Best Paved Trails in Rocky Mountain National Park

Literally got into Estes Park at 3:30pm and after checking into our hotel, went straight here in the middle of a snow storm. When we arrived at 4:45, the only other 2 cars were packing up to leave. It was snowing at a pretty good clip with 6 or 7 inches of fresh snow on the ground. We had snowshoes and micro spikes with us, but didn’t end up using either. I’d say spikes are definitely helpful, but not absolutely necessary. According to my Apple Watch from the parking lot full circle the hike was just over a mile and took us about 45 minutes. The trail was barely visible because of the fresh snow, but we navigated without issue. We got back to the car at 5:30, which was right at dark. There were some pretty cool things to see along the way, even though we were hiking in the middle of the snow storm and visibility was barely across the lake.

Hiked 2/2/2020. Weather was perfect: sunny, and the wind wasn't constant. Would have been significantly harder otherwise. GF and I started hike at 8:15am and got back to the parking lot at 4:30pm. We clocked it to be 10.5 miles round trip. Could have been done much quicker, but we made a lot of stops for breaks, taking gear on and off, pictures, and to just enjoy the absolute beauty of this hike - which is abundant! Strongly recommend not attempting this without proper cold and wind protection: layers, a face mask, and goggles or glasses. The wind is fierce, even with layers and masks, and at Chasm Lake it is brutal. We saw a lot of people not prepared for it and it didn't look like they were having fun. Another strong recommendation for spikes and poles. There is one part of this hike where it would be very dangerous without both. Snow shoes and ice axes were not required, however the GF found the ice axe very useful when scrambling up a snowy and icy hill before reaching Chasm Lake. An unforgettable hike!

Just great. Be careful. Made it all the way to Chasm Lake.

Attempted this hike on 1/26/20, however it was too windy and dangerous to attempt to cross the last part with just microspikes and no trekking poles or ice axe. My friend and I and two other strangers were trying to decide what to do but in the end we all decided not to and the only people we saw attempt it all had at least trekking poles and microspikes and even then they were going extremely slow. My friend and I considered doing Mount Lady Washington instead but decided against that too because it was too windy. Other than the fact we had to turn around less than half a mile from the lake, it was a great hike! It is a fairly long trail but it’s not super steep or anything. The first part is all snow pack currently and the second part that’s closer to and above treeline is dry/rocky and patches of snow together. I had never been on any part of the Longs Peak trail before and I was very impressed by it even in the winter.

Absolutely beautiful trail, but remember your snow shoes or spikes. It was very sunny, but windy, and there was up to 3 feet of snow drift to hike through - just to get around the lake:)

No wind today, perfect conditions. traction needed at the boulder field.

1.19.20 - beautiful morning; less wind than usual this time of year. Definitely need traction - at least microspikes. Beautiful, long trail.

Simple trail for a stroll around scenic lake. Took some friends here who were not used to the elevation so they could get some pretty views without a lot of work.