![]() Few visitors make their way this far, lending the region an end-of-the-earth feel. ![]() Trail Ridge Road eventually dips into the Kawuneeche Valley. Places to pause along the drive range from the Highest Point and the lofty Alpine Visitor Center-the nation’s highest continuous paved road-to the half-mile Tundra Communities hike and several sections of the strenuous Ute Trail across the rocky highlands. Owing to snow cover, the route is open only between Memorial Day and mid-October. The two roads converge at Deer Ridge Junction, the start of the 48-mile Trail Ridge Road. Highway 36 shoots to Beaver Meadows Visitor Center with its information desk, natural history exhibits, and backcountry permit office Highway 38 makes its way to Fall River Visitor Center and a similar set of services. ![]() The nonprofit Rocky Mountain Conservancy partners with the national park on a wide range of guided tours, seminars, and family activities like geocaching, fly-fishing, and art in the park.įrom Estes, two routes lead into the national park. Strewn with sculptures and shady sitting spots, Estes Park Riverwalk meanders along the banks of two rivers that cut through town. The bright red cars of the Estes Park Aerial Tramway sail to the summit of Prospect Mountain, where the view often extends 100 miles along the snowcapped Front Range. Opened in 1909, the Stanley Hotel (Stephen King’s inspiration for The Shining) offers guided history tours and evening ghost tours to guests and the general public. Art galleries and artisanal alcohol (breweries, distilleries, and wineries) are the twin pillars of the downtown scene. The old frontier town of Estes Park has long been the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Photograph by Robert Harding World Imagery, Alamy More to see The lake is one of the few high-mountain lakes in Colorado reachable on a paved road. During the summer months, park rangers at Rocky Mountain join forces with the darkness and volunteer astronomers to walk visitors through what exactly is going on overhead.įrosted with snow, Bear Lake gleams beneath distant Longs Peak and Keyboard of the Winds. The Milky Way glows in the black night skies over the Rockies in a way we can’t imagine if we live in towns or cities. Now a doable six-mile hike gets you to the spooky remains of a dream gone bust: several dilapidated log cabins, a few foundations, and ghosts of miners past. ![]() The boom didn’t last long, and by 1886 Lulu City was abandoned. Lulu City is a ghost town that in late 1880 was home to a population of 500 and 10 working mines. ![]() Twenty-eight miles of the trail falls in Rocky Mountain, and there are shorter, family-friendly options that are easier to access. Walking a section of the Continental Divide Trail offers a taste of the 3,100-mile trail that wanders through Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico. So here are a few of the park's star attractions that are accessible either by car or by foot. But while driving may offer magnificent scale, nothing captures detail like a hike. Trail Ridge Road, which follows a path that Native Americans used for thousands of years, meanders through forests, above the tree line, and over the Continental Divide it's the longest continuous paved road in the United States and an efficient way to explore the park's topographical range. And you don’t even have to hike to see them, if you don’t want to. In the shadow of Rocky Mountain National Park’s soaring peaks are wild rivers, placid alpine lakes, and an amazing array of flora and fauna. Visitor Centers: Beavers Meadows and Kawuneeche (year-round) Fall River and Alpine (seasonal)Įntrance Fee: $20 per vehicle, $10 per person ![]()
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