A popular national park will be car-free for the season

4.1 million visitors traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park in 2023, making it one of the most visited in the country. The Colorado park is best known for its crystal clear mountain lakes and animals such as elk and bighorn sheep.

Along with the increase in visitors, Rocky Mountain has also faced the kinds of problems that any rural area not designed for millions of people to pass through will face with increased popularity: overcrowding, degradation of visitor trails and infrastructure, and, of course, pollution. from car exhaust systems.

As a way to combat some of these problems, in 2024 the National Park Service (NPS) launched a seasonal slot system that requires incoming vehicles to register their visit in advance to better control the flow of visitors.

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With the end of the park’s summer visiting season, Rocky Mountain is closing the main road through the park entirely while it performs a series of repairs.

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Old Fall River Road, the main thoroughfare through the park, will be closed to cars on October 8th and to all visitors on October 10th. Pedestrians, cyclists and visitors with leashed pets will be able to pass through periodically throughout the fall. — including the weekend from 11 to 14 October and from 19 October to 30 November.

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“Old Fall River Road will temporarily reopen to bicycles, leashed pets and walkers from Friday, October 11 through Monday, October 14,” the NPS writes about the new changes. “Beginning Tuesday, October 15th, Old Fall River Road will once again close to all uses for ongoing road maintenance through Friday, October 18th. On Saturday, October 19, the road will reopen to bicycles, leashed pets and walkers until November 30.”

For those arriving by car, an option will remain as the Trail Ridge road leading from the park and into the town of Grand Lake will remain open as usual to maintain access through the area and prioritize the use of the better designed freeway for adults. the number of vehicles.

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“The Old Relatively Subtle Route Remains First”

“In the minds of many park visitors, the relatively subtle old trail remains foremost,” the NPS continues. “Unlike Trail Ridge Road, which is well-known for being the highest continuous paved road in the country, Old Fall River Road is a ‘nature’s highway’.”

Closing areas of the park for repairs during less popular periods is a strategy frequently used by SN. The Ramsay Cascades Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and South Carolina is currently closed for repairs that were supposed to be done by mid-November, but now could still be triggered by Hurricane Helene. The Blue Ridge Parkway that runs through the park is closed indefinitely due to storm damage.

Other parks closed for repairs this fall include Montana’s Glacier National Park, Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, and Arizona’s Saguaro National Park; The latter’s popular Cactus Forest Loop Drive and Mica View Road will follow a staggered opening schedule to allow park authorities to carry out a series of repairs.

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