Yesterday, Wednesday, October 18, Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO (RMNP) officially closed for the season to through travel. Many popular driving destinations for this time of year include Bear Lake Road, Moraine Park, and Horseshoe Park on the east side of the park as well as the section of Trail Ridge Road along the Kawuneeche Valley on the west side of the park, are all open.
Trail Ridge Road is not designed to be an all-season road, with 11 miles above 11,500 feet, few guard rails, and no shoulders. Winter conditions of drifting snow, high winds, and below-freezing temperatures occur above 10,000 feet. Trail Ridge Road is currently closed at Many Parks Curve on the east side of RMNP and at the Colorado River Trailhead on the west side of the park. Closure points on the road may fluctuate this fall, however, the road is closed to through travel for the season.
Trail Ridge Road normally opens the last week in May, weather permitting. Last year, the road closed for the winter on October 22nd, 2022, and reopened on Friday, May 26, 2023.
Trail Ridge Road historically opens on Memorial Day weekend. The earliest the road opened was May 7th, 2002; the latest was June 26th, 1943. Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the United States, climbs to 12,183 feet, and connects the towns of Estes Park and Grand Lake.
Old Fall River Road closed for the season to vehicles on October 3. Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road will remain open to bicycles, hikers, and people walking leashed pets through November 30. Leashed pets and bicycles are only allowed on the road, not on side trails. On December 1, both of these roads will revert to “winter trail status,” which means that bicycles and leashed pets will no longer be permitted beyond the closed gates, but pedestrians, snowshoers, and skiers are.
For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park, please visit www.nps.gov/romo or call the park’s Information Office at (970) 586-1206.
According to Wikipedia, Trail Ridge Road is a stretch of U.S. Highway 34 that traverses Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park, Colorado, in the east to Grand Lake, Colorado, in the west. The road is also known as Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow National Scenic Byway.
The road is closed during the winter and often remains closed until late spring or early summer, depending on the snowpack. The road is the highest paved through road in Colorado. It is also the highest paved road in Colorado that crosses the continental divide (Cottonwood Pass at 12,126 feet is the second-highest, and Colorado State Highway 82 at 12,095 feet going through Independence Pass third-highest).
