zwilkins
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Well, this is an absolute wealth of knowledge. Thank you so much for the thoughtful response. I like the idea of state park to avoid some of the crowds. I know reservations are required for RNNP during the summer.
I recently switched over to the Z system and we'll need to buy a wide angle lens. Typically, I prefer shooting primes, but do you think a variable ultra wide angle is best for RNNP? Thinking either the 20mm 1.8 or 14-30 f/4. I also like the price and size of the new 28 mm but not sure if that's wide enough?
The Rat wrote:
Those two are definitely good. Others to hit would be Mills lake and Black lake (on the same trail), and if you have the time/energy, there are tons of other offshoot lakes along that same trail. Shelf, Solitude, Frozen, Green and Blue lakes are all along that trail.
Lawn and Crystal lake are on their own trail on the north-ish side of the main park area, and are quite nice.
There's a nice one-way shuttle loop starting at Bear lake that takes you to Lake Helene, Odessa and Fern. There are a few off trail offshoot lakes from that trail as well that aren't too bad to get to. Well, Tourmaline lake is rough, but Spruce lake and the lakes above and southwest of Helene aren't too bad. You start at Bear lake, follow the trail, and eventually you end up at the Cub lake shuttle stop, where you can take the shuttle back to your car. I like this one because even though it's 9 miles (assuming you don't hit any of the side lakes), it's mostly downhill. Once you hit Lake Helene, it's almost all downhill from there.
Lake Haiyaha is a nice one too and not too strenuous. I'm curious to see if the green/teal tint from last summer's rock fall stays in the water come summer.
The Spectacle lakes are my favorite in the whole park, but there's a slab/waterfall area that's pretty horrible to get up, worse than Sky Pond, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a family hike. If you look it up on youtube, a guy named Nick Sangetta has a video that shows the real hard part, so you can watch that and decide for yourself. He has a lot of other hiking videos that may be useful for your advance trip planning.
Apart from that, stuff in the Wild Basin area is really nice, and usually a bit less crowded. The hikes to the nicer lakes tend to be longer and rougher though, which may not be very suitable to younger kids. Although if they did Sky Pond, they can probably hack Wild Basin, at least the better marked trails. Some of the lakes require significant off trail time.
A real easy one for the kids that's outside of RMNP but still in the same area is Lake Agnes up in State Forest State Park. In the summer, it's only 0.8 miles from the parking lot to the lake, and then another mile if you want to go around the lake. I'd put it up against anything in RMNP, which makes sense given that State Forest State Park sits on RMNP's northern border.
I'm not as familiar with the west side of RMNP or the area south of it, so I'll let others chime in there.
Others north and outside of the park I'd recommend are Emmaline lake, Snow lake, and anything in the Rawah wilderness.
Anyways, hope this helps, let me know if I can clarify or add any additional details!...Show more →
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