Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is open for the season but visitors should keep an eye out for icy conditions from melting snow.
The road historically opens on Memorial Day but that was delayed by a major snowstorm on May 18 and 19 that dropped more than 3 feet of snow in the lower elevations of the park. Plow operators were looking at 8-14 feet of snow at higher elevations.
The Trail Ridge Store and Alpine Visitor Center are expected to open later this week, according to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Presently, night-time closures are not in effect.
Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the U.S., climbing to 12,183 feet and connecting Estes Park and Grand Lake. The earliest the road has opened is May 7 in 2002, while the latest is June 26 in 1943.
Given Colorado’s temperamental weather changes, park goers should call the park’s Trail Ridge Road recorded phone line at (970) 586-1222 before heading out. Also be prepared to adjust travel plans if weather becomes rough.
The Denver Post photo archive
Denver Post Photo van on Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Denver Post photo archive
Since the first Sno-Go was purchased in 1931, the arduous task of opening both the Fall River Road and the Trail Ridge Road been made considerably easier. 1974
The Denver Post photo archive
Ranger Gordon Patterson walks ahead of his stalled truck, six miles from the summit of Trail Ridge road, to check the deep snow which made it impossible to open the link between Estes Park and Grand Lake in 1955.
The Denver Post photo archive
This 'Midwinter' Scene is, in reality, a summer picture of national park crews caught Sunday as they worked to open the famous Trail Ridge road in the Rocky Mountain national park for traffic by May 30. Where these men are working the snow drifts were twenty feet in depth. The scene is near the Continental divide. The heavy-duty bulldozers are pushing the snow to the rotary plow in the foreground. This plow blows the snow high into the air and off to the side. Tourists will soon be driving thru the narrow canon between drifts. Picture by the Associated press. MAY 26 1941.
The Denver Post photo archive
Lou Middlemist, State Purchasing Agent, Gives Estes Park Queen Assistance In Ribbon Cutting.
Queen is Jonlyn Ver Straeten of Estes Park, Colo., at right is Susie Moyers, her assistant. Behind blades, smiling, is Revill Fox, president of the Colorado Visitors Bureau, master of ceremonies at the Trail Ridge Road opening in 1966.
The Denver Post photo archive
Crest House, Mount Evans, 1949.
James A. Cook, The Denver Post photo archive
A snow blaster works its way through a 10 foot snow drift, toward the summit of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, 1979. The U.S. Park service uses nine pieces of heavy equipment to clear the 26 mile roadway for the Memorial Day opening. It takes 30 days to clear the snow, which ranges in depth from 0 to 35 feet.
The Denver Post photo archive
Trail Ridge opening May 1948 in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Denver Post photo archive
Skating on Summit Lake, Mount Evans, 1939.
The Denver Post photo archive
This pictures, by Ralph Baird, Denver Post staff photographer, shows the young women wearing coats up on Trail Ridge Road where there are still big patches of snow. This is one of those privileges that makes Colorado the premier vacation state, on Jun 21 1936.
The Denver Post photo archive
Mt Evans Highway, 1943.
John G. White, The Denver Post photo archive
David Meyers, 22, boulder, who was runner-up, could easily get the feeling of loneliness, as he heads up Mount Evans Sunday in annual amateur bicyclist's race, on August 9, 1971.
The Denver Post photo archive
Working to clear Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National park. May 22, 1933.
The Denver Post photo archive
Gov. Don Thornton will be at the business end of the scissors June 2 when the 60-foot rope of Colorado carnations across Trail Ridge road above Estes Park is snipped to officially open the high-altitude highway for the season in 1951. Extending the invitation to attend to the governor is Nancy Steffens, Roof Top rodeo queen, who was accompanied to the state house by Charles Herzog (left), Estes Park Chamber of Commerce director, and Estes Park Mayor Ron Brodie (right).
Bill Wunsch, The Denver Post photo archive
Workmen and scientists unload and assemble the University of Denver's 24-inch Ealing-Beck reflecting telescope near the summit of Mt. Evans, on July 3, 1973.
Karl Gehring, The Denver Post photo archive
Ned Overend, the winner, was trailed closely by Bjorn Backman as the pair climbed above Echo lake on the road to the top of Mount Evans, July 1986, Backman finished second in the race.
The Denver Post photo archive
End of the trail the turn around first below the summits. The cars in this photograph show plates from fourteen states. The short ascent to the very trip of the mountain is made at the left to in only a few hundred feet.
The Denver Post photo archive
It's Ice-Cool Colorado, Up Here! This Mid-June picture in 1936 of Old Mother Nature's great out door air conditioning plant in Rocky Mountain National park was taken Sunday by Ralph B. Baird, Post staff photographer, near the topmost point on the world-famous Trail Ridge road, 12,183 feet--two and three-tenths miles-above sea level. The young lady beside the big snowbank is a visitor from Texas, who "simply wouldn't believe it till she saw it." The bank goes straight up twice her height, then shelves up for a maximum depth of twenty feet. The smooth government highway is open, clear and dry, from Estes Park to Grand Lake.
Dean Conger, The Denver Post photo archive
Pikes Peak, September 13, 1955.
The Denver Post photo archive
Mount Evans, 1940.
Lowell Georgia, The Denver Post photo archive
Visitors board the diesel-powered rail car for the return trip down pikes peak on the Manitou and pikes peak railway. There is also an auto to the summit of the 14,110-foot mountain. Pikes Peak's breathtaking views are the main tourist attraction, on June 12, 1965.
The Denver Post photo archive
This photograph was taken June 14, 1936 by Ralph B. Baird, staff photographer of The Denver Post. Snow scenes like this are just a comfortable morning's drive from Denver over paved and oiled highways.
The Denver Post photo archive
Snow measuring crew loads skis back into the Sno-Cat where snow cover runs out near bottom of Trail Ridge Road on their return trip in 1960.
Cloyd Teter, The Denver Post photo archive
Trail Ridge Road on May 29, 1965.
The Denver Post photo archive
A New Secret Weapon of the United States armed forces has just a miniature tractor which operates either on land or water, and is capable of either high or low speeds. It has been tested for several months at Echo lake, at the foot of Mount Evans, as part of the arctic training program of the army air forces western technical training command. The snowmobile is shown here towing an ambulance used in rescue work. 1944.
The Denver Post photo archive
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Denver Post Photo van on Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park.
