Fall River Pass, The Roof of Trail Ridge Road
Near Grand Lake, Colorado
At eleven thousand seven hundred ninety-six feet, Fall River Pass sits at the top of one of the most dramatic drives in the United States. Trail Ridge Road, which crosses here on its way between Estes Park and Grand Lake, reaches twelve thousand one hundred eighty-three feet at its summit, making it the highest continuous paved road in the country.
The first road over this divide was nothing like the one you are on. The Old Fall River Road, a narrow unpaved one-way track begun in nineteen thirteen and opened in nineteen twenty, was the only crossing for over a decade. It was prone to snow slides and barely suitable for the automobiles of the era. The modern Trail Ridge Road replaced it by nineteen thirty-two. At the pass, the Alpine Visitor Center opened in nineteen sixty-five, sitting at the highest elevation of any visitor center in the National Park system. The tundra around you is above tree line: whatever grows here has learned to survive wind, cold, and a growing season measured in weeks.
