Rough Guides - The Rough Guide to The USA: The Rockies (Travel Guide eBook)

Introduction to The Rockies

Few regions of the United States offer as many travel experiences as the Rocky Mountains. Sprawling across four states Colorado, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and encompassing several booming cities, the Rockies present a remarkable panorama of sweeping, colourful vistas, towering peaks, and ranches that stretch as far as the eye can see. Here are miles of trackless wilderness, a bounty of outdoor recreation and a surprisingly cosmopolitan urban scene. But though cities such as Denver, Colorado Springs and Boise are all intriguing destinations in their own right (relatively small towns and resorts like Telluride, Jackson, Sun Valley and Boulder also offer a surprising variety of shopping and dining), the Rockies is above all a region of stunningly diverse and achingly beautiful landscapes. Theodore Roosevelt called it scenery that bankrupts the English language. In one region you have the mighty Bitterroot Mountains and spectacular Front Range, the otherworldly landscapes of the Craters of the Moon, the endless, rolling grasslands of Wyoming and eastern Montana, the trails of the Idaho Panhandle, isolated mountain springs and the old cowboy towns of Colorado. You can soak up the mesmerizing vistas in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, stand in awe at the top of Pikes Peak, hike the Sawtooth Range, cruise Flathead Lake, paddle in the Missouri, and drive over 12,000ft passes on the Trail Ridge Road. Or you could easily plan a trip that focuses on the out-of-the-way hamlets, remote prairies, eerie ghost towns and forgotten byways that are every bit as iconic as the showpiece parks and monuments.

The Rockies also boast some of the best snow and most challenging slopes in the world. Ski resorts like Aspen and Vail in Colorado, Sun Valley in Idaho and Jackson in Wyoming are well-known for attracting a high-powered mix of Hollywood stars, corporate bigwigs and entrepreneurs.

Today youll find the Rockies as compelling as when Lewis and Clark first came this way early in the 19th century on their famous expedition to unlock the American West. Following them were the fabled mountain men, fur traders, prospectors in search of gold and silver, cattle barons and land barons, cowboys and ranchers, copper kings, prophets and visionaries of one sort or another. History buffs can still visit legendary sites like the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry made their famous last stand against the Sioux and Cheyenne; Fort Bridger in Wyoming, where thousands of pioneers bought supplies for their journey on the Oregon Trail; or Leadville in Colorado, where local miners saw Oscar Wilde perform at Tabor Opera House and sipped drinks at the Silver Dollar Saloon.

There are also the thrills of rodeo, ballooning over snowcapped mountains, and of whitewater rafting down a frothing river, not to mention abundant opportunities for trout fishing, sailing, camping and backpacking. You can ride mountain bikes over rocky passes, ski, hike, go rock climbing and kayaking. More relaxed activities include ice fishing, bird watching, horseback riding, snowmobiling and golf the point is to get outdoors, to enjoy the wilderness, the scenery, the crisp air and the blue skies. Indeed, the air really is fresher here, the water clearer, the sky bigger than just about any place else, at least in the USA. And while there is no such thing as a typical Rockies experience, there can be few places where strangers can feel so confident of a warm reception.

Grizzly bear, Yellowstone National Park

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Where to go

You dont have to traverse the entire Rockies from north to south in order to appreciate its charms; it would take a long time to see the whole region, and youll want to savour the small-town pleasures and backroad oddities that may well provide your strongest memories. Youll definitely need a car that mandatory component of life in the USA.

The obvious place to start for most people is Denver, Colorado the regions international gateway with a rich cultural scene, excellent museums, top restaurants and stellar microbreweries. From here the Front Range marks the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, running north to the inviting college town of Boulder, and south to Colorado Springs, where you can hike, ride the train or drive up one of Americas most famous mountains, Pikes Peak. Heading west, I-70 cuts deep into the Rockies, passing the ski resorts, snow-smothered peaks, and crystal lakes of Summit County on route to Vail and Aspen, two of the most famous ski resorts in America. To the north lies Rocky Mountain National Park, where the Trail Ridge Road is one of the highest highways in the nation, cresting at 12,183ft. South of I-70, Leadville provides some historic allure, with its beautifully preserved Victorian architecture and old gold and silver mines. The lesser-visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is centered on an awe-inspiring one-mile deep chasm, while the pretty Victorian mining town of Crested Butte has re-invented itself as a skiing and mountain biking paradise. Further south, the steam trains of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad make spectacular runs through the mountains.

Towards the western end of Colorado, the hot springs at Glenwood Springs and the bike trails of Grand Junction mark the transition to high desert, with the Colorado National Monument a mass of multi-colored rock spires, domes, arches and cliffs.