Update: Trail Ridge Road officially closed for the season on Friday, Nov. 19.
Officials at Rocky Mountain National Park confirmed today that Trail Ridge Road has been open the last few days due to our abnormally mild, dry weather. They don’t know when storms might close the road again so suggest you call their road status phone, 970-586-1222, for the most up-to-date information. I thought it odd that the road was still open this late, but officials said the latest closing for winter was December 2, 1933. Hard to imagine. But as you can see in the picture, there’s still not much snow up top.
Based on a personal trip up there in October a few years ago, I suggest you not plan on the Alpine Visitor Center being open. By now it’s been battened down for winter. Outhouses in the parking lot should still be open. Ask the ranger as you enter the park.
One other note: There will be free admission for park visitors on Veterans Day, Friday, November 11.
Why is this day known as Veterans Day in the US; and in all other coontries that were involved in the Great War as Armistice Day?
It was the first of the global wars, and It strikes me as being the right thing, for all countries involved to commemorate this day under the one name; as Armistice Day is the original I do believe that is what it should be called by all the nations.
I don’t know when or why we started calling it Veterans Day instead of Armistice Day. That’s one for Wikipedia.
It was late when I got around to looking it up. As I undersood it, we didn’t exactly change the name, we just added another name to the date. The reasoning was that Armistice Day was intended to honor those who fought in WWI, and we wanted to honor ALL veterans. So while Nov. 11 is still Armistice Day, it’s also Veterans Day, and we celebrate the latter. Or something like that.
Makes sense; kind of! 🙂