July 22, 2022

By Tim Briese

Marmot: 0.9 miles, 300’ elevation gain, 0:40 roundtrip time

Fall River Pass: 0.7, 200’, 0:25

Trail Ridge: 1.5, 300’, 0:55

Sundance: 1.3, 400’, 0:45

Deer: 6.4, 1300’, 3:50

Brian and I looked forward to climbing some high peaks with easy access off Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park today, and adding on the lower Deer Mountain later in the day if we could. We headed out of Estes Park early and entered the park before entry reservations were needed and lines formed. We headed up the one-way dirt Fall River Road and made good time. Less than a mile before the road arrives at the Alpine Visitor Center we pulled off and parked at a bend below Marmot Point. We embarked up the nice but steep trail toward the summit on this sunny morning.

view of marmot point from where we parked

There was a herd of elk right off the trail part way up.

In short order we reached the summit and then retraced our steps down.

brian on the summit

a pretty morning in rocky mountain national park

view of our next objective, fall river pass mountain

We continued up the road and parked at the visitor center and headed up the nearby pedestrian path to the summit of Fall River Pass Mountain, along with a number of tourists. This peak is unranked, the only unranked peak on our itinerary today, but it was fun to do it anyway.

trail up to fall river pass mountain

the summit

flowery tundra, with marmot point beyond.  the trail to its summit is visible.

Next up was the 12er Trail Ridge. We headed southeast on Trail Ridge Road a couple of miles, intending to park at the Lava Cliffs Overlook and scamper a short distance up to the peak  but found signs indicating that access to the tundra was closed there. So we reverted to plan B and drove a short distance back down the road and started from the parking area at the Gore Range Overlook. This made for a slightly lengthier but nevertheless pleasant and gentle approach to the peak.

flowery tundra on the way up to trail ridge, which is toward the right

a nice easy tundra stroll

The summit is a broad and flat area and we searched around a bit to find what we deemed to be the highpoint.

brian on the summit of trail ridge

After completing Trail Ridge we drove a few miles further east on the highway and parked at a pull-off a short distance downhill from the Rock Cut. From there Sundance loomed above to the east.

sundance mountain, at the right, from where we parked

We crossed the highway and headed up the tundra toward it and soon were enjoying the nice views from the top.

me on sundance mountain, with longs peak beyond (photo by brian schultz)

view to the west, with the highway and our parking area below

Upon returning to the truck we continued east on Trail Ridge Road and descended down to the intersection of Highway 34 and 36. 

view of deer mountain, in the center, as we descended trail ridge road

We parked along the shoulder of the road near the highway intersection along with numerous other vehicles. The Deer Mountain Trail starts there and it is well-used.

a nice view of longs peak from the early part of the trail

We headed east on the rolling trail and within a mile arrived at a seemingly endless series of switchbacks that climbed sharply up to the broad summit plateau. Numerous other hikers were coming and going on the trail. The trail continued for nearly another mile across the plateau, actually dropping somewhat, until we reached a spur trail to the right that climbed 0.2 mile up to the summit.

The summit was a great vantage point with expansive views.

view of longs and other rmnp peaks from the summit

me on the summit (photo by brian schultz)

view of estes park

We relaxed a while on this one, our last peak of the day, before heading back down. We returned to the trailhead and I took Brian to his vehicle parked in the Estes Park parking garage and I departed for home.