On September 1, 2022, a small SUV with one occupant drove off Trail Ridge Road east of Gore Range Overlook in Rocky Mountain National Park, causing a two-hour closure of the road.
It’s August, summer, and hot in many units within the National Park System. So, this month’s quiz and trivia piece is all about water and its many forms.
On the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, where the Colorado River drains out of Shadow Mountain Lake and heads down a short course to fill Lake Granby, is a path that leads to the shoulder of Shadow Mountain. There, in an opening in the piney forest, stands a fire lookout built in the 1930s.
Beavers fueled an 18th and 19th century rush to the Western half of North America by mountain men, and veered towards extinction due to that, before making a comeback in the 20th century. Today, while many communities view the rodents as nuisances that dam creeks and chew down trees, the National Park Service is turning to these ecological engineers to revive wetlands in the National Park System.
On the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, where the Colorado River drains out of Shadow Mountain Lake and heads down a short course to fill Lake Granby, is a path that leads to the shoulder of Shadow Mountain. There, in an opening in the piney forest, stands a fire lookout built in the 1930s.
A number of national parks, including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite, citing increases in Covid cases, have reinstituted face mask requirements if you enter a park building.
As much as a national park’s scenery catches you, the sounds you can pick up during your park visits are just as memorable. And, in the case of a howling wolf, bellowing grizzly, or bugling elk, I would suggest that they’re more memorable.
This is Kurt Repanshek, your host at the National Parks Traveler. This week, we’re doing away with talking and focusing on listening.
An avalanche killed one climber and left two others injured in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, where a late spring storm brought wintry conditions to the park's high country.