Balanced Rock
- nps.gov
- Estes Park
About
A big granite boulder perched on a much smaller stone at the north end of Lumpy Ridge. It's a long walk to see a rock, but the boulders you pass on the way, some with holes clear through them, are half the fun.
Balanced Rock is inside Rocky Mountain National Park, north of Gem Lake along the Lumpy Ridge trail system. You can reach it from the Lumpy Ridge Trailhead by way of Gem Lake (the Park lists Gem Lake at 1.6 miles with 1,000 feet of gain, and the trail keeps going from there) or from the Cow Creek Trailhead at McGraw Ranch. Guides put the full trip somewhere between about 5 and 8 miles out and back, and one lists about 1,900 feet of gain from Lumpy Ridge. It's rocky, there are steep sections with big stone steps, and it's a real day hike.
Honest take: go early, and bring more water than you think you need. It's a fit hiker's day, not a stroller walk, and I wouldn't bring small kids. Dogs aren't allowed on Park trails, so they stay home. Pick your trailhead based on how you feel about the climb to Gem Lake first, because that's the steep part from the Lumpy Ridge side. Check nps.gov/romo for current trail conditions before you set out.
