When do the high roads open?

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 5 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

• Glacier Point Road

  7,214 ft Yosemite National Park, California

  Median opening: May 15 · record spans 30 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 8 years

• Lassen Park Highway

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

  Median opening: June 2 · record spans 47 years

• North Cascades Highway

  SR 20 5,477 ft North Cascades, Washington

  Median opening: April 23 · record spans 54 years

• Tioga Pass

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

  Median opening: May 23 · record spans 68 years

• Trail Ridge Road

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

  Median opening: May 28 · record spans 94 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.

• Mirror Lake Highway

  UT 150 10,715 ft Uinta Mountains, Utah

  Usually opens around Memorial Day.

• 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.

• Old Fall River Road

  11,796 ft Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

  Usually opens around the Fourth of July, well after Trail Ridge.

• 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.

• Sylvan Pass

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

  Opens on the park's spring schedule, usually the first Friday of May.

By state

California (6) · Colorado (4) · Montana (2) · New Hampshire (1) · North Carolina (1) · Oregon (1) · Tennessee (1) · Utah (1) · Washington (5) · Wyoming (4)