Locator Map: Rocky Mountain National Park

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Bear Lake Road

This Tour Comes From...

An image of the book: National Geographic Guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail

National Geographic's Guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail

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Popular especially for its trails, wildflowers, and fall foliage, Bear Lake Road starts off US 36 just past Beaver Meadows Entrance Station. Make your first stop the Moraine Park Museum, near the homestead of pioneer and resort owner Abner Sprague. Buy a pamphlet for the nature trail, an easy stroll that starts in front of the building. Along the trail, be sure to smell the ponderosa pine bark; its vanilla scent is luscious. CONTINUED

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If the park is crowded, avoid the frustration of finding the parking lot full; park instead at the shuttle bus lot at Glacier Basin. The bus comes frequently; its schedule is in the park newspaper. Ride on through stands of lodgepole pine and aspen-dazzling in fall—to Bear Lake. Buy a pamphlet and stroll the 0.5-mile [0.8-kilometer] Bear Lake Nature Walk, enjoying this dramatic, oft-photographed scenery while you learn about forest ecology. The park’s most popular hike climbs a mile [1.6 kilometers] from Bear to Dream Lake, over which tower the distinctive profiles of Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain. For a somewhat less crowded walk to another spectacular lake, start from Glacier Gorge Junction Trailhead, about 0.75 mile [1.2 kilometers] back down the road. The Loch Vale Trail passes Alberta Falls in 0.5 mile [0.8 kilometer], and reaches the rocky shoreline of The Loch in a moderately steep 2.7 miles [4.3 kilometers].