Through Oct. 22, visitors will need a timed-entry reservation (in addition to a basic park entry pass) in order to explore this high country.
At the east end of the park, where most visitors enter, is the gateway city of Estes Park. Rangers warn that there’s a lot of construction in progress near the park’s Fall River entrance.
Park adventures: Estes Park is full of outdoorsy and traveler-friendly businesses along Highway 36. It’s also home to the grand old red-roofed Stanley Hotel, which inspired Stephen King to writing “The Shining” after a night there in 1974. (The film was shot elsewhere, but the the hotel nevertheless offers an hourlong $30 Shining Tour.)
To reach the Continental Divide or the west end of the park, take Trail Ridge Road, which climbs and crosses the divide at 12,183 feet above sea level. The National Park Service calls it the highest continuous paved road in the U.S.; typically it is closed from late October through late May. Before driving it, call (970) 586-1222 for updated road conditions. The park’s off-the-grid Alpine Visitor Center and store, perched amid the alpine tundra at 11,796 feet, are popular stops, well above the treeline.
Beyond the divide, the road descends toward the west side of the park (where fires burned more than 30,000 acres in 2020) and Grand Lake.
Grand Lake, just outside the park’s western boundary, doesn’t get nearly as many visitors as Insta-friendly Bear Lake, but it’s Colorado’s biggest natural body of water, neighbored by a tiny village with the same name. It’s also the answer to a next-level trivia question: Where does the Colorado River begin?
One more note: The park’s slopes and waters are majestic but perilous. At least four climbers and hikers have died in accidents within the park since June.
Where to stay: The Queen Anne Bed and Breakfast has some of the most interesting rooms we found in Denver, including the Aspen Room, which has a beautiful mural of an alpine aspen forest that curves up into the room’s Victorian turret. Located in downtown Denver just an hour and a half from Rocky Mountain National Park and 25 minutes from Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, it’s a perfect place to rest and have a delicious breakfast in the morning. Our host also gave us a remarkably useful parking map and advised us to park at Red Rocks’ Upper South lot, which got us back to downtown Denver before our friends even made it out of their parking lot. Rooms from $165.