For those who find Trail Ridge Road too civilized or too easy, there is an alternative: The park's original road is still here for the driving, and it's still mostly dirt, still steep, and just as narrow and winding as ever. Covering 11 miles (2 paved and 9 gravel), from Horseshoe Park to Fall River Pass, this one-way (west) road climbs 3,200 feet, providing today's visitors with a glimpse into the experiences of those who explored this rugged land in Model T Fords and Stanley Steamers during its early years as a national park.
Even before the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915, there was interest in building a road through the mountains, and in July 1913, work began with the arrival of 38 convicts from the Colorado State Penitentiary. The road was finally dedicated on September 14, 1920, and until Trail Ridge Road was built in 1932, Old Fall River Road was the only route from the east into the heart of the national park. In actuality, although the grading was new, the route of Old Fall River Road was not, since it followed what Arapaho called the Dog's Trail, a path where they used dogs to pull crude V-shaped sleds through the mountains.
Today this road remains much the way it was in the 1920s, with numerous drop-offs and switchbacks -- not for anyone with a serious fear of heights! As you drive it, you'll see boulder fields, riparian areas, and cascading waterfalls, as well as some of the most rugged high-elevation sections of the park. Watch for the stone walls along the roadsides that were built during the 1920s in an often-unsuccessful effort to keep the road from being washed away. Snowmelt, freezing and thawing, and thunderstorms often caused damage to the road. A mud slide in July 1953 did so much harm that the park service was ready to give up on the road; but public pressure led the powers-that-be to have a change of heart, and the historic Old Fall River Road was reopened in 1968.
Passing through three ecosystems, the relatively short (albeit slow) drive provides a cross-section view of Rocky Mountain National Park, its plants and animals, its forests and valleys, and its famous alpine tundra, quite likely the bleakest, but most fascinating, terrain most people will ever see. Open only in summer, Old Fall River Road begins at an elevation of 8,562 feet in what is called the montane ecosystem. One of the milder sections of the park, it is home to ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, quaking aspen, numerous birds, and a wide variety of mammals ranging from cottontail rabbits to elk and mountain lions. Continue your drive and you'll soon ease into the subalpine ecosystem, which is cooler and more moist than the montane, with forests of Engelmann spruce, Colorado blue spruce, and subalpine fir. You'll find birds here such as Clark's nutcracker, and mule deer, long-tailed weasels, and elk.
The upper limit of the subalpine ecosystem is at about 11,000 feet. Then there's a transition zone, where the same trees found in the subalpine ecosystem exist, but in a smaller size. Finally you're there -- the end of the world -- where, at almost 12,000 feet elevation, the alpine tundra has no trees and many of its other plants are almost too tiny to see. The wildlife includes golden eagles, hawks, mice and other rodents, and yellow-bellied marmots, plus bighorn sheep and elk.
Old Fall River Road ends at Fall River Pass at the Alpine Visitor Center -- watch for elk as you approach the visitor center. There it joins Trail Ridge Road, which you can take back to the east side of the park, or go west to cross the Continental Divide at Milner Pass and continue into the park's western section. Old Fall River Road is open to motor vehicles and mountain bikes; trailers and motor homes over 25 feet long are wisely prohibited.
