My Summer Drive
on Trail Ridge Road

On this trip, not only did I encounter snow, I drove through rain, hail and even a little sunshine. It was truly a memorable drive.

Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the United States. Eight miles lies above 11,000 feet, and the maximum elevation is 12,183 feet. It is one of the most beautiful drives in the world, and anyone anywhere near it should visit it.

I made a stop at Hidden Valley to take a short hike along the creek, then headed to Trail Ridge. As I drove to higher elevations, it quickly got very cold. The time was not right, but the temperature was correct - 39 degrees Fahrenheit.

I had traveled on Trail Ridge many times before. On this visit, I wanted to make stops at some places that I had yet to visit. The road is 54 miles long, so it does take several visits to see more than a little of it.

The first place I stopped was Rock Cut.

It was snowing and very cold and windy - and I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt. I had forgotten to bring a coat. That's not that hard to do in July.

I took a short walk down the trail on the opposite side of the road.

It always amazes me that flowers can survive in this harsh environment.

Not long after leaving Rock Cut, I saw that traffic was backed up for as far as I could see. The road was being resurfaced, and I was delayed for about twenty minutes. There are worse places in the world to be stuck than Rocky Mountain National Park. Had I not been forced to stop, I wouldn't have noticed this alpine lake.

My next stop was Milner Pass at the Continental Divide, where water either flows towards the Pacific or towards the Atlantic.

Not far from Milner Pass is Never Summer Mountains, the only volcanic mountain range in Rocky Mountain National Park.

I had to return my rental car by six, so I turned back towards Estes Park, stopping to take a couple photos where a ramp had been constructed across the fragile tundra to provide access to a snowy area.

On the majority of my Rocky Mountain National Park visits, I have seen herds of elk. This time I only saw these bulls, and I didn't see them until I was almost at the park exit.

If you want to see elk, the best places are at lower elevations in the meadows. More elk are spotted closer to the main roads in winter than summer. In fact in winter, elk come into the town of Estes Park and invade the parks and lawns.

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