Snaking for 48 miles through Rocky Mountain National Park, Trail Ridge Road traverses some of Colorado's wildest country in a series of hair-raising twists and turns. I stood at the Gore Range Overlook , gazing at the snow-capped and barren Never Summer Mountains to the west surrounded by fragile and beautiful alpine tundra below. At 12,048ft in elevation, this is one of the highest stops along Trail Ridge Road , an epic byway that runs through Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).
Nicknamed the "Highway to the Sky", the 48-mile route traverses some of Colorado's wildest country in a series of hair-raising twists and turns with no guardrail, crossing the Continental Divide and soaring over the park's dramatic tundra. It's the highest continuously paved road in the United States and a hugely impressive feat of engineering. Gore Range Overlook isn't just a place to stop after a white-knuckle drive; it's a place to experience some of the best views in the entire park.
Since 95% of Rocky Mountain National Park is designated wilderness that's only accessible to adventurous hikers, Trail Ridge Road is one of the most popular ways to explore the area. Driving it as the road twists through trees along switchbacks and hairpin turns reveals vistas of vast meadows, stretches of road densely lined with towering evergreen trees, dramatic mountain ranges scraping the sky, fields of alpine tundra and rocky drop-offs on the dramatic 4,000ft climb from the town of Estes Park on the .
