USA Guide
The Rockies
Exploring the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho could literally take a lifetime. Stretching over one thousand miles from the virgin forests on the Canadian border to the deserts of New Mexico, America's rugged spine encompasses an astonishing array of landscapes – geyser basins, lava flows, arid valleys, and huge sand dunes – each in its own way as dramatic as the region's magnificent white-topped peaks. The geological grandeur is enhanced by wildlife such as bison, bear, moose, and elk, and the conspicuous legacy of the miners, cowboys, outlaws, and Native Americans who fought over the area's rich resources during the nineteenth century.
Each of the four states has its own distinct character. Colorado, with fifty peaks over 14,000ft, is the most mountainous and populated, as well as the economic leader of the region. Friendly, sophisticated Denver is the only major metropolis in the Rockies. It's also the most visited city, in part because it's that much more accessible, and it plays the role of gateway to some of the best ski resorts in the country. Less touched by the tourist circus is vast, brawny Montana, where the "Big Sky" looks down on a glorious verdant manuscript scribbled over with gushing streams, lakes, and tiny communities.
Vast stretches of scrubland fill Wyoming, the country's least populous state, best known for gurgling, spitting Yellowstone, adjacent Grand Teton National Park, and the nearby Bighorn Mountains. Rugged, remote, and desolate Idaho holds some of the Rocky Mountains' last unexplored wildernesses, most notably the mighty Sawtooth range.
Attempting to rush around every national park and major town is a sure way to miss out on one of the Rockies' real delights – coaxing your car along the tight switchback roads that wind up and over precipitous mountain passes, especially through the majestic Continental Divide. At some point it's worth forsaking motorized transportation, though, to see at least some of the area by bike; the Rockies contain some of the most challenging and rewarding cycling terrain on the continent. And of course, you cannot count yourself a visitor to the area without embarking on a hike or two.
Highlights
1 Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, CO This steam-train ride corkscrews through spectacular mountains to the mining town of Silverton.
2 Mesa Verde National Park, CO Explore the thirteenth-century cliffside dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans, the first major civilization in the region.
3 Buffalo Bill Historical Center, WY Centering on an extraordinary museum, the town of Cody celebrates the life and times of Buffalo Bill.
4 Jackson Hole, WY Ideal for climbing, biking, or skiing in the Grand Tetons by day, followed by eating, drinking, or stomping in the cowboy bars by night.
5 Going-to-the-Sun road, Glacier National Park, MT The hairpin turns along this fifty-mile stretch offer staggering views near the Continental Divide.
6 Gates of the Mountains, MT Lewis and Clark were awe-struck floating past these huge limestone cliffs, and you will be, too.
7 Sawtooth Mountains, ID Of all Idaho's 81 mountain ranges, the Sawtooth summits make for the most awe-inspiring scenic drive.