Longs Peak Trail
The Mountains’ Greatest Hits
Rocky Mountain National Park is the showcase of the southern Rockies, home to the nation’s highest continuous paved road and some of the best alpine scenery in North America. To follow this trail is to see the mountains’ highlight reel—snowcapped peaks, sheer-sided canyons, jagged ridges, and idyllic reservoirs. And this tremendous scenery has birds to match: Mountain Bluebirds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Violet-green Swallows, Steller’s Jays, and Green-tailed Towhees. In winter, birders visit the upper reaches of this trail to find flocks of rosy-finches at feeders, and then descend to the lakes to watch huge flocks of gulls come to roost for the evening. This is the Colorado on your postcards.
Sites on this Trail
- Fossil Creek Reservoir Natural Area
- Donath Lake
- Boyd Lake State Park
- Lake Loveland
- River’s Edge Natural Area
- De France Reservoir (and nearby ponds)
- Carter Lake County Park
- Lon Hagler State Wildlife Area
- Devil’s Backbone
- Bobcat Ridge Natural Area
- Estes Park
- Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP -Larimer section)
- Rocky Mountain National Park – Wild Basin
- Allenspark