The Rocky Mountains
THE AMERICANBACKBONE
Stretching 3,000 miles from British Columbia to New Mexico, the Rockies define the Western landscape and serve as the headwaters for the continent's great rivers.
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Mountain Length
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14,000 ft Peaks
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Mt. Elbert (ft)
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Major National Parks
Major National Parks
Rocky Mountain NP
Most visited Rocky Mountain park — 4.4M visitors, 114 peaks over 11,000 ft, 3,000+ elk
Grand Teton NP
Dramatic fault-block mountains rising 7,000 ft abruptly from the floor of Jackson Hole
Glacier NP
Going-to-the-Sun Road — 50 miles of engineering wonder through pristine wilderness
Yellowstone NP
World's first national park — 10,000 hydrothermal features, largest bison herd
Great Sand Dunes NP
North America's tallest sand dunes — 750 ft — set against a Rocky Mountain backdrop
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
One of the world's most dramatic gorges — 2,722 ft deep, only 40 ft wide at narrowest
3,000+
Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park
The most spectacular sound in nature — elk bugling in September
In Detail
Colorado has 53 peaks over 14,000 feet — more than any country outside the Himalayas
Colorado's 53 'fourteeners' attract climbers from around the globe. Mount Elbert at 14,440 ft is the highest in the Rockies. No European nation has a single peak this high.
The Rocky Mountains stretch 3,000 miles from New Mexico to northern Canada
Spanning multiple US states and into Canada, the Rockies form the Continental Divide — the backbone of North America, determining which direction rivers flow to the Atlantic or Pacific.
The Rockies are home to grizzly bears, gray wolves, and elk herds numbering in the thousands
Rocky Mountain National Park alone hosts over 3,000 elk. The Yellowstone-Grand Teton ecosystem contains the largest concentration of free-roaming megafauna in the lower 48 states.
The Continental Divide runs the full length of the Rockies
Standing on the Divide, you can send raindrops to two different oceans. It is the geographical spine of North America, determining whether rivers flow to the Atlantic/Gulf or Pacific.
Colorado's ski resorts attract 13M+ skiers annually
Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, Telluride, Snowmass — Colorado's ski resorts collectively host more international visitors than the Swiss Alps. The Rocky Mountain snowpack is a $10B+ annual economic engine.
The Rockies are the headwaters for 14 major river systems
The Colorado, Rio Grande, Arkansas, South Platte, Missouri, Columbia, and Snake Rivers all originate in the Rockies. Rocky Mountain snowpack provides drinking water for 70 million Americans.
“The Rocky Mountains are not a feature of this country — they are the country. Stand on the Great Divide and you are standing at the center of everything.”
— Wallace Stegner