bear Lake is 9,475 ft. and the trail continues to gain elevation from this point.
Hike up to Emerald Lake Look out via Flattop Mountain Trail
We took this trip back in July of 2015 with our friends who wanted to hike up to the summit of Flattop Mountain. We had our daughter with us who was about 8-months-old at the time, so we agreed to hike with them up to the lookout and then hike back down and take a nice stroll around Bear Lake.
Looking down at Emerald Lake
The trail leading to Flattop Mountain has spectacular views. From this vantage point, you can also look down at Bierstadt Lake, which is another one of our favorite hiking destinations.
You will pass the Dream Lake overlook at 1.7 miles into the hike. Keep going until you spot the dark green lake and see signage for the Emerald Lake viewpoint.
Looking down at Bierstadt Lake.
Our total mileage was about 6.8 miles. (approximately 3 miles up to lookout + 3 miles down to Bear Lake + walk around Bear Lake)
Photo by Bear Lake
I can’t believe our little baby is 4.5 this summer! I’m really glad that we keep our family’s hiking journal, so I can look back at hikes we’ve taken in the past with fond memories. I wrote more about our hiking journal here.
This summer I’ve rekindled a long lost love. Before marriage, home ownership, and kids, Eric and I spent many weekends racking up miles on the trails near our apartments. Our goal was to ride a two-day 150 mile bike ride. ( MS-150) It felt great when we accomplished our goal, but soon life got busy and our bikes started collecting dust.
2010 MS 150…almost 10 years ago!
Thanks to great babysitter(s), this summer we decided to tune up our bikes and hit the trails in our new home town of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Fayetteville has an amazing trail system including a portion of the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Regional Greenway. If we wanted to, we could ride 36 paved miles (mostly without crossing a road) all the way to Lake Bella Vista, Arkansas. For now, we’ve been sticking closer to home. Here are 5 trails we’ve enjoyed so far this summer:
We purchased a Saris bike rack from local bike shop Phat Tire for our anniversary present this year.
*We tracked mileage using my husband’s gps watch, so distances given are estimates.
Kessler Mountain to Columbus house
We started at Kessler Mountain parking lot (near the playground) and jumped on the Cato Springs trail which connects Kessler Mountain to the Razorback Greenway system. The first few miles are peaceful and fast moving. Soon we crossed through Walker Park and headed into the lively downtown Fayetteville area. We continued past downtown to North Street where we took a right (East) to get to Columbus House Brewery. We sat outside and enjoyed the local beer before heading back towards Kessler Mountain.
Distance: 11.69 miles*
I highlighted the Cato Springs Trail that connects to the Razorback Trail in yellow.
Kessler Mountain to Fossil cove
We enjoyed Kessler Mountain area so much that we returned for another bike ride. We challenged ourselves to ride a little further on to Poplar Street where we took a right (East) and went toFossil Cove Brewery. We sat outside and ordered pizza from adjacent Wicked Wood Fire Pizza.
Distance: Estimate 13.5 miles, we accidently missed our turn and ended up riding a total of 14.88 miles*
veterans memorial park – lake fayetteville loop
For a shorter ride, we took a quick evening loop around Lake Fayetteville starting at Veterans Memorial Park. Lake Fayetteville can sometimes be a pretty crowded area, but even if you have to slow down to accommodate fellow walkers and bikers, it’s worth it. I enjoy the views of waterfalls, bridges, wildflowers, wildlife, and of course the lake.
Distance: 5.27 miles*
Lake Fayetteville Loop with wildflowers
Gordon long park – lake fayetteville
We started at Gordon Long Park and rode towards Lake Fayetteville. Gordon Long trailhead has a playground, several parking spaces and a restroom facility.
My favorite part of this ride was cruising beside several creeks including Scull Creek, Mud Creek, and Clear Creek. My least favorite part was traveling through the long tunnel under Fulbright Expressway which felt a little eerie. We jumped off the trail on Lake Fayetteville Road to grab a bite to eat at the food trucks. I ate street tacos which were tasty and Eric ordered Thai food. Refueled, we finished our loop around Lake Fayetteville and headed back towards Gordon Long. This was a really fun date! To celebrate, we treated ourselves by driving across town to Crisis Brewing Company.
Distance: 12.94 miles*
Veterans memorial park – Luther george park in springdale, arkansas
We started at Veterans Memorial Park and headed towards Lake Fayetteville. We split off the loop to continue on the Razorback Greenway trail north towards Springdale. I was excited to learn about a new section, but this was my least favorite because their was less nature and more road traffic once we left the lake area. It was pretty hot, so we also noticed the lack of shade. We made it to Luther George Park, which looked like a spot my kids would love.
We headed back and continued the loop around Lake Fayetteville. This time it was less crowded and we were able to catch a breeze to cool off. On this ride we were short on time, but if we wanted to sip a local beer we could have easily stopped by Apple Blossom Brewing Company which is close to Veterans Memorial Park.
Distance: 10.5 miles*
I’m thrilled to be exploring our home town via the trail system. I know there is a lot more to enjoy. Cheers to that!
