Todd Tracy's Virtual Tour of Rocky Mountain National Park

 

This is my virtual tour of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Click on thumbnail photos to see enlarged versions of the photos.

The west side of Rocky Mountain National Park

The west side of the park has far fewer visitors than the east side of the park. When Trail Ridge Road (the highest paved road in the U.S.) is closed (October-May), most visitors have to drive up from I-70 through Winter Park and Grand Lake to get to this side of the park. During the summer months, thousands of visitors travel over Trail Ridge Road to the west side of the park, where moose, elk, and lots of other wildlife can be found along the Colorado River valley. Beware of mountain lions! A youngster on a family hike on the west side of the park was attacked and killed by one during the summer of 1997.

I don't make it over to the other side of the park very often, so I don't have much in the way of pictures:

·  [Aspen IMAGE]
Aspen on West Trail Ridge Road

·  [Clark's Nutcracker IMAGE]
Clark's Nutcracker seen along Trail Ridge Road at Rainbow Curve (elev. 11000; this site is actually on the east side of the Continental Divide).

The east side of Rocky Mountain National Park

There are two entrances to the park from Estes Park. The road from the north entrance takes you past Horseshoe Park and the turnoff to Horseshoe Lake, Endovalley picnic area and Roaring River's alluvial fan. The south entrance provides better access to Bear Lake Road, Moraine Park, and Trail Ridge Road. There are many places within the park that can be accessed without going through one of the main entrances to the park. Such places include Bridal Veil Falls, MacGregor Falls, Eagle Cliff, and Long's Peak trailhead (you may have to pay to park at this trailhead). One of the most famous of the Rocky Mountains is Long's Peak. At 14,255 feet, it is the northernmost 14-thousand-foot peak in the Rocky Mountains. The grueling 16-mile hike to the top has been enjoyed by thousands of visitors to the park every year. Long's Peak has claimed the lives of at least 50 people in the past 100 years, so don't do anything foolish like hike the trail in an electrical storm.

·         [Longs Peak IMAGE]
Longs Peak and Autumn aspen as seen from Trail Ridge Road.

South of Long's Peak (12.7 miles south of Estes Park), west of Highway 7, is Wild Basin, located along N. St. Vrain Creek and its tributaries.

In 1982, an earthen dam at Lawn Lake burst, sending a wall of water 30 feet high crashing down Roaring River, uprooting trees, dislodging boulders and gouging the landscape along the 5-mile stretch from Lawn Lake to the bottom of the river valley. Three park visitors were killed in this disaster. Today, along Endovalley Road at the bottom of Roaring River, you will find the Alluvial Fan, a huge mass of giant boulders and dead trees that were left by the flood.

Just south of the south (Beaver Meadows) entrance to the park are Eagle Cliff Mountain and Moraine Park. One can access Eagle Cliff from the YMCA property and Moraine Park from Bear Lake Road. Cub Lake trailhead can be accessed from Moraine Park.

Farther up Bear Lake Road are Glacier Gorge Junction and, of course, Bear Lake. From Glacier Gorge Junction, one can hike to Alberta Falls, The Loch, Mills Lake, and other scenic spots.

The trailheads for MacGregor Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are accessed from north of Estes Park. You do not currently have to pay a park fee to do these hikes.

ttracy@lamar.colostate.edu
Last updated: February 4, 2002

There have been more than 25936 visitors to this web site since January 20, 1996.