For 2700 miles, from Alaska to Mexico, the great Rocky Mountain chain forms the backbone of North America - the world's longest mountain barrier. Rocky Mountain National Park, 412 square miles of scenic beauty, is set in the southern Rockies, straddles the Continental Divide and has 76 mountains more than two miles high. ---Our campground was in Loveland, CO, so we drove our car from Loveland through Estes Park, and then took the famous Trail Ridge Road, which connects Estes Park with Grand Lake. This is the highest continuously-paved highway in the US and tops out at 12,183 feet. Nearly one third of the park is above tree line - the limit above which conditions are too harsh for trees to grow.
---Great earth forces thrust the Rockies skyward 70 million years ago, but many of the exposed granite rocks are much older: 1.3 billion years or more!
