Start in Estes Park, a growing resort town in a wide basin first homesteaded in 1860 by Joel Estes. At nearly every turn, the flatsummit of Longs Peak (14,255 feet; 4,344.9 meters) and its companion peaks loom over the rooftops. Follow U.S. 34 past the 1909 StanleyHotel (+1 970 586 3371. Tours, rooms, meals), built by the inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile.The road winds along Fall River, squeezing between high forested ridges studded with immense domes of exposed granite. Pickup a map at Rocky Mountain National Park’s Fall River Entrance Station (+1 970 586 1206. Adm. fee) and drive 1.7 miles [2.7 kilometers] to Sheep Lakes in Horseshoe Park, a meadow at the foot of the Mummy Range. Salty soils here drawbighorn sheep, but also look for mule deer and, especially in fall, elk.
Follow Trail Ridge Road through Horseshoe Park and up the slope to Deer Ridge Junction, where you’ll turn right. Park first,though, and stroll to the edge of the hill overlooking Moraine Park and Longs Peak. This parkland, or mountain meadow dottedwith stands of ponderosa pine, is typical of much of the national park’s east side.
You leave the parkland behind as the road begins to rise into the forest of Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, and limber pine. About 2 miles [3 kilometers] from Deer Ridge Junction, stop at the Beaver Ponds, where a self-guided nature trail leads through an active beaver colony.
At Many Parks Curve, 9,640 feet [2,938.3 meters], a boardwalk offers an expansive view of Moraine Park, Horseshoe Park, and other long,glaciated basins carved out during the Ice Age. Estes Valley, just visible beyond Deer Mountain, looks glaciated but wasn’t. Four miles [6.4 kilometers] and 1,200 vertical feet [365.8 meters] up the road, stop at Rainbow Curve, the last turnout before tree line. Here the stressesof an increasingly harsh climate show in the trees. Some wind-blasted trunks grow branches only to leeward, and 100-year-old, sapling-sizedwarfs grow horizontally, protected by boulders. The trees give out completely as the road traverses a knife-edged ridgeline, and soon you’vearrived in the wide, rolling meadows of the alpine tundra. A deep canyon drops off to the left toward an incredible panorama of the park’s majorpeaks.
Stop at Forest Canyon Overlook, 11,716 feet [3,571 meters], and take the footpath down to the platform. A peaks-finder chart identifies thesummits, which run across your field of vision for 20 miles [32.2 kilometers]. Glaciers carved the bowls and basins, spires and ridges that make this ragged massof gneiss and granite such a pleasure to look at. A valley glacier also gouged out Forest Canyon, 2,500 feet [762 meters] below.
The road parallels the summits for 2 miles [3.2 kilometers] to Rock Cut at 12,110 feet [3,691.1 meters], where a steep, self-guided, 1-mile round-trip nature trailclimbs a hill. Worth every gasping breath, it offers more than views of mountains rising over colorful wildflower meadows. You’ll also learnabout the adaptations plants and animals make to survive a very short growing season, wind speeds of 150 mph [241 kph], and intense sunlight.
U.S. 34 reaches its highest point between the Lava Cliffs and Gore Range turnoffs. Stop at the Alpine VisitorCenter (June-Sept.) for more about the alpine tundra. If you’ve brought binoculars, you can usually see a dozen or more elkin a glacial amphitheater beneath the center’s viewing platform. The road descends quickly to Medicine Bow Curve, a hairpin witha view of the Medicine Bow Mountains, 20 miles [32.2 kilometers] north. It also overlooks the headwaters of the Cache la PoudreRiver, a silver thread meandering over the treeless floor of a long valley.
