How to Drive Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park
RMNP’s Old Fall River Road is (much) lesser-explored and arguably more thrilling than Trail Ridge Road. Sounds pretty great, no? We drove it in October 2024 on one of the last days it was open for the season, and we’re sharing our experience plus everything you need to know to do it yourself.
Although it’s not nearly as famous as Trail Ridge Road, Old Fall River Road in Colorado‘s Rocky Mountain National Park is just as epic in every way. Actually, you could argue that it’s even more epic—the steep, one-lane winding road has no guardrails and plenty of sheer dropoffs, wildlife watching opportunities galore, and takes you to a hidden waterfall.
Built in 1920, the 11-mile-long road offered access to the park’s high country for the first time, revolutionizing the way visitors toured national parks. Up until then, people primarily visited via train. Climbing to 11,796 feet, Old Fall River Road paved the way (literally!) for modern-day national park road trips.
While RMNP is best known for its famous elk and incredible hiking, driving Old Fall River Road is one of the most unique and unforgettable ways to experience the park. Plus, it’s (way) less crowded than many of its other highlights. And if you’re anything like us, that’s the best thing about it!
In 2025, Rocky Mountain National Park has a timed entry reservations system. ALL visitors need a reservation from May 23 to October 13, 2025. The type depends on which part of the park you visit.
For MOST of the park, including Old Fall River Road, you need a ‘regular’ timed entry permit from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm. Specific to the Bear Lake Corridor, you need a Timed Entry + reservation from 5:00 am – 6:00 pm. To be clear, you can enter the park before or after these times without a permit.
Regardless of time or date, you still need to pay an admission fee at entry ($30-35 per vehicle) or better yet, have an America the Beautiful annual national parks pass.
Check out RMNP’s official Timed Entry Reservations page for the most up-to-date details.
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Know before you go
Old Fall River Road begins in Endovalley near Horseshoe Park and climbs more than 3,000 feet to the Alpine Visitor Center (it’s one-way, so the only direction is UP!). Grades reach 16% and the dirt-and-gravel road is incredibly narrow in spots with multiple S-curves and hairpin turns, so it’s not for the faint of heart or those prone to carsickness.
With that said, it’s a phenomenal way to experience Rocky Mountain National Park from the comfort of your vehicle, especially for visitors with limited mobility or anyone looking to take a break between challenging high-elevation hikes. We’re typically boots-on-the-ground travelers, and Old Fall River Road was one of the main highlights of our visit.
Psst…do you have an annual national parks pass yet? This handy pass gets you into all 63 national parks, plus 2,000+ other federal recreation sites. Think national monuments (Mount Rushmore), recreation areas (Lake Powell), and others! Read more about it HERE!
While the scenery is totally different, the driving experience is somewhat similar to Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) through northern California, or the Road to Hana on Maui. You go quite a bit slower on Old Fall River Road, so if you’ve done any of those, you’ll be totally fine. Also, notably, I (Taryn) often get carsick as a passenger, but didn’t have any issues here!
As you climb, you’ll transition through multiple ecosystems: from lush river valley to dense forest to alpine tundra. Keep your eyes open for wildlife, especially elk, mule deer, black bears, and bighorn sheep.
At the top, you’ll wind up at the Alpine Visitor Center, another of Rocky’s highlights. Fun fact: it’s the highest-elevation visitor center in the entire National Park System, sitting at 11,796 feet.
Stop here to take in the sweeping views or hike the short but challenging Alpine Ridge Trail, which offers the rare opportunity to hike to over 12,000 feet in the frontcountry (technically 12,005 feet!). .
There is truly zero cell service along Old Fall River Road, so plan your day and stops accordingly. A satellite communicator like the Garmin inReach Mini comes in handy for adventures like this, just in case of emergency.
Old Fall River Road highlights
There are dozens of scenic stops and pullouts along the road (although we’re being incredibly generous using the term ‘pullouts;’ there’s barely enough room in some spots for one vehicle to squeeze by another!). Budget extra time, because it’s worth stopping at all of ‘em.
Chasm Falls
About 2.5 miles in, this short but quite steep trail leads to a beautiful waterfall tucked into a narrow gorge. The hike down (and back up!) is slippery…so slippery that I fell on my booty—HARD. Not the graceful kind of fall, either, but shoutout to my favorite hiking leggings for not even getting a scrape.
Even when Old Fall River Road closes to vehicles, Chasm Falls is accessible via a hiking trail that follows the road. You can start in Endovalley (three miles out-and-back) or near the Alluvial Fan (4.7 miles out-and-back).
Down Valley View & Willow Park
Just beyond Chasm Falls, you’ll reach two notable overlooks. Down Valley View lives up to its name with sweeping views back into the valley, and Willow Park is well-known as an excellent place to spot monster elk.
Fall River Cirque
This marks the top of the valley, where the trees quickly thin out and you rise above treeline and enter alpine tundra. The terrain opens up dramatically, offering a totally different experience.
Chapin Creek Trailhead
The jumping-off point for summiting 12,454-foot Mount Chapin, 13,075-foot Mount Chiquita, and 13,520-foot Ypsilon Mountain, a popular 8.4-mile three-peak hike.
Alpine Visitor Center
Old Fall River Road ends at this high-altitude visitor hub, where you can grab a snack (including hot coffee and freshly-made sandwiches), use the restroom, pick up some souvenirs, and explore some cool exhibits about the unique terrain.
As mentioned earlier, you can also tackle the short Alpine Ridge Trail and take a selfie at the 12,005-foot summit. Allow about 30 minutes for the round-trip hike.
When is it open?
On a similar schedule as Glacier’s Going to the Sun Road, Old Fall River Road typically opens for the season in early July and closes in early October. However, it can be a bit earlier or later, depending on what Mother Nature throws at the Rockies that year.
Going all the way back to 1990, the earliest opening date was June 25 and the latest closing date was October 31.
Comparatively, Trail Ridge Road generally opens the last week of May, give or take a few days.
While you can drive Old Fall River Road any time it’s open, we strongly recommend avoiding it right after rain unless you have a high-clearance and/or four-wheel-drive vehicle (ideally, both). NPS closes the road when it’s truly unsafe, but ruts, mud, and tight turns on a slick surface can be extra sketchy, even if it’s technically open—we wouldn’t risk it.
In the shoulder season, particularly in the fall, the park sometimes reverts the road to ‘trail’ status, closing it to vehicles but open to walkers, cyclists, and sometimes even pets. In 2024, after the road was closed to vehicle traffic for the season, RMNP opened it to non-motorized use for select weekends in October and November.
Getting to Old Fall River Road
ALL visitors must have a timed entry permit to enter RMNP from May 23 to October 13, 2025.
You can get a ‘regular’ timed entry permit to drive Old Fall River Road between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm. Can’t get a permit? Enter the park before 9:00 or after 2:00. You do NOT need a ‘Timed Entry +’ permit—those only apply to the Bear Lake Corridor.
Note that you will need two separate permits to access the two areas. It’s confusing, we know! Read the park’s official requirements and guidelines HERE.
To access Old Fall River Road, enter the park via the Fall River Entrance Station, which is four miles west of Estes Park, just north of the popular Beaver Meadows Entrance Station (the one many people consider the ‘main’ park entrance).
Drive west on US-34, AKA Trail Ridge Road, then make a right onto Old Fall River Road at West Horseshoe Park. This brings you up to Endovalley, where the road officially begins. There are restrooms and picnic areas here, perfect for a quick stop before starting the climb.
Remember, you can’t turn around and there are only a handful of turnouts, so ‘go’ before you go, if you catch our drift!
How long does the drive take?
Although it’s only 11 miles, this drive is slooooow-going even in the best conditions. Factor in a couple of hours, minimum. The posted speed limit is 15 mph, but to be honest, I’d be surprised if we ever got above 10.
Not that you really can, but we didn’t want to rush through, so we set aside one full day to driving Old Fall River Road. We actually ended up also tackling Trail Ridge Road on the same day—from Timber Creek Campground on the west side all the way across heading east, then hopping on Old Fall River Road and connecting with Trail Ridge Road again at the Alpine Visitor Center.
From there, we headed back to our campsite at Timber Creek, so really, we drove Trail Ridge Road 1.5 times and drove Old Fall River Road in entirety…and were still back at camp before sunset.
Short on time and have to choose one side of the park to explore after driving Old Fall River Road? The east side, closer to Estes Park, has some of the most popular hikes, plus it’s more developed and you’ll almost certainly spot some elk. The west side, toward Grand Lake (Colorado’s largest natural lake!) and Kawuneeche Valley, is more lush and offers the opportunity to spot moose.
Do you need 4WD?
Technically, the only restrictions are no towing trailers and no vehicles over 25 feet. However, we highly recommend bringing a vehicle with higher clearance–ideally, a standard-sized SUV.
We drove it in a Toyota Tundra (a full-sized truck) with a rooftop tent, and it got a bit dicey coming around a few curves. What I mean by dicey is my husband stopped so I could pull the passenger side mirror in and he stuck his head out the window to make sure we weren’t going over the edge—it’s THAT narrow.
On the other hand, we were a bit surprised to see very small cars driving it. This MIGHT be fine; you don’t absolutely need 4WD, but the road can get extremely rutted, especially shortly after rain. That’s where the high clearance comes in.
We highly, highly recommend renting vehicles for rugged adventures from Outdoorsy. They’re, well, outdoorsy. It’s become our favorite way to road trip, combining lodging and a rental vehicle in one. Plus, we love knowing our money is going into the pockets of an individual, not a giant corporation.
Tips for driving Old Fall River Road
- Fuel up first. There are no services along the way, and no fuel inside the park.
- Take it SLOW. Aside from being steep and narrow, visibility around corners is limited. There will likely be multiple points where you’ll encounter stopped vehicles, wildlife, or people walking across the road, and you can’t see very far ahead.
- Build in extra time. Between pullouts, photo stops, and elk jams, the drive can take longer than expected.
- ‘Go’ before you go. There are pullouts, but no amenities or restrooms whatsoever along the way. Use the facilities in Endovalley or wait until the Alpine Visitor Center.
- Plan for NO cell service. Make a plan ahead of time, especially for where you’ll go after finishing the drive.
- Exit via Trail Ridge Road. Once you reach the top of Old Fall River Road, you’ll descend via Trail Ridge—either east toward Estes Park or west toward Grand Lake.
- Bring binoculars. The turnouts are all HIGH, and you’ll find yourself squinting, wondering if that’s an elk or a rock. We use and love this inexpensive compact pair for traveling.
