The Continental Divide runs northwest to southeast through the park on its course from Alaska to Panama. Every drop of snowmelt or rainwater to the west of the Great Divide flows toward the Pacific Ocean; every drop to the east flows toward the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.

The high country gives rise to small streams and great rivers, notably the Colorado, the Cache la Poudre and the Big Thompson. Some of the park's more than 450 miles of streams tumble down waterfalls bearing such names as Ouzel, Timberline, and Thunder.

Preserved within the park boundaries lie some of Colorado's more pristine forests. Great stands of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, aspen, subalpine fir, and spruce adorn the mountains below timberline. These forests are interspersed with mountain meadows that fill with colorful wildflowers during the brief high-country summer.

Roaming these mountains is an amazing array of wildlife. Rocky Mountain ranks as one of America's premier wildlife-watching destinations, with herds of majestic elk, sure-footed bighorn sheep, hardy ptarmigan, and soaring birds of prey.

People, too, have been an integral part of the Rocky Mountain NP wilderness. Today, hikers walk trails once followed by Native American hunters of centuries ago. Trappers sought beavers in streams throughout the region. The failed efforts of prospectors are remembered at the ghost town of Lulu City on the park's west side. The Moraine Park Museum and the Never Summer Ranch recall the early days of the tourism industry.

The first Europeans to see this area were French fur traders. In 1859, Joel Estes and his son, Milton, rode into the valley that bears their name. Few others settled in this rugged country, and about 1909, Enos Mills, a naturalist, writer, and conservationist, began to campaign for preservation of this pristine area. Mills' campaign succeeded, and the area became Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915.