Hike the Parks: Rocky Mountain National Park. Brendan Leonard

is prohibited.

       CAMPFIRES

      Campfires are permitted only within designated campfire rings. Do your part to avoid starting more forest fires that destroy habitat and scar the landscape.

       LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLES

      In any place this popular, it is imperative that hikers adhere to Leave No Trace (LNT) principles. Although LNT principles don’t always have the weight of the law behind them, it’s critical to follow these guidelines because your caution and care help mitigate overuse. It also ensures that everybody else can enjoy the park as much as you do. You may have noticed that some of these have already been mentioned in the park rules and regulations, but when it comes to hiking responsibly, these principles can’t be stressed enough.

       PLAN AHEAD AND PREPARE

      Nothing guarantees success in life as much as preparation, and that same rule carries through to hiking. Many hikers get into trouble because they run into conditions they did not prepare for; a lot of difficulties hikers encounter are wholly avoidable. You can avoid hardships by knowing the regulations and concerns of the park, monitoring weather conditions, traveling outside of the times of highest use, visiting in small groups when possible, and using a map and compass to ensure you don’t have to make additions like cairns or other markers to find your way.

       TRAVEL AND CAMP ON DURABLE SURFACES

      Although Rocky Mountain National Park has specific rules about the distance your backcountry campsite must be from roads and trails, they also expect that you will camp on durable surfaces free of vegetation. Almost all the routes in this guide use formal trails for their entire length, but those trails often travel through alpine areas where vegetation is fragile and can’t withstand even a few people stepping on them in a week’s time. Tread lightly by always staying on the trail, even if you have to step into a puddle or hop across rocks.

       DISPOSE OF WASTE PROPERLY

      Please put all trash and other refuse into the appropriate receptacle. Rocky Mountain National Park provides trash receptacles at nearly all formal trailheads. You are responsible for carrying out everything you bring in with you. The one exception here is poop, which you should bury in a 6- to 8-inch-deep (15- to 20-cm-deep) cat hole. Pack out your toilet paper in a plastic bag. It takes longer than you might think for toilet paper to biodegrade in mountain climates, and animals will dig the paper up and scatter it around the landscape.

       MINIMIZE CAMPFIRE IMPACTS

      Given how dry this environment is and how destructive wildfires are in the Mountain West, you can have a fire only in designated campfire rings. Try to keep your fire small so that sparks don’t drift off into dry brush. Make sure your fire is dead out, and scatter the ashes around to allow them to cool thoroughly.

       RESPECT WILDLIFE

      Respecting wildlife is actually a formal law in Rocky Mountain National Park. Visitors are prohibited from handling or bothering wildlife in any way, and you should attempt to keep at least 75 feet (23 m) between yourself and any wild animal you encounter. In addition, feeding such creatures alters their behaviors and can make them aggressive. It can lead to injuries, and in some cases, the park may be forced to euthanize the aggressive animal.

       A sign marks the start of the Sprague Lake Nature Trail, a 1-mile loop that’s wheelchair-friendly and good for families too (Hike 3).

       BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER VISITORS

      A good rule of thumb here is to remember that every person you cross paths with on the trail spent a lot of time, money, and effort to get to the same place. They are all trying to enjoy their trip, and therefore you should extend whatever courtesy is reasonably within your power to ensure that you don’t wreck someone else’s experience. Specifically, this principle asks that you yield to others on the trail to reduce conflict and let the sounds of nature prevail. This includes not playing music out loud through your phone or your Bluetooth speakers. Not everybody wants to hear music on the trail; so out of respect, use headphones.

       SAFETY

      Hiking is, in general, a safe activity, but of course brings with it more hazards than a walk to your neighborhood coffee shop. Yes, Rocky Mountain National Park is a “park,” but the more important word in its name is mountain, and as a sign on the Flattop Mountain Trail (Hike 13) bluntly states, “mountains don’t care.”

       ALTITUDE SICKNESS

      Altitude sickness can have many symptoms, including headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, indigestion— and it can be very serious or just slightly annoying. A few things you can do to prevent it: drink enough water (probably more than you think you need), consume enough calories and electrolytes as you’re drinking all that water, show up in good physical condition, and don’t ascend too quickly. If you travel to the park from a lower elevation, it’s good to allow your body a day to acclimatize a bit—for example, if you fly into Denver from sea level, arrive in Estes Park in the early afternoon, and try to charge up to Chasm Lake (elevation 11,800 feet/3597 m) in the same day, you probably won’t feel very well by the end of the day.

       THUNDERSTORMS

      During the summer in Colorado, afternoon thunderstorms roll in almost like clockwork and pose a real danger at high altitudes. The best way to avoid being struck by lightning in the mountains is to avoid being any place lightning can find you—check weather forecasts before you head out, watch the sky for building clouds, and if clouds are building into a storm, get below tree line (or better yet, into your car). If you’re planning a hike above tree line, get an early-morning start and plan to be heading down by noon. And bring a rain jacket, unless the weather forecast calls for zero percent chance of precipitation. As a fellow climber jokingly told me once during a rain shower, a forecast of a 40 percent chance of rain just means it’s going to rain 40 percent of the day.

       Stone steps are a feature of the trail to Calypso Cascades and Ouzel Falls (Hike 20).

       The forest along the Eugenia Mine Trail (Hike 22)

       SUN EXPOSURE

      Sunburns, to put it bluntly, are for amateurs. Yes, there is snow in the mountains all summer, and mountain winds can make it feel like early winter even when the sun is out, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get sunburned.