One of the striking features of Rocky Mountain National Park is the easy accessibility of these mountain tops. One may mount a horse after early breakfast in the valley, ride up Flattop to enjoy one of the great views of the world, and be back for late luncheon. The hardy foot traveler may make better time than the horse on these mountain trails. One may cross the Continental Divide from the hotels of one side to the hotels of the other between early breakfast and late dinner or motor between these points via the Trail Ridge Road in 2 hours.
The Trail Ridge Road, which crosses the Continental Divide, connects Estes Park on the east side with Grand Lake on the west side. The road reaches the unusual elevation of 12,183 feet above sea level. Another road leads from the village of Estes Park up the Thompson River Valley to the Bear Lake Entrance. It then follows up the valley of Glacier Creek and ends at Bear Lake at the foot of Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain.
EASY TO STUDY GLACIAL ACTION
One of the remarkable features of Rocky Mountain National Park is the legibility of the record left by the glaciers during the ages when America was in the making. The evidences of glacial action, in all their variety make themselves apparent to even the most casual eye.
In fact, there is scarcely any part of the eastern side where some great moraine does not force itself upon the attention. One enormous moraine built up by an ancient glacier and rising with sloping sides nearly a thousand feet above the valley is so prominent that Moraine Park is named for it. From Longs Peak on the east side the Mills Moraine makes a bold curve which instantly draws questions from visitors.
There are several remnants of these mighty ice masses which can be seen at the present time. Three of the largest ice fields, Andrews, Rowe, and Tyndall Glaciers, are visited by many people each year, while the smaller glaciers such as Taylor and Spragues have interest and charm.
In short, this park itself is a primer of glacial geology whose lessons are so simple, so plain to the eye, that they immediately disclose the key to one of nature's scenic secrets.
LONGS PEAK
The greatest of all the mountains in the park, Longs Peak, has a massive square head. It is a real architectural structure like an enormous column of solid rock buttressed up on four sides with long rock ledges. On the east side a precipice of 1,200 feet drops sheer from the summit into the wildest lake that one can possibly imagine. It is called Chasm Lake and there is only one month in the year when its surface is not at least partially frozen. Mount Meeker and Mount Lady Washington enclose it on the south and north, and snow fields edge its waters the year round.
In 1820 Maj. S.H. Long first saw the mountain that now bears his name. The report of his expedition records that on June 30 of that year his party caught their first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, and particularly noted one peak, which they referred to as "the highest peak." Long's expedition followed up the valley of the Platte River, and his closest approach to the peak was at a distance of about 40 miles. Fremont found that the name Longs Peak was in general use among the fur hunters and pioneers in 1842. The first recorded ascent was in 1868, when it was climbed by W.N. Byers, Maj. J.W. Powell (who the following year made the first passage of the Grand Canyon), and five other men.