Timed Entry in 2026

• Timed Entry: required to enter the park from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., May 22 through October 12, 2026 (excluding Bear Lake Road).
• Timed Entry + Bear Lake Road: required from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., May 22 through October 18, 2026. It covers the Bear Lake Road corridor and the rest of the park.
• Reservations are made on Recreation.gov and cost $2, plus your entrance fee or pass. A second batch is released the evening before.
• Starting in 2026, visitors who are not U.S. residents pay an additional $100 per person unless they hold the nonresident annual pass.

Montane

Open meadows and ponderosa pine. Moraine Park and Sprague Lake are easy places to see elk and catch reflections of the peaks.

Subalpine

Dense spruce and fir forest around the lakes. The Bear Lake area links Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes in an easy morning hike, with Alberta Falls nearby.

Alpine Tundra

Above treeline, where plants grow only a few inches tall. Walk the short Tundra Communities Trail and stop at the Alpine Visitor Center on Trail Ridge Road.

Ranger Tip

• Start hikes early. Summer afternoons bring frequent thunderstorms, and lightning is a serious danger above treeline. Plan to be heading down by early afternoon.
• Drink more water than you think you need and take it easy on your first day. Headache, nausea, and shortness of breath are signs of altitude sickness; the cure is to go lower.
• Pack layers. It can be 30 degrees colder on Trail Ridge Road than in Estes Park.
• Tundra plants take decades to recover from a single footstep. Stay on trails above treeline.