Weekend Window: Rocky Mountain National Park
The natural wonders of the Rocky Mountains
July 1, 2007 — -- Rocky Mountain National Park is located in the Northwest section of Colorado, about 90 miles north of Denver.
"We're very conveniently located to a lot of people," said Rocky Mountain Park public information officer Kyle Patterson.
The park consists of about 416 square miles and, explained Patterson, sits "on both the east side and the west side of the continental divide.
"When people think of the Rockies they visualize all the things we have here in Rocky Mountain National Park, whether it's the snow capped peaks, the granite, the big ponderosa pines or mountain streams," Patterson said.
"In Rocky Mountain National Park we've got a great blend," said Kathy Brown, a naturalist as the park. "Just about anything anybody is looking for they can find here in our mountains. Beautiful green meadows and rushing streams, to quiet lakes snow covered peaks -- it's all right here for you to explore."
Brown said one of the great things about the park is how easy it is to spot wildlife. She said visitors can see elks and other animals right from their vehicles.
"[The Rocky Mountain National Park] is home to the alpine tundra, and you don't find alpine tundra in many other places in the world," said Karl Cordova, a biologist at the park.
Cordova said park officials go through extraordinary measures to make sure it remains in a pristine state. "[The views] are simply grand. You are top of these mountain peaks... you see for miles and miles in all directions and you're up in the clean fresh air. Your visibility is really long, and you can see other mountain ranges that are hundreds of miles away."
Trail Ridge Road is another of the park's wondrous features. "It's the highest continuous paved road in the United States," said Patterson, the public information officer. "The highest point in the road is over 12,000 feet."
"It is a treasure," Cordova said of Rocky Mountain National Park. "It's a place where the air is clean, the water is pure, the animals are wild and the plants are native. You don't find that at very many places -- this one of those special locations."