Many Parks Curve is a hairpin on Trail Ridge Road with a viewpoint so good that the engineers who built the road clearly wanted you to stop. From the overlook, at roughly 9,600 feet, the land opens up below like a book: the broad, flat valleys, which early settlers called parks, lie in a row with forested ridges between them, and beyond them the Continental Divide rises in a long line of snow-streaked summits. The word park in this part of Colorado means a high, open grassy basin, and from here you see several at once.
The geology is the glacial kind. During the ice ages, glaciers carved the valleys below, leaving long ridges called moraines, which show as dark, forested lines running through the meadows. Moraine Park, directly below the viewpoint, is a classic example. In autumn, elk gather in the meadows during the rut, and the sound of bull elk bugling carries up the slope, a thrilling sound on a still evening. The hillsides here are covered in lodgepole pine and aspen, and in late September the aspens turn gold in patches.
The road itself is a masterpiece of mountain engineering, the high point of Rocky Mountain National Park's scenic drive, and it was completed in the early 1930s. It climbs from Estes Park through a series of bends and switchbacks, with generous guard walls and constant views, and gradients that are steady rather than steep. The surface is generally smooth, but the road is busy in summer, with cars, tour buses and cyclists, and the park may require timed-entry reservations in peak season, so check the rules before you go. Weather can change fast, with thunderstorms in the afternoon, and snow can fall in any month at the higher elevations.
Trail Ridge Road is closed by snow for much of the year, typically from mid-October until late May, so plan accordingly. There are no services at the curve itself, only a parking area and a viewpoint, so fill the tank in Estes Park, about nine kilometres away, where you will find petrol stations, supermarkets and restaurants. Carry layers and water, since the altitude and wind can make it feel cold even on a sunny day.
Look for the long ridges in the meadows below, and the thin line of the river winding between them. It is a view that rewards a long look.