William Stanek's Rocky Mountain
A Literary Field Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain is a vertical park. A few miles of road can carry a traveler from meadow and ponderosa into subalpine forest and then above the trees, where wind, thinner air, cold, sun, and distance change the meaning of even a short walk. William Stanek's Rocky Mountain is built around that vertical truth. Moraine valleys, Bear Lake country, Glacier Gorge, historic roads, Trail Ridge, the Continental Divide, Colorado River headwaters, Wild Basin, and serious mountain country are treated as different travel worlds rather than interchangeable scenic stops. The guide combines interpretation with exact bodily judgment: altitude, exposure, weather, climbing, return effort, lake sequences, driving, and the temptation to let easy road access hide the cost of high country. For first-time visitors, experienced hikers, families, couples, solo travelers, wildlife watchers, and photographers, this is Rocky Mountain as a connected mountain system-and a guide to knowing when one elevation has already given the day enough.