Rocky Mountains Holidays

Overview

Awesome. It’s a word you hear a lot in America. But it’s only when you travel through the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho that you get a sense of what the word really means. A thousand miles from the lush forests on the Canadian border to the dry, desertscapes of New Mexico, America’s spinal chord is home to bears, moose and wolves still roaming the open wilderness.

Different terrain – geysers, lava flows, rugged canyons, unruly rivers and enormous sand dunes – each with their own dramatic setting against the majestic snow-capped peaks of the Rockies. Each state too has its own unique vibe. Ski paradise Colorado, with peaks over 14,000ft, is the most populated. Just as popular, though less touristy, is Montana. Its “Big Sky” attracts hikers, mountain bikers and horse riders to enjoy the lush landscape and the intimacy of the smaller towns.

In need of serenity? Wyoming is the least populated of the mid-western states and will calm the minds of the stressed and the frazzled. There, you’ll find Yellowstone National Park, the neighbouring Grand Teton National Park and the Bighorn Mountains. Idaho is ranked number one for whitewater adventures. Sounds extreme, but families too can enjoy a 5-day camping river rafting trip through the deepest canyon in the country. After all that fresh air, it’s time to reward yourself with a soak in natural hot springs. Under the glittering night sky, you can sip a cold beer and wonder at how good it is to be alive.

Yellowstone National Park

Of course, no serious discussion of the American Rocky Mountains would be complete without a mention of the iconic Yellowstone National Park. While the majority of the park’s 2.2 million acres are in the state of Wyoming, parts of it also stretch out into the neighboring states of Idaho and Montana. Signed off as a National Park by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, Yellowstone is officially recognised as America’s first National Park and widely believed to be the first official National Park in the world.

While there is much to see and do in Yellowstone National Park, the most popular and unique attraction of this vast nature reserve is its abundance of strange geological features, including the gigantic Yellowstone Caldera, a massive ‘supervolcano’ which has a magma chamber believed to be 6 kilometres long, and the beautifully coloured Grand Prismatic Spring. More iconic still are Yellowstone’s geysers. There are believed to be well over a thousand of them, over 400 of which are currently active. The most famous and spectacular of Yellowstone Park’s geysers must be Old Faithful, which erupts every hour and a half or so. It is a sight quite unlike anything else on Earth!