The Rough Guide to The Rocky Mountains 1 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

INTRODUCTION

Forming the backbone of the American West, the Rocky Mountains own the most spectacular mountain landscapes in the so-called lower 48. They assert themselves most strongly in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the northern chunk of Utah, areas filled with breathtaking alpine forest, dramatic mountain passes, thrilling wildlife, some charming urban centers and enough one-horse towns to make those looking to get away from it all long for some company. It may not be the final frontier, like Alaska, but if you’re looking to head to the great outdoors, and still have civilization right on the doorstep, you can’t do much better.

Unlike many of the world’s classic mountain ranges, such as the Alps and the Himalayas, which are characterized by steep peaks and spires shooting from valley floors towards the sky, the Rockies are bulky and broad-shouldered, building steadily from the high-altitude basins and grassy plains east and west of the Continental Divide to the highest reaches of around 14,000 feet. But the scenery is nevertheless striking, particularly on the mountainsides – cloaked in forests of aspen, pine, spruce and fir, and capped by wildflower-flecked alpine tundra.

Much of this is best played out in the series of national parks running from north to south: Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, and Mesa Verde. You could spend entire vacations hiking round their boundaries and exploring the geological – and in the case of Mesa Verde, the archeological – wonders within. Even then, of course, you’d be missing out on huge swathes of untrammeled wilderness – trail-laced Idaho, the most rugged Rocky Mountain state, doesn’t even have a national park. Certainly most who come to the region do so for outdoor activities. Warm, dry summers open up thousands of miles of spectacular, lonely trails, offering perfect conditions for hiking and mountain biking. Spring run-offs keep the myriad rivers and lakes busy with fly-fishermen and whitewater rafters, while climbers, campers and other assorted adventurers all get their day in the sun as well. And in winter, huge piles of powdery snow are dumped onto some of the most incredible ski terrain on the planet – with no shortage of world-class resorts from which to take advantage of it.

Beyond the obvious appeal of the outdoors is the somewhat intangible, but undeniable, Wild West feel that permeates much of the range. The endearingly gritty, old mining towns hearken back to the era when the Rockies were home to resilient nomadic Indians, hardy mountain men, grizzled miners and maverick outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And the thinly spread population, especially in Wyoming, the least populous US state, coupled with plenty of ranchland and wildlife to roam around it – everything from grizzly bears, wolves and mountain lions, herds of bison and bighorn sheep, to elk, moose, mule deer and pronghorn antelope – ensure that the cowboy way still prevails.