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Rocky Mountains with lake and pine forest

Quick answer: The five tallest mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park are Longs Peak (14,259 ft), Mount Meeker (13,911 ft), Chiefs Head Peak (13,579 ft), Hagues Peak (13,560 ft), and Ypsilon Mountain (13,514 ft). Longs Peak is the only one reachable via a non-technical route with a real trail for most of the distance; the other four require off-trail scrambling and mountaineering experience rather than a standard day hike.

Rocky Mountain National Park has 60 named peaks above 12,000 feet, but only five climb above 13,500 — and just one of them, Longs Peak, breaks 14,000. None of these five are casual afternoon hikes, but they range from “extremely strenuous but non-technical” to “serious mountaineering objective,” and each carries a naming story tied to the people who explored, surveyed, or simply looked at them a century or more ago.

1. Longs Peak — 14,259 feet

Longs Peak is the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park, the only fourteener in the park, and one of the most recognizable summits in Colorado — visible from as far away as Denver and Fort Collins, rising roughly 9,000 feet above the plains to its east. It was named for Stephen Harriman Long, who led an 1820 U.S. Army expedition through the region and is credited as the first American to document sighting the peak, though he never climbed it or came especially close. The first documented ascent came decades later, in 1868, by a party led by explorer and geologist John Wesley Powell.

Is it hikeable? Yes — Longs Peak is the only one of these five peaks with a real, maintained trail for most of the route and a non-technical standard path to the top, the Keyhole Route. That said, “non-technical” doesn’t mean easy: it’s roughly 14 to 15 miles round trip with about 5,000 feet of elevation gain, includes exposed class 3 scrambling near the summit, and requires an alpine-style start (often 2 or 3 a.m.) to be off the exposed sections before afternoon thunderstorms roll in. It’s a serious full-day mountaineering objective, not a casual hike, and is typically only attempted without technical climbing gear from around July through early September.

2. Mount Meeker — 13,911 feet

Mount Meeker sits just three-quarters of a mile southeast of Longs Peak, so close that the two are often described as sharing the same massive east face. Before either peak carried its current name, the Arapaho called both mountains together “Nesótaieux,” or “Two Guides,” for their role as landmarks visible across the region, while French trappers passing through in 1799 called them “Les Deux Oreilles” — “the two ears.” The name Mount Meeker was proposed in 1873 during a Hayden Survey expedition that included Ralph Meeker, son of Nathan Meeker — a newspaper editor who founded the Union Colony at present-day Greeley, Colorado. Nathan Meeker later served as an Indian agent at the White River Agency, where his mishandling of relations with the Ute people culminated in the 1879 uprising in which he and other agency employees were killed. Is it hikeable? Only for experienced scramblers. There’s no maintained trail to Meeker’s summit, and most routes involve sustained class 2 talus hiking that builds to an exposed, narrow summit ridge. It’s commonly climbed in combination with Longs Peak via a connecting ridge route known as The Loft, making it more of a mountaineering add-on than a standalone hike.

3. Chiefs Head Peak — 13,579 feet

Chiefs Head Peak, the third-highest point in the park, takes its English name directly from its Arapaho name, which translates roughly to “heads” — a reference to the mountain’s silhouette, which, viewed from the Wild Basin area, resembles the profile of a Native American chief’s face and headdress looking skyward. It sits on the Continental Divide and is considerably more remote than either Longs Peak or Mount Meeker, with no easy access from any single trailhead.

Is it hikeable? Technically yes, in the sense that its standard route is a class 2+ scramble rather than a technical climb, but it requires a long, trail-less approach through wilderness terrain, making it one of the least frequently climbed peaks on this list and firmly in mountaineering territory rather than day-hiking territory.

4. Hagues Peak — 13,560 feet

Hagues Peak is the highest point in the Mummy Range, the cluster of peaks on the park’s north side, and the high point of Larimer County. It was named for brothers James and Arnold Hague, a surveying and geology team from Boston who worked in the area in the late 1870s as part of broader USGS survey efforts across the American West. Just north of the summit sits the small, persistent Rowe Glacier, one of the few glacial remnants still visible in the park.

Is it hikeable? Yes, for strong, experienced hikers — the standard route is mostly class 2 hiking over solid, blocky rock, but there’s no maintained trail, and the closest trailheads (Chapin Pass or Lawn Lake) are 6 to 9 miles away with thousands of feet of elevation gain, making this a full-day wilderness undertaking rather than a marked hike.

5. Ypsilon Mountain — 13,514 feet

Ypsilon Mountain, also in the Mummy Range, gets its distinctive name from a distinctive feature: two snow-filled couloirs on its east face that together form the shape of the Greek letter upsilon, or “Y.” The name was given in 1887 by Mrs. Frederick H. Chapin, who observed the Y-shaped snowfield while traveling in the area with her husband, mountaineer Frederick Chapin (for whom nearby Mount Chapin is separately named).

Is it hikeable? Yes, relatively speaking — the easiest route, the Southwest Ridge from Chapin Pass, is described as a straightforward class 2 walk over open tundra with no technical climbing required, though there’s still no maintained trail. It’s often combined with neighboring Mount Chiquita and Mount Chapin into a single long day known locally as “Mummy Mania.”

The Five Tallest, at a Glance

PeakElevationNamed AfterHikeable Without Technical Gear?Longs Peak14,259 ftStephen H. Long, 1820 expedition leaderYes — non-technical but extremely strenuousMount Meeker13,911 ftNathan Meeker, founder of Greeley, COExperienced scramblers onlyChiefs Head Peak13,579 ftArapaho name referencing its chief-profile silhouetteRemote scramble, long approachHagues Peak13,560 ftGeologists James and Arnold HagueYes, for strong hikers; no maintained trailYpsilon Mountain13,514 ftGreek letter Y, for Y-shaped snow couloirsYes — class 2 walk-up, no maintained trail

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the only true “fourteener” in Rocky Mountain National Park?
Longs Peak, at 14,259 feet, is the park’s only mountain above 14,000 feet and one of Colorado’s 58 recognized fourteeners.
No — all five require significant hiking or scrambling experience, proper gear, and awareness of alpine weather risks. Longs Peak has the most defined route but is still considered one of the more demanding fourteeners in Colorado due to its length, exposure, and elevation gain.
Rocky Mountain National Park maintains trails to many of its lower-elevation lakes and viewpoints, but most true summit routes above treeline are left as unmaintained scrambles or climbs, consistent with the park’s wilderness character above 11,500 feet.
Late June through early September generally offers the most stable conditions and least snow, though afternoon thunderstorms are a serious daily risk in summer, which is why climbers typically start well before dawn to be off exposed terrain by early afternoon.

Part of the Estes Park HQ hiking series. See also: Trail Ridge Road: America’s Highest Continuous Highway and The Best Family-Friendly Hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park.