New Tour Option in RMNP this Winter!

One of the questions visitors often ask is "What is there to do in Estes Park in the winter?" I love this question! Honestly, if you dress appropriately (which almost always means dressing in LAYERS), you can enjoy just about all the activities you would during the other seasons. Experiencing the serenity, stillness, and stunning vision of RMNP blanketed in glistening snow should be on everyone's bucket list!

New this winter, Rocky Mountain Rush Tours will be offering tours into Rocky Mountain National Park throughout the winter season. You can take either an on-road tour (into RMNP) or and off-road tour (in Roosevelt National Forest). Their exciting and informative tours are conducted in specially modified vehicles featuring forward-facing seats for maximum viewing of wildlife and the SPECTACULAR mountain vistas. Each tour includes complimentary water, snacks, and extra blankets and jackets if needed.

Find out more about Rocky Mountain Rush Tours by visiting: http://www.rockymountainrush.com/. Book a tour by calling 970-586-8687, and don't forget to tell them that Estes-Park.com sent you!

For more great winter weather ideas click here.

Life is Hard When You're a Baby Elk - New Life in RMNP

Early June is when most of the babies of RMNP arrive. After birth the elk calf spends most of its time hiding in grass or near bushes and following it's mother as she grazes. Nature is momentarily kind during the elks' first week of life - the baby doesn't produce a scent for nearly a week to help allude predators. This reprive is short lived though, as June is a calf's most dangerous time when predators like coyotes are prowling the edges of elk herds looking for a baby hiding in the grass. Generally the mothers form very small herds and the calves start playing with other calves, learning how elk life works. From birth until mid-July the calf will drink about a gallon of milk a day gaining two to three pounds a day. Life gets even harder just a few weeks, or sometimes only days after birth, as the elk herds start to move up to the tundra and the calf has to hike miles gaining 5,000feet of elevation to start enjoying the tundra's sweet grass. Luckily, each calf has plenty of babysitters with the rest of the elk herd watching after them. Parents, when your child whines about a walk around Bear Lake, just remind them "At least you aren't a baby elk!"

Blog Post by Jared Gricoskie of Yellow Wood Guiding. If you would like a private tour of Rocky Mountain National Park (perhaps even catch a glimpse of these elk calves!), contact Jared at YWGuiding.com.

To book your Estes Park vacation, visit Estes-Park.com. Here you'll find the best information on lodging and activities for your Rocky Mountain National Park adventure.

Explore RMNP in the Winter - So Many Things To Do!

For many visitors, winter is their favorite season to enjoy Rocky Mountain National Park. The park is less visited but still very much open and alive with activity. Beautiful backcountry areas can be reached on snowshoes, skis, and at lower elevations - even with hiking boots! Elk, coyotes, deer, snowshoe hares, and other wildlife remain active through the winter. Their story is told by the tracks left in the snow. For those visitors who are prepared, winter is an enchanting time to explore the park.

Snowshoeing and skiing are fun ways to experience the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park. This winter, join a park ranger on a wintry excursion! Rocky Mountain National Park offers ranger-led snowshoe ecology walks for beginner level snowshoers on the east side, and for beginner and intermediate level snowshoers and cross-country skiers on the west side of the park. No additional fees are charged to participate, however reservations are required.

Snowshoeing is easy to learn and opens up a new way to see the beauty of nature during its quietest season. For beginners, the snowshoe program is a two-hour exploration of the natural world of the subalpine forest. No previous snowshoe experience is required. On the east side, this walk is held on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. through March 27. The beginner snowshoe tour on the west side is held on Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. through March 19. Beginning on February 5, an additional west side tour will be offered at 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays.

For more experienced snowshoers, a two-hour snowshoe walk is offered on Sundays at 1:00 p.m. through March 13 on the west side of the park. Previous snowshoeing experience is recommended because of the elevation gain, mileage, pace and terrain covered in this program.

Ranger-led cross country ski tours are offered on the west side of the park on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. through January 29. Participants ski a snow-draped landscape and learn about the Kawuneeche Valley. All snowshoe walks and ski tours require reservations. Reservations can be made in advance, seven days or less prior to the desired program. Participants must furnish their own equipment, including poles with baskets, and be at least 8 years old. To make reservations for east side snowshoe walks, call the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center at (970) 586-1223 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. daily. To make reservations for west side snowshoe walks, call the Kawuneeche Visitor Center at (970) 627-3471 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. daily.

Frontcountry and backcountry camping take place in the winter too! Longs Peak Campground, Timber Creek Campground and designated sections of Moraine Park Campground are open all winter; the fee is $14 per site per night. Water and dump stations are not available in winter at the campgrounds. Self-registration permits for backcountry camping in winter zones are available. There is no charge in the winter for backcountry camping.

Sledding activities can be enjoyed in Rocky Mountain National Park at the Hidden Valley area. Hidden Valley slopes have been contoured to enhance the safety of sledding and other snowplay activities. Facilities at Hidden Valley include a warming hut, which is open weekends, and heated restrooms which are open daily. This area is also a good base location for visitors interested in backcountry skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing in the undeveloped areas in and around Hidden Valley.

Podcasts on Winter Recreation and Introduction to Snowshoeing can be found on the park website at, http://www.nps.gov/romo/photosmultimedia/roaming_rocky.htm Backcountry users should be aware of avalanche conditions, check the Colorado Avalanche Information Center website at http://avalanche.state.co.us/

Whenever visiting Rocky Mountain National Park to snowshoe, ski or hike, stop by a park visitor center or call (970) 586-1206 for current trail, road, snow and avalanche conditions. Come enjoy Rocky Mountain National Park in the winter!

Wildlife in Rocky Mountain National Park - Coyotes

Dont be a Slouch in the New Year!
As the New Year rolls in, humans aren’t the only creatures getting used to the changes winter brings. The animals of Rocky Mountain National Park are experiencing winter in full swing, and the new crop of coyote pups are no exception. In areas like Rocky Mountain National Park where hunting is not permitted, coyotes often form long relationships, producing pups with the same mate year after year. Each year, some of these lucky pups are granted the privilege of living in their parents’ territory and helping to raise the next litter of pups. These select coyotes learn how to raise pups, share food, and some of the female yearlings may even nurse the new pups. The yearlings that are not selected to stay, head off to find a mate and a new location to call home – often miles from their parents’ home range. Perhaps all too similar to the human parents’ plight, there are a small number of coyote yearlings who don’t venture off to forge their own family or help mom and dad out, while still living in their parents’ home range. These coyotes are called slouches.

So don’t be a slouch – make the New Year the best it can be by visiting your Rocky Mountain National Park! To plan your trip, go to www.Estes-Park.com for all your lodging needs. You can find a wealth of information on RMNP at www.RockyMountainNationalPark.com.

Guest Blogger: Jared Gricoskie from Yellow Wood Guiding
www.ywguiding.com or 303-775-5484

Big Horn Sheep - Love on the Rocks in Estes Park

Today's Guest Blogger is Jared Gricoskie of Yellow Wood Guiding YWGuiding.com

Here in Rocky Mountain National Park, December is the Big Horn Sheep's mating season. Big Horns spend most of the year in small bands of females and lambs, with the males in separate bands of mixed ages. Most of the time females just want to eat grass generally on a southern facing slope, but for as little as 48 hours a year the ladies are in estrus and looking for the right guy. During these extremely brief mating periods, females attract males through scent and may attract more than a handful of suitors. Females select males on a basis of body size, horn size, and fitness. They attract a few males and then run, much like a scene from a school yard where the boys chase the girls. During the pursuit, the lead male will often turn on the males behind him and clash. The sounds of two rams crashing their heads together can be heard from over a mile away. In the end, the female selects a male to mate with and will very likely not interact with him again. So be sure to scan the rocky southern facing cliffs around Estes Park during the first two weeks of December. For Big Horn Sheep, love really is on the rocks.

For All you Lovers of the Wild!

A friend (and fellow L.O.T.W. - that's Lover of the Wild for my acronym challenged readers) posted this on her blog: http://whitneyconnerclapper.blogspot.com/2010/11/outlive-bastards.html , and I loved the reminder to all of us who love the wild - revelling in it, playing in it, and staying alive because of it - to "get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the Griz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate that precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious awesome space." Thank you Whit, and Edward Abbey...now I'm headed outside.

Photo Credit Nathaniel Wilder http://www.ngwphotography.com/

Moose tour Castle Mountain Lodge

Two moose wandered through Castle Mountain Lodge on Fall River about 1 pm July 23, 2009. Guest Mark Woodard took these photos. In the 25 years we've run this cottage resort in Estes Park. this is the first time we've seen a moose on the property.

Years ago when Homer Rouse was Superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park we asked him about the prospects of moose moving to the east side of the Park. He thought someday a few might discover the willows along Fall River up around Endovalley. But these two were headed downriver towards town!

Every year there are a few moose sightings around the Estes valley but it seems like they are now more frequent. Neighbors reported rumors of moose here along Fall River three weeks ago, but no pics.

Moose explore Fall River

Mike Murphy snapped these Moose as they passed through the Woodlands on Thursday July 23, 2009.