The reports of the 1920s reveal that the Park Superintendent lay awake many nights in the spring, agonizing over the opening of the Fall River Road. The FRR had many deep snowbanks and was crossed by several avalanche chutes, but it HAD TO BE OPENED by June 15th for scheduled tour busses. To avoid this problem and to create a better experience for the visitor -- the FRR ran up the valley and offered few panoramic views -- Trail Ridge Road was opened in 1932. Cited in many lists as one of the most spectacular roads in the U.S., the views begin at this Hidden Valley beaver pond with Mt. Chapin behind it. [Sorry; after I created this website, the beaver left and the pond drained.]
But if you want to see this scene at its very best, come back after a spring snow and showshoe to the beaver pond under a lowering sky.
Things start to get interesting at Many Parks Curve where most people see only the view of Longs Peak to the south from the parking area. This unusual view is from the summit of the point around which the road turns at Many Parks, looking north to the Mummy Range: Ypsilon and Fairchild.
The views in the highcountry are very spectacular early in the morning -- and those from Trail Ridge Road are no exception. This is a sunrise view to the east from Rainbow Curve.
But one of the most glorious views from Trail Ridge is this daytime panorama from Rainbow Curve. Extending diagonally from the lower left corner is the glacial moraine which separates Horseshoe Park on the left from the Hidden Valley beaver ponds on the right -- the most prominent of which you've just seen. At the right we see several levels of Trail Ridge; at the far end of Horseshoe Park is Deer Mountain. On an extremely clear day, one can see far out onto the eastern plains.
As an employee, I am permitted to drive up Trail Ridge Road when it is closed to the public while the road is being cleared. They start plowing the road about the end of April with Memorial Day as the target opening date. But once open, the road is inevitably closed by spring snowfalls, sometimes for only a few hours, sometimes a day or two. Here we see a rotary plow at Forest Canyon Overlook with Terra Tomah Mt. visible across Forest Canyon in the background.
We have now passed beyond treelimit and are surrounded by the alpine tundra. Here we find many species of plants which are identical to those growing in the circumpolar regions of the world. Beyond the brink of Forest Canyon, we see Longs Peak and on the right, from an unfamiliar viewpoint, some of the mountains above Bear Lake.
Were you to look behind you from this spot you would see a vertical crack in the rock, a fault, which time and the elements have weathered away into these Window Rocks at the Rock Cut. Far below us are the meadows of Forest Canyon; on the opposite side of the valley are the Gorge Lakes. The lake in the bowl at the very top of the ridge is Highest Lake; there are a total of 6 named lakes on various levels in the gorge.
Dusk and sunset are also spectacular times to see Trail Ridge Road. One of the most moving trips I ever had on the road was coming across from Grand Lake at midnight under a full moon so bright that (since the road was deserted) I turned off my lights and drove in the moonlight until I descended to treeline. In this view at twilight across the Tundra Curves, we see lights tracing out the road and Longs Peak in the background, dimly visible in the gathering dusk.
From a trail high on the mountainside, we look down on Trail Ridge Road as it approaches the Continental Divide at Milner Pass. Prominent on the horizon is the Never Summer Range, appropriately named for even the Arapaho called them Ni-chibe-chi: Never No Summer. (They apparently were never taught about double negatives.)
Coming down the western slope, many views open to the Never Summer Range. One also sees the Grand Ditch which collects water and carries it across LaPoudre Pass whence it is conveyed by streams to the plains where it is used for irrigation. In this view we look directly down the Colorado Valley with the Gore Range barely visible in the distance.