Rocky Mountain National Park is a national icon — its rugged mountains carve out a skyline that captures the American imagination and serves as both protector and passageway to the west. One-third of the park is above timberline, the 14,255-foot flat-topped summit of Longs Peak included; there are 71 peaks here that top out above 12,000 feet. All in all, enough snowcapped rock, wind-whipped tundra, and thin air to make a marmot giddy.
Problem is, the siren song of all this alpine scenery is so strong that at times the park can seem overrun by pilgrims. Trail Ridge Road, in particular, is one of the few spots in the world where you can sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Three million people visit Rocky Mountain National Park each year; old-timers among the surging population along Colorado's Front Range tend to opt for the much less visited national forests around RMNP when they're looking for solitude.