Well it's going to be close, but need to work on plan B getting from Denver to Grand Lake due to potential continued closure of Trail Ridge Rd. Looks like this means taking 70 E to 40 N. Would like to stop somewhere for a good lunch and a short hike (< 2 hrs) either before or after. Winter Park? Fraser? Lunch and hike don't need to be in same location. Thanks for any advice.

Get most of the drive over with and lunch in Winter Park sounds good.

This trailhead might be free of snow now, but I'm not sure. However, it's below the elevation where all of sudden there is a lot of snow.
ProTrails | Monarch Lake Loop Trail, Monarch Lake Trailhead, Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, Colorado

I was just under 8'000' yesterday near Estes and the snow is gone, but at around 9,500' there is still plenty.

Good luck.

When ?????? very critical. Trail Ridge probably will be open within the next week. However, any hiking in the mountains is going to hit either a lot of snow or mud. The front range (foothills) trails are drier.

The restaurant in the historic Grand Lake Lodge has beautiful views overlooking the lake, and is very close to the west portal of RMNP.

It's about 2.5 hours from Denver to Grand Lake, so it all depends on how hungry you are! BtW, there are some nice hikes near the entrance (and look for moose!).

Actually, sylvia's suggestions are better than mine.

You could just head into the park and check out the Kawuneeche Valley hikes and wildlife. Also nice hike just on the east side of Grand Lake. The trailhead I suggested above leads into some truly amazing scenery, but you won't get close to the spectacular stuff in any case.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Good news is that Trail Ridge Road is now open so we'll be able to take our preferred route through the park. Now just need to find a good place for lunch in Estes Park.

There's a good variety of brewpubs with tasty food options, and the Stanley Hotel is always a nice stop for food and views.

Stanley Hotel is nice, I was there yesterday in fact. Be aware they charge ten bucks for parking, but you get $5 off your tab.

Nepal's Cafe and Poppy's Pizza and Grill are both locally owned and located on the nice riverwalk area though town. On Highway 36, one of the routes out of town towards Trail Ridge, is Smokin' Dave's BBQ & Brew.

Any of those typically make a good lunch stop and are unusually pretty crowded.

Thank you both for the suggestions. After researching the route through Winter Park yesterday, I'm now wondering if this is the better way to go and to head into RMNP from Grand Lake on a Monday rather than to try to drive in from Estes Park on a busy Saturday. As we don't want to spend too much of our time in the car, I doubt we would make it all the way to the east side of the park if we did this, and not sure if it's worth missing the east side to avoid crowds.

Tough call, I'm with you on spending too much time in the car. If you are arriving in Estes on a Saturday mid-morning you will not be able to get to the Bear Lake / Glacier Gorge area without taking the shuttle. That might involve parking on the east side of Estes at the visitor center, and will take time. Even driving through Estes can be slow, they were repaving the main street on Tuesday, had half the road closed and several detours. I don't know how long that project will take.

That said, the east side arguably has the more spectacular mountain scenery. Monday will be quite crowded too, Bear Lake road will close to cars early, maybe 8:00? But it might make for a more leisurely day if your only requirement is getting back to Grand Lake before nightfall.

Perhaps keep an eye on the weather forecast afternoon thunderstorm pattern, see if one day is looking dramatically different than the other. Most likely they'll be similar but you never know.

Guess I'd have a slight preference for the Monday plan.

Not sure it would make that much difference. In the summer what slows the traffic down is everyone creeping along, pulling over to take pictures, or the short walk from the turn off areas. Most of that is not available especially on top. The road is punched through but it will feel like driving in a tunnel since the snow could be 10 to 15 feet on the sides. Many of the turn off areas, especially higher up, are not cleared. There is still a lot of snow in that areas.

P.S. I-70 out of Denver won't be too much fun either!

The Fall River entrance is the one we usually use to avoid Estes Park almost completely. Today there were more elk just outside the park than inside!

That we saw, that is. Snow walls are not as impressive as we'd hoped, given the season and the updates about the delays in opening Trail Ridge.

According to a friend who volunteers for the Park, Trail Ridge stayed closed last week due to a late spring heavy, wet drift that took time to plow. But he agreed the normal snow walls were not as good as other years. This weekend's traffic will be insane.

This winter a herd of at least 700 (!!) elk were in the foothills west of Fort Collins. The snow settled early on their normal hangouts like the Estes golf course, so I guess they took up another sport. They must be slowly making their way back up to the alpine zone.

Fall River Road entrance is a good option and the Stanley is on the way.

Thanks again all. We ended up driving Trail Ridge Rd from the Grand Lake entrance last Monday and it was great. We did take it all the way to Estes Park and had a good lunch at Claire's on the Park. Driving back was more crowded but not too bad except when idiots would stop in the middle of the road to take pictures. It was a long day but the scenery was so great we didn't mind being in the car for so long.

Very glad you got to see all of Trail Ridge!

Thanks for reporting back. Glad to hear things worked out!