What has been an amazing run of mild weather has finally come to an abrupt end. Note November 18th, 2016 as the official closing date to Trail Ridge Road for the season(Many Parks on the east side and the Colorado River TH on the west side). This is the latest Trail Ridge Road has stayed open since I’ve been photographing Rocky Mountain National Park starting in 1998. The latest Trail Ridge Road has remained open was December 2nd, 1933 with it’s average closing date being October 23rd.
With Trail Ridge Road remaining open so late into the season, we could access many area of Rocky that during a typical year require a much more intensive travel route or cross country skis and an extremely high tolerance for snow, wind and cold. Now when visiting or photographing Rocky Mountain National Park we have to pick sides so to speak. You can travel to Estes Park and the east side of Rocky, or head over to Grand Lake and the west side of Rocky but your going to have to wait until late May before traveling the 50 miles between the two towns again on Trail Ridge.
The vast majority of photographers are going to end up on the east side of Rocky because access is just that much easier for most of us who reside in or near the Denver metro area. A few of us will make trips over to the west side of Rocky but we wont have nearly the amount of easy access that we enjoy during the summer.
Which ever side you end up choosing enjoy the start of the winter season in Rocky. We need the moisture and snow not only to reduce fire danger but also to lay the groundwork for carpets of alpine sunflowers, flowing streams and waterfalls and green and lush hillsides come summer. There is still plenty to photograph on both the east and west sides of RMNP and as I always like to say the worse the weather is the more interesting it becomes for photographers. I’m already looking forward to that first ride over Trail Ridge Road in the spring of 2017.