Bear Lake @ RMNP: Use the Shuttle Bus!

After a leisurely breakfast we left our lovely little lodge in Estes Park for RMNP at about 0830. We entered RMNP on US 36. We proceeded directly to the Bear Lake Trailhead where we found parking to be completely full. They also had it set up with those orange cones so that you couldn't loop the parking area hoping for someone to leave so you could get a parking spot.

We went back down to Glacier Gorge to find that parking there was also full. We stopped briefly to deal with an 'over-hydration' issue, but that was long enough to be in the way of a shuttle bus that was trying to pull into the lot. After getting out of the way we asked where we could park to get on the shuttle bus. Apparently we had passed it on the way in. It's on Bear Lake Road across from Glacier Basin Campground. We never even noticed. Either it wasn't well-marked, we were paying more attention to the scenery than the road signs or both.

Bottom line - use the shuttle bus! Plenty of parking in the shuttle lot. It's free. It's clean and comfortable. It's only 10 minutes. We wasted half an hour trying to figure out parking when we could have been hiking on a beautiful day!