Rockies Road Trip - 2025

First transit day heading west from the southern Appalachians. A straight shot through Chattanooga and across Tennessee into Arkansas, covering ground for the days ahead.

A brief stretch through the Ozarks was a welcome break, but the rest was flat plains driving through Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. Clayton, NM sits at the edge of the high plains, the last stop before climbing into Colorado.

Raton Pass (7,834 ft) marks the climb from the plains into the Rockies and was a memorable crossing into Colorado. The route passed Fort Garland near Great Sand Dunes National Park, then continued west through Pagosa Springs to Durango at the base of the San Juan Mountains.

The Million Dollar Highway (US-550) through the San Juan Mountains was the highlight of the entire trip. Molas Pass tops out at 10,910 feet with views into the Animas River valley, and the descent from Silverton to Ouray is one of the most dramatic mountain drives in the country.

Still in the San Juan Mountains, with Telluride sitting in a box canyon at 8,750 feet. The route east through Ridgway and Montrose crossed to Buena Vista in the Collegiate Peaks area, surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks of the Sawatch Range.

Through Leadville at 10,152 feet, the highest incorporated city in the United States, then down the Vail corridor and north through Steamboat Springs before crossing into Wyoming. A long day that transitioned from Colorado high country to the wide-open basins of central Wyoming.

Wyoming operates at a different scale than Colorado -- bigger, emptier, and other drivers give you plenty of space on the road. The route through Cody to Yellowstone's East Entrance leads into the park, then over to the remote outposts of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana.

South out of Yellowstone through the Absaroka Range to Thermopolis, home to one of the largest hot springs in the world. The road continues to Dubois at the edge of the Wind River country, where the Wind River Range rises to the west.

A loop west into Idaho and back to Yellowstone's west entrance on the Montana side. Idaho Falls and Rexburg sit on the Snake River Plain, the flat agricultural corridor between the mountain ranges of eastern Idaho.

Over Teton Pass from the Idaho side into Jackson Hole, with the Teton Range rising abruptly from the valley floor. Grand Teton National Park sits immediately north of Jackson, and Wilson is tucked at the base of the pass on the Wyoming side.

Through the Wind River country of central Wyoming, where the landscape opens up into sagebrush basins between mountain ranges. Pinedale sits at the western base of the Wind River Range near the headwaters of the Green River.

South through the Wyoming basin to Rock Springs, then to Flaming Gorge on the Utah/Wyoming border. Flaming Gorge Reservoir sits in a deep red-rock canyon carved by the Green River, a sharp contrast to the mountain terrain further north.

Re-entering Colorado from the north, the route passes through Craig and the Yampa Valley into Steamboat Springs. After the emptiness of Wyoming, the northwestern Colorado landscape feels greener and more settled.

Through the Vail corridor and down into the Roaring Fork Valley to Carbondale and Glenwood Springs. This stretch follows the Eagle and Colorado rivers through some of the most developed mountain communities in the state.

Wildfire smoke pushed the route back south through the San Juan Mountains for a second time. Carbondale to Ridgway to Silverton to Durango -- retracing the Million Dollar Highway corridor, this time heading south.

Out of the mountains through Pagosa Springs, then into New Mexico via Chama -- a small railroad town on the Cumbres & Toltec scenic line. Taos and Angel Fire sit in the Sangre de Cristo Range, the southern end of the Rockies before the plains take over.

Back through the Texas panhandle and across Oklahoma on the reverse of the outbound transit route. Flat plains driving through Shamrock, Elk City, and Shawnee before reaching the hills of western Arkansas.

The final push east across Arkansas, through Memphis and across the width of Tennessee. The last stretch climbs back into the southern Appalachians to Franklin, NC -- full circle from where the trip started 19 days earlier.

A side trip to Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Jefferson County, west of Denver. The venue is built into a natural geological formation between two 300-foot sandstone monoliths, and the visit included Ship Rock Grille and the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.