Many of Colorado’s most famous high-alpine passes are open now for summer road-tripping season, except for one of the oldest and most popular.
U.S. 34 at Trail Ridge Road
Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is closed this Memorial Day weekend. Parts of Trail Ridge were buried under a foot of snow earlier this week during a second May snowstorm. The first storm in early May brought upwards of two feet to the park.
But when the snow is cleared – check here to know – it is worth the entry fee. Trail Ridge has been a bucket-list drive since the 1930s, and with good reason. Said Horace Albright, director of the National Parks Service at the time, “You will have the whole sweep of the Rockies before you in all directions.”
It’s this dramatic high-alpine exposure that makes Trail Ridge susceptible to late-May snowstorms.
(Heads up: If you’re heading down south U.S. 550 aka the Million Dollar Highway is closed between Silverton and Purgatory on Saturday, May 23, for a cycling race. It reopens the next day.)
Highway 5 to Mt. Blue Sky
Open again for the first time in over a year is the road to Mount Blue Sky, formerly Mount Evans, the 14er above Idaho Springs. It reopened yesterday, May 21, after being closed for construction since Labor Day 2024.
The route is easy: Look for signs to Mount Evans as you drive west on I-70 from Denver. It is one of the closest high-alpine drives to metro Denver, and that makes it popular. You will pay a fee if you drive it. Cyclists can travel for free.
County Road 381 at Guanella Pass
This twisty, turny road above Georgetown opened weeks earlier than usual after a record-hot winter. It’s a dead-end road, meaning you’ll take the same route up and down, but if you’re into hiking this is the gateway to another Front Range14er, Mount Bierstadt.
Be sure to come back in September, when the aspens are blowing out their leaves in technicolor yellow, red and orange. But get there early and park smart – you’ve been warned.
Boreas Pass above Breck
This popular dirt road connects Breckenridge to Park County on the southern flank of Baldy Mountain, that sentinel peak that overlooks downtown Breck. It’s also the gateway to a slew of hiking and mountain biking trails.
Boreas Pass is half-open to vehicles this Memorial Day weekend. You can drive to the summit from the Breck side, but you cannot connect it with Park County, where the road is closed for maintenance until June at least.
U.S. 6 at Loveland Pass
We can’t forget Summit’s highest high-mountain pass! Sure, it’s open most of the year, and sure, you’ll be sharing the switchbacks with gas tankers, but we still think it is breathtaking (literally) to stand at nearly 12,000 feet with views of Loveland Ski Area to the north and Arapahoe Basin to the south.
Most years there is enough snow to easily ski the pass on Memorial Day. This year it’s a little dicey up there. Again, you’ve been warned.
Cottonwood Pass Road
We’re talking about the 15-mile route between Gypsum and Carbondale – not the Cottonewood Pass west of Buena Vista – passing through alpine meadows and rolling forests that top out at just over 8,000 feet.
Like Guanella this one opened weeks earlier than usual. You can drive it by car or take the ATV. There are plenty of dirt roads that split off from the main route.
Highway 82 at Independence Pass
You have seen the photos. Maybe you have even heard the stories. But you don’t really know Independence Pass until you have driven those tight, dirt curves hugging steep drop-offs with vertiginous views of the Elk Mountains.
Hard to believe the occasional semi-truck will try to use this route as a shortcut to Aspen. Think twice before you blindly trust Google Maps, eh?