ESTES PARK, Colo. — If your Memorial Day weekend plans included a scenic drive up Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, you’ll have to reschedule.
The park announced that late spring snowfall and lingering winter conditions has the delayed the opening of the famous high-elevation road.
Park snowplow operators are continuing work to get the road clear for the summer season, but in a news release, said it's too early to know exactly when the road will open.
"Due to ongoing snow accumulation, winds and below freezing temperatures at higher elevations, it is too soon to predict when that might be," the release says.
Crews typically start plowing the high-elevation road in mid-April. Photos from last Wednesday showed massive snow drifts alongside plow crews working to clear the road. Additional snow that fell late last weekend and into this week added to an already snowy stretch of road.
The earliest Trail Ridge Road has opened was May 7. That was in 2002. The latest was June 26, 1943, according to Rocky Mountain National Park.
The road covers 48 miles between Estes Park and Grand Lake. Eleven miles of this “Highway to the Sky” is above tree line – with a high point of 12,183 feet.
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