Hike the East Shore Trail

This is one of Rocky Mountain's gentler secrets — a mellow lakeshore ramble on the park's quieter west side that most visitors blow right past on their way to Bear Lake. The trail hugs the eastern bank of Shadow Mountain Lake, a mid-century reservoir that feels more like backcountry Montana than Colorado's most-visited national park. The path is well-graded and largely flat, with only modest undulations that barely qualify as elevation gain. You'll weave through lodgepole pine forest with regular lake views opening up through the trees, and in autumn the aspens along the shore put on a show that rivals anything on Trail Ridge Road — without the crowds. The surface is packed dirt and generally smooth, making it one of the few trails in the park accessible to wheelchair users. This is the trail for people who want a national park experience without a national park beatdown.