Peak Experiences It's difficult to rank all these experiences in the Rocky Mountains, but people seem to want to have the destinations put in some sort of pecking order, and its my duty to oblige. Including five scenic drives and five destinations, here's a personal "Top-Ten" of the Rockies. by Fraser Bridges Five Superb Drives 1. Glacier National Park and the Going to the Sun Road This dramatic 41 miles of park road traverses the northern Montana Rockies, climbing above the tree line between St. Mary -- at the eastern entrance -- and the entrance near West Glacier. High meadows, waterfalls, pinnacles, deep valleys with rushing streams, they're all here on this impressive drive. 2. Trail Ridge Road ¥ Rocky Mountain National Park Like the previous route, this is truly an unforgettable experience, crossing the Continental Divide at 12,183 feet. Starting in the resort town of Estes Park, the route speedily climbs to the top of the mountain ridge, above the tree line to vast regions of alpine tundra. You'll look down on deep valleys with fast-flowing streams cascading down the mountainsides, and across the valleys to mountain meadows. There's a visitor center at the top, with a short trail leading up the fragile tundra to a scenic viewpoint which provides a panoramic view for miles around, across the Colorado River, with much of the park in view. The town of Estes Park offers a pleasant diversion from the park attractions. 3.San Juan Skyway This loop drive starts in Durango and leads through the San Juan Mountains, through the old mining towns of Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride, and then south to Anasazi country at Cortez. The tour provides high mountain experiences, resort attractions, scenic byways, hot springs, and exceptionally fine views. The Skyway takes up two of our Scenic Drives in this book. It offers access to several top backcountry byways, including the famous Alpine four-wheel-drive loop, that climbs through Engineer Pass, linking Lake City with Silverton and Ouray. The Ophir Pass route provides another spectacular backroad drive across the San Juans. 4.Grand Teton Park Road A drive through the length of this national park is secondary in most people's minds to "doing Yellowstone", the park just to the north. Don't be mislead. The Tetons are a wonderful sight with small, reflective lakes, unparalleled canoeing, the winding Snake River, and the civilized joys of Jackson -- south of the park. There are several winding sideroads which take you to scenic overlook points, for incredibly fine views of the full range and the Snake River winding its way through the valley. The mountains are reflected in the small valley lakes, making the sunset and sunrise hours a magic period of time. You can raft or canoe down the Snake, stay and eat at rustic but comfortable lodges (Jenny Lake Lodge is a real delight), or camp in some of the most restful and scenic campsites in the country. 5. The Canadian National Parks The four joined national parks in the southern Canadian Rockies (Banff, Kootenay, Yoho, and Jasper) offer something for everyone: the most dramatic scenery in the Rockies, millions of acres of wild country, glaciers that you can walk on, wildlife galore, great places to stay and camp, and good highways to drive on. The Trans-Canada Highway leads past Banff and Lake Louise. Each town site has its own special attractions. Busy Banff offers gondfola rides to the top of Sulphur Mountain, and a soak in the hot spring pool at the base of the gondola. Lake Louise is one of the most scenic spots in all of the Rockies, and probably the most photographed view. The Icefield Parkway leads north from Lake Louise to Jasper National Park, passing the Columbia Icefield, the largest in the Canadian Rockies. The Banff-Windermere Parkway leads through the unspoiled Kootenay River Valley, and the Icefield Parkway takes you beside the Columbia Icefield, the largest chunk of moving ice in the Canadian Rockies, as the route leads north from Lake Louise to Jasper National Park -- the largest and wildest of the four parks. Five Great Towns 6. Durango Our favorite of all the communities of the Rockies, sitting at the bottom of the San Juan Range, Durango is a cowtown and an historic city which reflects the influence of its three founding cultures: Native Indian, Spanish, and north European miners and railroaders. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway offers one of the finest scenic train rides on the continent, and the antique hotels and inns in Durango provide wonderful historic places to stay. It's hard not to be enchanted by this city. 7. Telluride This gold mining town turned ski and summer resort is an unlikely combination of chic wealth and laid-back post-hippie ambiance, with a wonderfully historic main street. Telluride's summer festival season includes chamber music, jazz, an internationally-renowned film festival, the Wild West Week, and many more. The views from the top of the ski hill are superb, in winter or summer. Two Forest Service recreation sites, just south of town offer scenic places to camp, an alternative to the increasingly pricey and super-deluxe resorts which have been developed in recent years. 8. Ouray A perfect little Victorian town in Colorado's San Juan Range, with Jeep tours, fine dining, and the hot spring pools aren't hard to take either. The community lies at the northern end of the "Million Dollar Highway," part of the San Juan Skyway loop drive. This stretch of road was literally built with gold -- low grade ore -- linking the town with neighboring Silverton. The backroads in this area are historic mining trails, and Jeeps can be rented or Jeep tours taken to the high, alpine gold and silver ghost towns. 9. Bigfork A diminutive resort town on Montana's Flathead Lake, Bigfork is close to Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Fishing, golfing, a summer arts season, and superlative hiking trails are all available. The Jewel Basin Nature Area provides easy (and more strenuous) walks and hikes, and the town is filled with antique shops, crafts and art galleries, with a summer musical-comedy theater season, and good places to stay and eat. 10. Liard Hot Springs This isn't even a town. It's an Alaska Highway lodge with the finest natural hot spring pools on the continent, in a unique setting at the northern end of the Rockies -- just south of the Yukon border, in British Columbia. The two pools are protected in a provincial park, and when you walk to the pools over a boardwalk, you'll see steaming hot water, and tiny, transparent fish which thrive in the year-round heat of the marsh. You'll also see and enjoy talking to people who come here from around the world, to soak in this superb natural environment. The pools have created a unique ecosystem, that includes plants which shouldn't be growing so far north&emdash;including several species of orchids. The pools are particularly atmospheric after dark, and early in the morning.

For more information, go to Onroute Destinations - Alaska | Yukon