Leaving Estes Park, you can enter Rocky Mountain National Park via either Highway 34 or Highway 36. On Highway 36, your first stop
should be the Beavers Meadows Visitors Center. This is an excellent source of information for first time visitors and also has a small
shop and public restrooms. Rangers on duty can answer any questions or offer advice on the best ways to experience the park. There
is also a video presentation about the park that plays regularly.
Shortly thereafter is the turnoff to Bear Lake. You should definitely
explore this road later; but for now, continue straight ahead. The road
begins to wind and climb its way up Deer Mountain. As it does, you will
be driving above Beaver Meadows and, beyond that, Moraine Park. The
terrain here is the result of ice age glaciers gouging out valleys and
piling boulders along their paths in a long, tortuous process.
Eventually, the glaciers melted, the valleys silted up and became
meadows, and the rocky moraines became tree covered hills. Floating
serenely in the distance is Longs Peak, the highest point in the park at
14,255 feet and an extremely popular hiking/climbing destination.
Study it for future recognition - this is not the last time you will see it.
Next you will come to Deer Ridge Junction (elev. 8,940'), the
intersection of Highways 36 and 34, the other road you can take from
Estes Park..
If you enter the park by way of Highway 34, you begin your journey
driving along Fall River. Be sure to stop at the new Fall River Visitor
Center, an innovative collaboration between the Park Service and the
Rocky Mountain Nature Association. Built on the site of a commercial
establishment that burned down several years ago, the new facility
includes both an information center and also a large gift shop, the
Trailhead Restaurant and public restrooms. Just ahead you will find the
Fall River Entrance and the turn to the Aspenglen Campground.
Longs Peak from Highway 36 near Deer Ridge Junction
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A couple of curves later,
you will suddenly find
yourself in a broad
valley. This is
Horseshoe Park. Fall
River meanders through
the middle of it, making
this an excellent site to
find a variety of wildlife,
depending on the time
of day and the season.
Sheep Lakes in
Horseshoe Park
On spring mornings, you may find yourself in a "sheep
jam," as bighorn sheep cross the road to visit Sheep
Lakes at the far end on the Park. In the evenings
during the fall, you are guaranteed to run into heavy
traffic of the motorized kind, as cars & campers line the
side of the road for a front row seat for elk bugling.
No matter when you are driving through, be sure to
keep a lookout for any critters that may amble past
you - or step out right in front of you. At the end of
Horseshoe Park, the road makes a large curve, passing
the turn for the old Fall River Road. It then climbs up
to Deer Ridge Junction - the official beginning of Trail
Ridge Road - where you will turn right to continue.
Deer Ridge Junction is also the
location of Deer Mountain
Trailhead. Click here to take a
virtual hike up the trail.
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