Where is Estes Park?

Estes Park is located an hour and a half northeast of Denver just outside of the eastern gate of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Easy Hikes Near Estes Park

Twin Owls and Lumpy Ridge Loop

Length: 1.6 mile loop trail
Elevation Gain: 446 feet
Estimated Time to Hike: 57 min
Trailhead Coordinates: 40.39651, -105.51303
Additional Notes: This trail is inside the National Park which requires a fee to enter

Lake Estes Trail

Length: 3.8 mile loop trail
Elevation Gain: 190 feet
Estimated Time to Hike: 1 hour 39 min
Trailhead Coordinates: 40.37747, -105.51252
Additional Notes: Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash

Moose Meadows and Limber Pine

Length: 4.1 mile loop trail
Elevation Gain: 498 feet
Estimated Time to Hike: 1 hour 59 min
Trailhead Coordinates: 40.33539, -105.47226
Additional Notes: There is a $9 per car fee to get to the trailhead

Moderate Hikes Near Estes Park

Gem Lake Trail

Length: 3.4 mile out and back trail
Elevation Gain: 990 feet
Estimated Time to Hike: 2 hours 2 min
Trailhead Coordinates: 40.39644, -105.51299
Additional Notes: This trail is inside the National Park which requires a fee to enter

Kruger Rock Trail

Length: 4 nile out and back trail
Elevation Gain: 977 feet
Estimated Time to Hike: 2 hours 16 min
Trailhead Coordinates: 40.3406, -105.47289
Additional Notes: Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash

MacGregor Falls Trail

Length: 6.2 out and back trail
Elevation Gain: 948 feet
Estimated Time to Hike: 3 hours 8 min
Trailhead Coordinates: 40.3965, -105.51345
Additional Notes: This trail is inside the National Park which requires a fee to enter

After a ton of questions about where we went I figured… I love maps – I might as well make one for ya’ll:

Be sure to check out the new exclusive prints from Iceland in my shop:

What’s your favorite spice? What dish do you use it in most?

Dash and I had a weekend where neither of us had any plans and we found some super cheap tickets to Norway so…..

We hopped on a red eye to Bergen, Norway and watched the sunrise over the Atlantic. As we approached the coastal city of Bergen, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds and gave us a glimpse of the town and the surrounding magical mountains we were about to be exploring!

Once we had landed and made our way through customs, we grabbed a rental car and headed to our AirBNB outside of town. This adorable woman let us into our home for the weekend and we unloaded our gear before we headed back into town. When I am traveling on shorter trips, like this, I go ahead and pay the $10 a day for international service on my phone (via AT&T). Not only am I able to call/text family back home, but I can look up locations and use GPS for directions. Bonus: I can create a personal WiFi hotspot so everyone else I am traveling with ALSO has access to Internet – and can send texts/make phone calls via apps like WhatsApp.

We decided to head east into the mountains to try and find the epic towering rock that we have all seen plastered across basically every traveling influencer’s Insta: Trolltunga. The drive out of town took us immediately into gigantic mountains via never ending tunnels. Sidenote: I have an absolutely irrational fear of tunnels… and Norway was like oooohhh yeeahhh? Challenge accepted. These tunnels were ridiculous. I’m talking miles and miles inside a tunnel. Have you ever seen a round about with four exits inside a tunnel? No. They’ve got it. (It’s in the video below if you don’t believe me.) There is even a point where you are in what seems like a never-ending tunnel and you finally see light. As you emerge from the mountain you find yourself on a huge suspension bridge. As you look out across the bridge, you wonder to yourself.. “Self, am I seeing things, or does this bridge just take you to another tunnel!???!?” Nope. Your eyes are not deceiving you. The road goes out of a tunnel, onto a bridge, and immediately into yet another tunnel.

After more tunnels than I ever wanted to drive through we finally got to the trail head for Trolltunga, only to find the trail was closed. Seriously? All those tunnels for the trail to be closed. We also found out that the trail there was something like 25 km… probably should’ve done a bit more research on this one. (This is what happens when you buy plane tickets to Europe at the last minute.) We weren’t going to let it get us down. We took a shorter hike up over a small hill and found a gorgeous vista to have a snack.

And then it was back into Bergen for dinner and some much needed shut eye.

The next day we set out about seeing the town of Bergen. We ate a bunch of delicious foods, wandered around cobblestone streets and even found a group of street performers who were apparently quite funny. We didn’t get it, but the other people watching were laughing at the punch lines. When we had our fill of the city, we set about hiking up the “hill” on the edge of town for a better vantage. It was quite the hike, but totally worth it.

That night we headed back into town and found a small bar/restaurant for dinner and drinks and then headed back to our AirBNB….

To see all of the photos from this trip check out the Norway Album, and be sure to watch the video to see the whole adventure:

https://youtu.be/wSr_ARh2YYY