Including Rocky Mountain National Park, Peak-to-Peak Highway,
Poudre Canyon, Blue River, and Rabbit Ears, Gore, and Berthoud Passes
[NOTE: No hyperlinks on this map]
All of the above marked routes will provide you with awesome
riding and spectacular views -- it all depends upon your desires and the amount
of time that you have available.
Rocky Mountain National Park/Trail Ridge Road:
Rocky
Mountain National Park is a national icon — its rugged mountains carve out a
skyline that captures the American imagination and serves as both protector and
passageway to the west. One-third of the park is above timberline, the
14,255-foot flat-topped summit of Longs Peak included; there are 71 peaks here
that top out above 12,000 feet.
Trail Ridge
Road snakes its way through alpine tundra for 50 miles between glacier-sculpted
peaks. It crosses the park from east to west and then drops into the Kawuneeche
Valley, where the north fork of the Colorado River flows. The road travels for
11 miles above 11,000 feet and for 4 miles above 12,000 feet. The road's highest
point — 12,183 feet above sea level — occurs between Lava Cliffs and Gore Range.
As you drive through the heavens, you absolutely must stop at Rainbow Curve,
Many Parks Curve, and at Forest Canyon Overlook.
The small,
mountain town of Estes Park serves as the east entrance to Rocky Mountain
National Park. Three beautiful and fun roads can bring you to Estes Park
and you can't go wrong by taking any one of them.
The more
northern east-to-west route is US-34 (which continues into the park and across
Trail Ridge Road), which winds its way through Big Thompson (river) Canyon.
A beautiful ride with lots of nice twisties as you climb from the plains into
the Rocky Mountains. ~34 miles from I-25 to Estes Park
The more
southern east-to-west route is CO-66 and US-36. Picking up US-36 near
Lyons, this is another beautiful ride to Estes Park, winding along St. Vrain
Creek (although both are great rides, US-34 Big Thompson Canyon is probably the
most fun of the two). ~37 miles from I-25 to Estes Park via CO-66 and
US-36
A great
route coming from the due south into Estes Park is the
Peak-to-Peak Highway/Byway. This route can be access from I-70 and/or
US-6 headed west out of Denver/Golden. The entire route from
the
mining towns of Central City and
Blackhawk (both towns are
recently growing due to the availability of small stakes gambling in quite a few
casinos) to Estes Park is filled with beautiful scenery and interesting history.
This route is full of a mix of big sweepers and twisties as it parallels the
majestic Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide to the west. An easy
ride, the views provided are spectacular and lots of fun. Stop in Central
City or Blackhawk to drop a few coins in a slot machine and perhaps have a cheap
meal. ~70 miles from the I-70/US-6 interchange east of Idaho Springs via
US-6, CO-119, CO-72, and CO-7 to Estes Park; another option is to continue on
I-70 towards Idaho Springs past the US-6 exit and take the Central City Parkway.
This is a new road that runs the top of the mountains to Central City, where you
can drop down to Blackhawk and CO-119 to continue the journey to Estes
Park.
From Estes
Park you can enter the Park via either US-36 or US-34 (US-36 ends where it joins
US-34 in the Park). There are many resources providing information on the
Park and the spectacular ride across Trail Ridge Road -- this is one ride not to
be missed if your schedule permits. After crossing the Continental Divide,
US-34 drops down to the beautiful town of Grand Lake (largest natural lake in
Colorado), then continues on south/west along Shadow Mountain Lake and Lake
Granby. At this point you'll need to make some decisions on the next leg
or your journey -- each of these choices provides beautiful scenery and awesome
mountain riding and you can't go wrong with any of these -- it all depends upon
how much time that you have available.
East on
US-40 via Winter Park and over
Berthoud Pass to I-70 at Empire
West on
US-40 to Kremmling and then south on CO-9 along the Blue River to I-70 at
Silverthorne
West on
US-40 through Kremmling to CO-134 and
Gore Pass, where you can head south on
CO-131 to I-70 at Wolcott
West on
US-40 through Kremmling, over
Rabbit Ears Pass to Steamboat Springs (very nice
town with lots of good accommodations and restaurants), and then south on CO-131
to I-70 at Wolcott
Additional
information on the Park and Trail Ridge Road can be found at:
The
Poudre Canyon Byway
starts in Fort Collins and takes you through Roosevelt National Forest, then
follows the Poudre River through Poudre Canyon up to Cameron Pass and down to
North Park. The road is 101 miles long and takes about 3 hours to travel.
The road runs through the Cache la Poudre River canyon, once a useful transit
corridor for Native Americans and, later, white explorers. Today's visitors lean
more toward recreation; whitewater boaters and anglers love the Poudre,
Colorado's only federally designated National Wild and Scenic River. At
10,276-foot Cameron Pass the highway intercepts Colorado State Forest, a
70,000-acre preserve of glaciated mountains and evergreen thickets. North Park,
once a favorite bison grazing ground, remains heavily populated with deer,
antelope, elk, moose, beaver, and coyote; migrating waterfowl flock to the
Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. This is an great motorcycle ride as it follows
the river for twistie after twistie after twistie, mixed with sweepers here and
there. As you descend into North Park the terrain becomes flat. As
you come down off Cameron Pass, but before Gould, note the decorated Christmas
Tree on the right and the Moose Visitor Center on the left. ~100 miles on
CO-14
Walden has a couple
of good restaurants, but my pick is the Antler's Inn and River Rock Cafe (turn
right when you hit main street in town -- the restaurant is down about 1/2 mile
on the left).
There are two very
enjoyable roads to get you headed back south.
CO-14 south via lots
of big sweepers to US-40 near Rabbit Ears Pass; US-40 west over Rabbit Ears Pass
to Steamboat Springs (very nice town with lots of good accommodations and
restaurants), and then south on CO-131 to I-70 at Wolcott
CO-125 south via
sweepers and then into twisties as the route climbs over Willow Creek Pass,
dropping down to US-40 just west of Granby (CO-125 is particularly nice as the
turns on this route are constant-radium);
US-40 to
Kremmling and then south on CO-9 along the Blue River to I-70 at Silverthorne
