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Trail Ridge Road Won't Be Open For Holiday Weekend

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (AP) - Rocky Mountain National Park officials say there's so much snow on Trail Ridge Road this year that crews won't be able to remove it all in time to open the road for Memorial Day weekend.

The park has had a snowy winter, and there were 17-foot snowdrifts in spots after a storm last week.

Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker said Tuesday that with twice the normal snowpack, this is one of the most challenging years for opening the road in recent memory. Baker says that if the weather cooperates, the road could be open by early June.

The road, described as the country's highest continuously paved one, climbs to 12,183 feet and connects Estes Park to Grand Lake.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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