ESTES PARK | If the weather cooperates, Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park will open for the summer Monday.
That’s about two weeks earlier than normal.
Trail Ridge Road reaches more than 12,000 feet at its highest point and is billed as the highest continuous paved road in the United States.
Historically, it closes in late October and reopens on Memorial Day weekend. Last year, after heavy snowstorms continued well into the spring, the road didn’t open until June 6.
The earliest the road has ever opened is May 7. That happened in 2002, when the state went through an extreme drought.
Colorado has been reporting abnormally dry conditions this spring, and the U.S. Drought Monitor shows northwest Colorado once again in a severe drought.