Longs Peak Trailhead

 parking lot, trailhead, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places

Rocky Mountain National Park

The trail to the summit of Longs Peak reflects the principles of National Park Service Naturalistic Design from the 1920s through the 1940s. Active tourist use of the trail began in 1873 and continues up until the present day with hundreds of personal accounts repeatedly expressing exhilaration over the scenery and exhaustion from this high-altitude effort. Initially lodge owners maintained the trail and climbers hired local guides to assist in their mountain ascent. Between 1900 and 1906, Enos Mills (owner of Crags Lodge in Estes Park) forged his skills as a public speaker and naturalist while guiding visitors up the 7.5-mile trail. He used his guided tours to educate visitors about the value of conserving and preserving the surrounding natural environment. This experience firmly established his reputation as a local mountain expert and he eventually served as the figurehead in the effort to create Rocky Mountain National Park. The upper portion of the trail remains as Mills experienced it during his 304 treks to the granite summit. With the establishment of the park in 1915, the National Park Service took over maintenance of the trail and also offered guides for tourists trekking up this well-known “Fourteener”. The trail is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) for its significance in the areas of entertainment/recreation, conservation and landscape architecture.

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