In April, we traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes, CO for some hiking and camping! We rented a camper van from Indie Campers, which was a fun new experience for us! We got a quick taste of vanlife and while we love our rooftop tent it was a plus to have a space that we could stand up and move around in, especially in the cold, snowy mountains. The trip started off a bit rocky sitting on the tarmac for around an hour, getting deplaned, and our plane being delayed over two hours. The plan was to pick up the van that night but with the delays we opted for a hotel night one and picked up the van in the morning. We picked up the van at the Denver Indie Campers location which was very quick and easy! Then started the drive to Estes. Of course the trip couldn't go as planned from there so in another turn of events the campsite we had booked ended up being up a large hill which was covered in snow. The van made it up... barely. We ended up coming back down and looking for a new, more accessible spot. Being literally one week early to the town of Estes and most campgrounds fully opening for the season made this difficult. Finally, we settled in a nice spot in Aspenglen campground in RMNP which was honestly better than our planned campground. For the rest of the trip we traveled around what was open in RMNP and explored Estes Park. We saw lots of elk, a fox, deer, and even a moose! As well as getting in a few hikes. The most intense hike was to Emerald lake. The snow was deep and the wind on the lake was brutal but it was a fun one (other than my bloody nose on the way back). Another one was the Gem Lake Trail which was super pretty and drastically different weather. It felt like Spring and we were sweating compared to the winter wonderland the hike before. Our last hike was unplanned but after stopping at a store in town a man was telling us about Lily Lake which was a short 1 mile hike around the lake. He had said there had been a lot of wildlife sightings, but unfortunately not when we were over there. But either way it was the perfect spot to end the trip with a easy, sunset walk. This was National Park number 6 for us! As I write this we added two more to the list already, I can't wait to share those adventures!