About 3,000 miles · MT, ID, WY, UT, CO, NM · highest Mount Elbert, 14,440 ft
Rocky Mountains map
The Rockies run about 3,000 miles from northern British Columbia to New Mexico. In the US they cross Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico and carry the Continental Divide.
Where the Rockies are
The Rocky Mountains are the eastern front of the North American Cordillera. They enter the US from Canada along the Montana–Idaho border, widen through Wyoming, reach their highest and broadest in Colorado, and fade out in New Mexico south of Santa Fe. The Wasatch and Uinta ranges of Utah are usually counted as well. On the map the Rockies are the reason the Great Plains end: driving west across Colorado the land climbs slowly to Denver at 5,280 ft and then rises 9,000 ft in the next 60 miles.
Main ranges by state
- Montana — Lewis Range (Glacier National Park), Bitterroots on the Idaho line, Absarokas, Beartooths (Granite Peak, about 12,800 ft, the state high point).
- Idaho — Bitterroot, Sawtooth and Lost River ranges (Borah Peak, 12,662 ft).
- Wyoming — Teton, Wind River (Gannett Peak, about 13,800 ft), Bighorn and Absaroka ranges, and the Yellowstone plateau.
- Utah — Wasatch above Salt Lake City and the east–west Uintas (Kings Peak, 13,528 ft).
- Colorado — Front Range, Sawatch (Mount Elbert, 14,440 ft), San Juans, Sangre de Cristos, Elk and Gore ranges. Colorado has more than 50 peaks above 14,000 ft, more than every other state combined.
- New Mexico — Sangre de Cristos (Wheeler Peak, about 13,160 ft) and the Sandias above Albuquerque.
Key measurements
- Length: about 3,000 miles from British Columbia to New Mexico; about 1,500 miles in the US.
- Highest peak: Mount Elbert, Colorado, 14,440 ft; the range's high point overall is in Colorado, not Canada.
- Highest paved road: Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, reaching about 12,180 ft.
- Rivers born here: the Missouri, Colorado, Rio Grande, Arkansas, Snake, Platte and Yellowstone.
National parks
Glacier (Montana), Yellowstone and Grand Teton (Wyoming), Rocky Mountain and Great Sand Dunes (Colorado). Black Canyon of the Gunnison lies on the western edge of the Colorado Rockies. See the national parks map for all 63.
Cities on or near the range
Denver and Colorado Springs sit at the foot of the Front Range; Boulder, Fort Collins and Pueblo line the same edge. Salt Lake City lies beneath the Wasatch. Albuquerque and Santa Fe sit at the southern end. Helena, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman in Montana, and Jackson and Cheyenne (on the plains edge) in Wyoming, are the other main towns. Boise is on the western fringe.
How the range shaped the map
The Continental Divide follows the Rocky crest and was used as the Idaho–Montana border from the Canadian line south to the Yellowstone area. Otherwise the western states were drawn as rectangles on latitude and longitude, so Colorado and Wyoming simply cut across the ranges. The mountains did decide where people live: the string of cities along the Front Range from Cheyenne to Pueblo follows the line where the plains meet the peaks, and the Wasatch Front holds most of Utah's population.
Related maps
- Continental Divide · Highest point in each state.
- US mountain ranges — the Rockies compared with the Sierra, Cascades and Appalachians.
- Rocky Mountain states · Mountain division · Mountain Time Zone.
- All geography maps.