Trail Ridge Road
Trail Ridge road is one of the most spectacular drives this country has to offer. Being a Colorado native I have been driving across this highway for over 50 years. In the last 25 years I do not believe I have missed a year driving from Estes Park to Grand Lake over the road. It is one of my favorite places.

Trail Ridge road is still spectacular to me because it is always new. The sky, the weather, the wind the temperature always changing never the same. Each side of the continental divide is different. The east is drier and warmer the west located in a valley between giant mountain ranges. You just can't beat it for ever changing natural beauty.

Trail Ridge is located in Rocky Mountain National Park just west of Estes Park Village. Loveland Colorado is the closest big town just 35 miles east of Rocky Mountain National Park. Loveland is at the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon and river. This River starts at the very top of the divide just south of Trail Ridge Road. At Milner Pass where the road crosses the continental divide is the headwaters of the Poudre River which goes through Fort Collins Colorado on it's way to the South Platte River near Greeley Colorado.

On the western side of the divide you can walk up the Colorado River all the way to the headwaters. This is of course no easy feat for it is many rugged miles to the start of the mighty Colorado which most of the west depends on for their water supply.

Trail Ridge is the highest contiguous highway in the US and tops out at over two miles high at 12,183. The pull off called rock cut is at 12,178 feet. The road opened in 1932 to replace Fall River Road which is still in operation as a one way dirt track. This dirt track in my opinion is the best drive in Colorado.

Trail Ridge opens on Memorial Day and usually closes around Labor Day or after depending on the weather. Snow can fall at the top on any day of the year and at 12,000 feet winter can come fast, hard and early.

The best part of this road is if you travel at night you can see the stars and galaxies like few other places in America. There are no city lights or any lights for that matter to interfere with your vision. Keep your eyes open for the large elk herds which inhabit this area during the summer time. You might be lucky enough to get an up close and personal look at some very large bull elk which live here.

Below you can see a Google map of the road from the eastern entrance at Estes park over the top to the western side and the Village of Grand Lake.

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