Visiting Rocky Mountain National Park with Kids

Whether you’re traveling across town or across the country, planning a trip to a national park site with kids can be tricky. The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and our partner Travelodge® by Wyndham want to help you plan your family’s best national park trip yet by sharing information about parks from someone who knows them well. NPCA consultant and leader of NPCA’s Veteran’s Council Chris Marvin has extensively explored national parks with his kids over the past two years, spending countless hours researching spectacular destinations and developing itineraries for educational and enjoyable trips. Through his travels, Chris has learned – by plenty of trial and error – some best practices to ensure his kids’ national park visits are memories they’ll cherish. And in doing so, he lays the foundation for a future love of and appreciation for parks, so they too understand the importance of preserving them.

Protecting public lands is at the heart of NPCA’s mission, as well as our partnership with Travelodge – and we hope that by helping you plan a national park visit with your kids, they’ll be inspired to protect our parks, too.

Meet Chris & His Daughters

Hi, I’m Chris. I am an Army veteran who is sharing my legacy with my 10- and 12-year-old daughters through national parks. In 2021, our family began an epic three-year plan to spend a month visiting national parks each summer – and to visit others during the rest of the year. We’ve visited national parks across the country, exploring new trails, observing wildlife and educating the girls about the importance of park protection. In this guide, we will provide details about our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park and share tips and tricks to make sure families receive the most out of what the park has to offer. We visited Rocky Mountain in July 2021 and spent four days and three nights exploring the park from low to high – and by high we mean more than two miles above sea level!

Meet the Park

Located less than two hours from Denver, Rocky Mountain National Park offers breathtaking views of the park’s namesake mountain range. The park features 60 peaks over 12,000 feet, as well as glaciers, waterfalls and lakes. It’s also home to historical and cultural treasures like ancient trails, game drives, cattle ranches and lodges. Established in 1915, the park is home to plentiful high-elevation plants and animals such as black bear, elk, bighorn sheep and ponderosa pine. It’s a perfect destination to enjoy with the whole family!

Must-Visit Locations

We did a lot of research preparing for Rocky Mountain National Park. Four days was not enough to take in everything, but we hit some of the essentials for families. Our planning philosophy was to pick activities that would be fun for everyone but would occasionally challenge the girls while not overtasking ourselves. The most popular thing to do in the park is hike, and luckily, the park offers a wide variety of trails, from extreme to easier trails ideal for kids and families. Rocky Mountain was the first of seven national parks we visited in a month in the summer of 2021, and we couldn’t have started off with a better park.

Trail Ridge Road

Trail Ridge Road is a must-see for any visitor to Rocky Mountain, and it’s very kid friendly, with gorgeous vistas, plentiful wildlife and a visitors center at the top, above 11,000 feet. It’s a seasonal road that is usually only open from late spring to early fall – be sure to check the park’s website before you visit for road status and timed entry requirements for the park.

Family Tips:

• Don’t underestimate the effects of elevation. Drink plenty of water and don’t overstress your body. Remember to bring reusable water bottles with you for your family to help keep plastic waste out of our parks and out of the landfill.
• Stop in Hidden Valley to visit Junior Ranger headquarters. Get a Junior Ranger workbook to earn a badge and join a ranger-led program – your kids will feel accomplished and learn more about the flora and fauna they’ll see on the trail. We stumbled onto a Junior Ranger program along Trail Ridge Road and met some wildland firefighters who let the girls spray their fire hose!
• Drive up Old Fall River Road and down Trail Ridge Road to get a two-for-one scenic drive — but start early because thunderstorms are common in the afternoon. The road itself is safe but narrow and curved, and the kids will enjoy getting a fun and intimate view of the landscape around them. Have them keep an eye out for elk and mule deer as you drive!

Rock Cut

There are so many places to stop along Trail Ridge Road, but near the top, Rock Cut is special for one reason: pikas! For families with animal lovers, these cute little mammals – relatives of rabbits – can entertain for hours. For our family, pikas are right up there with grizzlies, wolves and condors when it comes to prized wildlife spotting in national parks, but nowhere are they easier to see than at Rock Cut in Rocky Mountain.

Family tips:

• Be patient, the pikas are there, hidden among the rocks on the down slope from the road. Encourage kids to use their eyes and ears to find them; they emit tiny little squeaks.
• Take binoculars or a powerful zoom lens for your camera to get a better view of these fast-moving little guys! Be sure to always remind kids to keep animals wild – never feed or go near them.
• Keep your eyes out for other wildlife at Rock Cut like yellow-bellied marmots, elk and white-tailed ptarmigans! Encourage your kids to listen for other wildlife sounds too – they may hear the chatter of chipmunks or the buzz of a bee.

Hike to Emerald Lake

If your family does one hike in Rocky Mountain, make it the trail past Nymph, Dream and Emerald Lakes. Just one extra mile and you can add the Bear Lake Loop as well. This is a quintessential alpine lake hike and one that you can easily enjoy as a family. You’ll likely recognize the stunning setting at Emerald Lake from photos and social media.

Family Tips

• Take the whole family! The hike is 3.6 miles round-trip (4.5 miles with Bear Lake) and gains just over 700 feet. It’s a relatively easy hike accessible to most families. When we reached Emerald Lake, we didn’t want to leave so plan a little extra time to gawk at the lake and the mountains on your hike!
• Take the shuttle so your family can explore a number of different areas with ease. Use the park-and-ride from Glacier Basin to avoid the congestion at Bear Lake. Also make sure you plan ahead and book timed-entry passes for the Bear Lake corridor.
• Smile with the ground squirrels. The squirrels and chipmunks in this part of the park are lively and fun to observe. Let the kids be wildlife photographers and take some great pictures. But please do not feed the wildlife!

Before we visited, we didn’t know what to expect at Rocky Mountain National Park. It is a classic that has been in the park system for over a century. It holds its own next to the best parks in the country – and we didn’t even tell you about our baby moose sightings! With such a wide array of activities for the whole family to enjoy, it’s an ideal national park to visit with kids. The only thing we couldn’t figure out is which adjacent town had the best ice cream – Estes Park or Grand Lake. I guess we’ll have to return and try it all again … gladly!

NPCA and Travelodge® by Wyndham hope this guide helps you plan your family’s next park site visit. Review our 10 Ways to Adventure Responsibly so your family adventure is not only an opportunity to make memories together, but also a chance to show your children how to be a responsible visitor. By learning and acting together, you’ll help ensure that these places are protected for families to enjoy for generations to come.

Follow Chris and his daughters on their park-to-park tour at www.parktoparktour.com and @parktoparktour on Instagram.