Trail Ridge Road

Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) is bisected into northern and southern halves by Trail Ridge Road (TRR). TRR is a narrow strip of asphalt that runs to over 12,000 feet above sea level above Trail Canyon and the Big Thompson River. Elk herds migrate with the seasons following the availability of forage. Remote headwaters on both sides of the continental divide harbor isolated populations of native trout species.

The North Fork of the Colorado River runs south through the Kawuneeche Valley over the gravels of an ancient glacial outwash plain. Historically, beaver dammed the river course making most of the valley a marsh. The beaver population has dropped and the drier valley supports more elk on the grasses that grow now.

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The North Fork of the Colorado River runs south through the Kawuneeche Valley over the gravels of an ancient glacial outwash plain. Historically, beaver dammed the river course making most of the valley a marsh. The beaver population has dropped and the drier valley supports more elk on the grasses that grow now.