This was the scene yesterday at the Alpine Visitor Center (elev.11,798 ft.) on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. My guess is that if crews have time to do this to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial, the road is clear, or nearly so. It is scheduled to open for the season tomorrow and I’m betting it will. However, we do have thunderstorms in our forecast today, and that could mean snow at higher elevations. One really never knows for sure in Colorado.
For those thinking of making the drive this weekend, the road status line is 970-586-1222.
Media Day this year was May 12, two weeks ago, and Estes Park News submitted this report:
Weather report here says Yosemite NP might get snow this weekend.
Wouldn’t surprise me at all. I’ve been snowed on in Rocky in July.
I’ve been in snow in the Sierra in June.
Snow in the Sierras in August! Sometime in the mid or late 1990s.
Gotta love the mountains. Never a dull moment. Always putting on a new face.
That’s about 4000 ft higher than Australia’s highest peak, Mt Kosciuszko, we only have ‘Pimples on a Pumpkin” compared to the Americas and Asia, I suppose you can throw in Europe and Antarctica too. :'(
Yep. And we have mountains up to just over 14,000 ft, and two of them (Pikes Peak and Mt. Evans) have roads to their summits.
Great snow sculpture! Can’t believe they did it without a template, which is my answer to anything artistic! A mountain road and snow: not a great combination.
I must have looked at that picture half a dozen times before noticing one person reclining on the N and two others sitting in the zeros.
The lovely high-elevation snow brought back memories of shocked expressions when flatlanders phoned me at the Boise National Forest asking when our campgrounds opened. They refused to believe that some often weren’t ready for use until late June.
High country is a whole different world. I still remember my surprise and delight as a child when we were up here (from Oklahoma) on vacation one summer and found a patch of snow up on Trail Ridge. Not to mention the very mushy, often snow-covered hiking trails I’ve encountered in June.
Friday, 1030 mdt, not opening today per EP News. Rangers reported whiteout conditions & temp of 24 degrees, with winds between 20 & 30. Not the best opening day conditions. But what cemented it was ” road conditions are treacherous with extreme ice.” As much as i love that road…. Maybe tomorrow!!
Apparently I was compiling my post about this at the same time you were commenting.
…due to RMNP-like minds, great ones, of course 😉
That is so cool! What fun (and we’ll just have to wait a bit for the grand opening)