Rocky Mountain High CountryRocky Mountain High Country

6 am: Make folksy ESTES PARK your basecamp for exploring ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK. If you can, hit the road before dawn; alpine thunderstorms typically descend around noon in the summer, and you’ll want time to amble. Luckily, the DONUT HAUS (inside the Sinclair on Moraine Avenue) opens early. 

6:30 am: Peek at glassy BEAR LAKE before the crowds arrive at the trailhead. Then, head south to the Glacier Gorge Trail. Admire 30-foot Alberta Falls amid rustling aspens before winding up and west toward Loch Vale.

8 am: Follow the valley trail, nodding at fly-fishers who have arisen even earlier than you sweeping around the Loch and up towards LAKE OF GLASS. Take care on the final adventurous Timberline Falls scramble to the rocky bench that cups Sky Pond, an alpine tarn hemmed by silvery schist spires.    

10 am: Retrace your steps to the Loch. Pick up the Haiyaha Cutoff Trail, a sylvan single track that will take you northwest to LAKE HAIYAHA. Pause to admire the glacially carved valley (and look out for herds of elk bedded down) before turning north to lily pad–studded Dream Lake. 

10:30 am: Follow Dream’s northern shore along narrow boardwalks east through lush alpine wetland. There, you’ll find one of the park’s most iconic views of Notchtop and Hallett Peak over Emerald Lake. (To practice your cannonballs, scramble 200 feet clockwise along the shore; there’s a good jumping rock on the lake’s southeast corner.)

11:30 am: Head east, connecting Dream and Nymph lakes back to your car. Head on back to town.

12:30 pm: Post-hike, tuck into fluffy naan and rich Nepalese curry at HIMALAYAN CURRY & KABOB. Pop into Macdonald Book Shop for some browsing, then stroll south to ROCK CUT BREWING COMPANY for the town’s best brews (must-try: the Galactic Portal Hazy IPA). Spend the afternoon wandering the shaded Estes Park Riverwalk. 

7:30 pm: Catch the sunset over roadside treasure Lily Lake just south of town before capping off the night with steak and cocktails at BIRD & JIM. (Save room for dessert; the Colorado Cherry Company outpost along Hwy 36 is a worthy stop for pie a la mode.)

Gold Hill, a tiny old mining settlement of about 200, struck gold in 1859 and has managed to hang on ever since. It’s ten miles and 3,200 vertical feet up the road from the urban hipness of Boulder—but it feels eons away. A few miles in, the road turns to dirt. Main Street features houses built in the late 1800s. Pick up homemade snacks and coffee at the GENERAL STORE AND PUB before tackling a few miles on foot or mountain bike on the Switzerland Trail, a one-time railroad grade that operated between 1883 and 1919 (the rails are now gone). The GOLD HILL INN offers up three-and six-course meals in its dining room, and visitors can attend murder mystery parties at the Bluebird Lodge next door. It might present as a sleepy town, but just wait until the sun goes down: When the bar at the Gold Hill Inn hosts live music, swing-dancing patrons carve out space among the crowd to whirl across the wood floors. Get there early or miss out on the fun.

Since it’s often called the Wildflower Capital of Colorado, you might assume CRESTED BUTTE looks its best in summer. But there’s steep competition: the electric greens of spring, the brilliant yellows of aspens in fall. All the best CB days begin with coffee at CAMP 4’s small, license plate–covered downtown shop, hand-roasted by the crew of owner Al Smith (whose jovial face appears on bags of beans). And though the mountains call—anywhere off aspen-covered Kebler Pass is worth a wander—you could easily spend all day walking the Victorian-lined streets, getting your fix of books (TOWNIE BOOKS), art (Oh Be Joyful Gallery) and fishing gear (Dragonfly Anglers). At SECRET STASH, the fig pizza is the ticket—try lunch for a shorter wait. For dinner: skillet-fried chicken at pioneer grandma–decorated THE SLOGAR.

Mount Elbert
Named for 1870s governor Samuel Hitt Elbert, the 14,433-foot peak is the second-highest point in the Lower 48, topped only by California’s Mount Whitney. The East Ridge is a relentless climb, but the summit offers spin-around views of the snowcapped Sawatch. On the way down, stop to soak tired feet in Black Cloud Creek. 

Twin Lakes
Snuggled into the Continental Divide, Twin Lakes conjures the charm of any town in the Swiss Alps. Twin Lakes Inn & Saloon has been grilling steaks and trout since 1879. The General Store Mercantile resupplies Colorado Trail thru-hikers and vends snacks and souvenirs. [Check for seasonal hours in these parts, in general.]

St. Elmo
Veer west into Chalk Creek Canyon to see the 40-plus buildings that remain of a onetime gold and silver mining town, founded in 1880. The population dwindled when rail service to the canyon ceased—as the story goes, everyone took the last train out of town for good—but the St. Elmo General Store is alive and well, open through the warm season.

Mount Princeton Hot Springs 
Chalk Creek’s 140-degree springs were first used by the Ute Tribe and later established as a bathhouse post–Civil War. Today, the resort surrounding the springs offers a variety of pools; head to the creekside cascades for a quieter soak amid stacked river stones.