Scenic Driving Colorado by Stewart M. Green

Author:Stewart M. Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493035991
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
Published: 2019-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

Trail Ridge

As the highway nears timberline, it passes a small glacier-carved cirque. This amphitheater, the headwaters of Sundance Creek, exhibits a cirque’s distinctive features—a moraine of loose rubble, a rocky headwall dissected by the scraping glacier, and a semicircular shape. Past the cirque the drive crosses a low timberline gap onto Trail Ridge itself. This 11,440-foot pass, called Ute Crossing, marks the highway’s junction with the old Ute Trail that traverses the ridge. The 15-mile-long trail, called Taieonbaa, or “Child’s Trail,” by Native Americans, begins in Beaver Meadows, threads along the ridgetop, and drops down to Kawuneeche Valley on the west.

The drive twists along Trail Ridge for the next 7 miles to Fall River Pass. Several excellent viewpoints and points of interest sit alongside the road. Forest Canyon Overlook, at 11,716 feet, perches high above Forest Canyon on the west side of the highway. Huge glaciers chiseled this deep U-shaped valley along a major fault line now followed by the Big Thompson River. Ragged peaks, including Mount Ida, Terra Tomah Mountain, and Sprague Mountain, line the Continental Divide’s serrated ridge across the abyss. Three small glaciers, slowly melting away in the warming climate, still tuck under the divide’s escarpment. Hanging valleys and cirques hide numerous lakes and tarns below soaring rock buttresses, cliffs, and snowfields. Keep on the paved trail to the overlook to avoid damaging fragile tundra plants.

Almost 2 miles later the road reaches Rock Cut Overlook, a spectacular 12,110-foot point past a road cut. The excellent 0.5-mile Tundra Communities Trail (1-mile round-trip hike) gently climbs eastward from the parking area to the rounded ridge crest and offers a great introduction to alpine ecology. The tundra inhabitants have superbly adapted to its rigorous climate and short growing season. A scant 6- to 10-week growing season, wind speeds as high as 170 miles per hour, intense ultraviolet radiation, desiccating air, low soil moisture, and intense sunlight all conspire against life. Yet despite the rigors, life not only survives but also flourishes atop Trail Ridge. Meadows with thick, wiry grasses spread over the ridge, and perennial flowers and herbs huddle against the ground. More than 185 flowering plants grow here, including alpine sunflower, alpine aven, bistort, moss campion, lousewort, marsh marigold, dwarf clover, and phlox.

A colorful riot of wildflowers, including alpine sunflowers, Indian paintbrush, alpine aven, bistort, and forget-me-nots, line the short wheelchair-accessible trail in July and early August. The trail begins at 12,100 feet at Rock Cut parking area and climbs to 12,304 feet at the Toll Memorial at trail’s end. The memorial commemorates Roger Toll’s service to the National Park Service with a plaque and a peak finder that locates other national parks and their distance from the memorial. Points of interest on the trail are the Mushroom Rocks, scenic views of Longs Peak, and mountain mammals like elk, marmots, and coneys.

Hikers need to stay on the paved walkway and other existing tundra trails. The fragile tundra has almost no carrying capacity, and any human use quickly affects the plants.

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