When do the high roads open?

Jump to your state

California (6) · Colorado (5) · Montana (2) · New Hampshire (1) · North Carolina (1) · Oregon (2) · Tennessee (1) · Utah (1) · Washington (5) · Wyoming (5)

The records

• Artist Point

  SR 542 5,160 ft End of the Mount Baker Highway, Washington

  Median opening: July 1 · record spans 22 years

• Beartooth Highway

  US 212 10,947 ft Red Lodge, Montana to the northeast entrance of Yellowstone

  Median opening: May 26 · record spans 9 years

• Cayuse Pass

  SR 123 4,675 ft Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

  Median opening: May 7 · record spans 52 years

• Chinook Pass

  SR 410 5,430 ft Mount Rainier National Park's east boundary, Washington

  Median opening: May 25 · record spans 91 years

• Crater Lake Rim Drive

  7,865 ft Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

  Median opening: July 9 · record spans 19 years

• Glacier Point Road

  7,214 ft Yosemite National Park, California

  Median opening: May 14 · record spans 31 years

• Going-to-the-Sun Road

  6,646 ft Glacier National Park, Montana

  Median opening: June 12 · record spans 94 years

• Independence Pass

  CO 82 12,095 ft Between Twin Lakes and Aspen, Colorado

  Median opening: May 26 · record spans 10 years

• Lassen Park Highway

  CA-89 8,512 ft Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

  Median opening: June 2 · record spans 47 years

• Medicine Wheel Passage

  US 14A 9,430 ft Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming

  Median opening: May 24 · record spans 6 years

• Mirror Lake Highway

  UT 150 10,715 ft Uinta Mountains, Utah

  Median opening: May 31 · record spans 6 years

• North Cascades Highway

  SR 20 5,477 ft North Cascades, Washington

  Median opening: April 23 · record spans 54 years

• Old Fall River Road

  11,796 ft Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

  Median opening: June 30 · record spans 41 years

• Sylvan Pass

  East Entrance Road 8,530 ft Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

  Median opening: May 4 · record spans 8 years

• Tioga Pass

  CA-120 / Tioga Road 9,943 ft Yosemite National Park, California

  Median opening: May 22 · record spans 69 years

• Trail Ridge Road

  US 34 12,183 ft Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

  Median opening: May 28 · record spans 95 years

On the roster, record in progress

• Dunraven Pass

  Grand Loop Road, Tower–Canyon 8,859 ft Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

  Opens on the park's spring schedule, usually the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.

• Ebbetts Pass

  CA-4 8,730 ft Sierra Nevada, California

  Usually opens in May.

• Kuwohi Road

  6,300 ft Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee & North Carolina

  Opens April 1 every year, on the calendar rather than the snowpack.

• McKenzie Pass

  OR 242 5,325 ft Cascade Range, Oregon

  Usually opens to cars in June; cyclists often get the cleared road to themselves for a few weeks first.

• Monitor Pass

  CA-89 8,314 ft Sierra Nevada, California

  Usually the first of the southern Sierra passes to open, often in April.

• Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway

  CO 5 14,130 ft Arapaho National Forest, Colorado

  Usually opens Memorial Day weekend, weather permitting; the last miles to the summit can lag into June.

• Mount Washington Auto Road

  6,288 ft White Mountains, New Hampshire

  Opens for the season in mid-May, weather permitting — often to below-treeline turnaround points first.

• Rampart Range Road

  Forest Service Road 300 9,200 ft Pike National Forest, Colorado — Garden of the Gods north to the Rampart Range Recreation Area

  The Forest Service's target for reopening is April 1, but it says weather can delay the opening until late May. The south end's winter order runs through 11:59 PM on April 1, and a mud-season order is in effect on the recreation area's roads and trails from April 1 to May 31.

• Snowy Range Pass

  WY 130 10,847 ft Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming

  Usually opens around Memorial Day.

• Sonora Pass

  CA-108 9,624 ft Sierra Nevada, California

  Usually opens in May, a few weeks before Tioga in most years.

• Sunrise Park Road

  6,400 ft Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

  Usually opens in late June or early July — one of the last roads in the Northwest to melt out.

The named roads

The byways and toll roads people ask for by name — how far they run, what they climb over, what is on them, and whether a gate shuts them for the winter. The scenic byway and seasonal road index puts these and every pass on one page.

• Alpine Loop

  63 mi 12,800 ft Lake City, Silverton and Ouray, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

  Gated for the winter · Back Country Byway

• Beartooth Highway

  US 212 68.7 mi 10,947 ft Red Lodge, Montana to Cooke City and Yellowstone's northeast entrance

  Gated for the winter · All-American Road

• Blue Ridge Parkway

  469 mi 6,053 ft Waynesboro, Virginia to Cherokee, North Carolina

  Open all year · All-American Road

• Cherohala Skyway

  TN 165 43 mi Tellico Plains, Tennessee to Robbinsville, North Carolina

  Open all year · National Scenic Byway

• Going-to-the-Sun Road

  50 mi 6,646 ft Glacier National Park, Montana

  Gated for the winter · National Park Service road

• Grand Mesa Scenic Byway

  CO 65 63 mi 11,000 ft Interstate 70 at Mesa to Cedaredge, western Colorado

  Open all year · National Scenic Byway

• Guanella Pass

  Guanella Pass Road 22 mi 11,700 ft Georgetown to Grant, Arapaho and Pike national forests, Colorado

  Gated for the winter · Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway

• Lariat Loop

  Lariat Trail 40 mi Golden, Morrison and Evergreen, in the foothills west of Denver

  Open all year · National Scenic Byway

• Million Dollar Highway

  US 550 Ouray to Silverton, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

  Open all year · Part of the San Juan Skyway, an All-American Road

• Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway

  CO 5 49 mi 14,130 ft Idaho Springs to Bergen Park, Arapaho National Forest, Colorado

  Gated for the winter · Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway

• Peak to Peak Scenic Byway

  55 mi Estes Park to Black Hawk and Central City, along the Front Range

  Open all year · Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway

• Pikes Peak Highway

  19 mi 14,115 ft Cascade, Colorado to the summit of Pikes Peak

  Open all year · Toll road, operated by the City of Colorado Springs

• San Juan Skyway

  236 mi Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Ridgway, Telluride and Cortez, southwest Colorado

  Open all year · All-American Road

• Trail Ridge Road

  US 34 43.2 mi 12,183 ft Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

  Gated for the winter · All-American Road