RMNP announces hiker shuttle will operate May 27-Oct. 10

Rocky Mountain National Park will be operate a hiker shuttle bus from May 27 through Oct. 10, according to a news release.

The bus will take riders from the Estes Park Visitor Center to the Park & Ride Transit Hub located on Bear Lake Road. There are no other stops in the park. At the Park & Ride, riders will transfer to the Bear Lake or Moraine Park shuttles to get to their trailhead destinations, the release stated.

Two things will be needed to ride the hiker shuttle: reservation tickets for all passengers plus a valid park entrance pass. One person may reserve up to four tickets per $2 reservation.

At 5 p.m. the night before, a limited number of tickets will be available for seven specific time slots at the RMNP hiker shuttle reservations website at bit.ly/39v1dgh.

Space is limited, so people are asked to reserve only the number of seats they need.

For park admission, riders can use an existing annual or lifetime pass, such as a senior pass, or purchase a day pass on recreation.gov. Private vehicle access is not permitted with a Hiker Shuttle ticket.

Departure times from the Estes Park Visitor Center will be 9 a.m., 9:45 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., noon, 12:45 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.

Passengers are required to use the specific time slot they reserve.

The shuttle will return to the Estes Park Visitor Center roughly every 45 minutes from 9:45 a.m. through 5:15 p.m. Passengers can return using any shuttle throughout the day.

For details on the shuttle and the

Bear Lake and Moraine Park routes visit bit.ly/3KGtRIk.

The hiker shuttle route has been in place since 2006, but did not operate in 2020 and 2021. In 2019, there were more 45,000 park visitors used the shuttle system.

Park visitors can park at the Estes Park Visitor Center parking garage or use the Estes Park transit system to ride from their lodging or other locations to the Estes Park Visitor Center.

The shuttle is one of the visitor use management strategies the park has piloted in recent years as visitation in RMNP grew.

The park was the third busiest in the country in 2019 with over 4.6 million visitors.

The park piloted a timed entry permit reservation system in 2020 and 2021, and will be piloting a similar system again in 2022.

“Park staff are learning from these various strategies since 2016, including piloting timed entry reservations on the hiker shuttle, to help inform long-range day use visitor access strategies,” the release stated.

For information on how to book a private vehicle timed entry and details about the times of day they are required, visit bit.ly/3vyPDJz.