This morning we set off early from Denver to Boulder and then headed north west, up into the mountains, into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Throughout the day we followed Trail Ridge Road, from Estes Park in the east to Grand Lake in the south west, and then back through the mountains to Denver, stopping frequently to admire the scenery or gaze at animal life (see next posts). The trail offers countless stupendous views, as the road first winds through montane forests and grassland (the so-called ‘parks’) before climbing up into sub-Alpine forest and, beyond the tree line, the tundra (a third of the Park is above the tree line!). The Park boasts over 60 mountains over 3,700 metres high, including the highest peak, visible for miles around, Longs Peak (4,345 metres). The road itself, still paved, reaches a height of 3,713 metres, qualifying as America’s highest road (in contrast, Spain has a paved, restricted dead end that comes in at 3,400 metres, but Europe’s other highest roads are all a thousand metres lower). At this height we could see a number of glaciers and permanent snow fields (and definitely experienced some breathlessness!). Further on, we crossed the Continental Divide at Milner Pass and saw the Colorado River’s modest headwaters. Pardon the pun, but it was a breathtaking day in more senses than one!