Bask in the light of the full moon in Rocky Mountain National Park this Sunday 12/3.
What better a way to get into the holiday spirit!
Photo Credit: NPS/Russell Smith
The Rocky Mountain Rangers lead Full Moon Walks in the winter months, the first one this coming Sunday. Groups leave from Beaver Meadows at 5 pm. Reservations are required and can be made in person or you can call the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center at 970-586-1223. Maybe there will even be a little fresh snow from the system that passes through Sunday - fingers crossed!
Not far from Rocky Mountain National Park lies beloved Estes Park, where visitors and locals alike celebrate life in the Colorado Rockies with special events throughout the year. Below are the events this month that you will want to pencil into your calendar!
Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highland Festival - September 7th through 10th
If you've never made it up the hill in the past three decades for this festival, this is the year! For 3 days, Estes Park becomes the setting for one of the nation's largest celebrations of Scottish and Irish cultures. Held annually the weekend after Labor Day, there are events such as jousting, bagpipes, dancers, precision drill teams and more. One of the weekend's highlights is the parade along Estes Park's main street.
Scottish Irish Shopping Markets will have a variety of vendors selling things such as clothing, kilts, accessories, home decor and highland-inspired jewelry. The Strong Man Competition on the festival field will allow athletes to show off their skills in the hammer throw, putting the stone and caber throwing. If something more traditional is what you enjoy, then the International Jousting Championships entertain with games and competition in both light and heavy armor. Dogs of the British Isles put on quite the show for the entire family, with dog agility and herding, terrier races and dog exhibit booths with goods.
Click HERE to purchase your ticket and for an event calendar for the weekend!
Autumn Gold Festival - September 23rd and 24th
Celebrate the changing of the seasons in one of the region's most beloved festivals! Everyone is welcome to enjoy the live music and dance for FREE, and the Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary will have bratwursts and cold drinks for purchase once inside. Other vendor booths will have treats such as corn on the cob, funnel cakes, roasted almonds and fresh lemonade; there's bound to be something for everyone.
The kiddos will be well entertained with face painting, corn bag tosses, a bounce house and classic car show. Perhaps the most popular portion of the festival is the raffle - entrants can take home prizes of $5,000 or $2,500 cash prizes, and various other cash and runner-up awards. Raffle tickets cost $25 each.
Performance Park Summer Concert Series, Mason Street - September 16th
Mason Street is a Fort Collins-bred bluegrass band that will be finishing up the Summer Concert Series at the Performance Park Amphitheater. The show goes from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, for FREE! Don't miss out...
There's a brand new bluegrass festival in town! If you're looking for something fun to do this weekend, head up to Estes Park for their inaugural Mountain Music Festival on Saturday, May 13th from 12 - 9pm. Held in the Estes Park Events Complex, this festival will feature both national and local bands, and promises to be a great time for everyone.
The event is a fundraising effort for the Estes Park School District's various music programs, which include the state champion marching bands, middle and high school bands, middle and high school choirs, and elementary music programs. It is truly a grass-roots effort, organized for and by the community of Estes Park. Community sponsors include The Rock Inn, Snowy Peaks Winery, Twin Owls Steakhouse, Rock Creek Tavern & Pizzeria, Inwell & Brew, Estes Park News, and many more. The festival's aim is to combat low funding in music programs and get ahead of the ever-increasing costs of such programs.
"There is a large body of evidence showing that a quality music program raises test scores, (and supports) higher level thinking and performance in many other core areas, as well as social inclusion," says Cynda Basch, Estes Park High School secretary.
Estes Park's Mountain Music Festival lineup is below...
Tickets are available for purchase HERE online. Want to make it into a weekend getaway? Click HERE to check out local lodging options that allow you to soak up the Estes sun all weekend long.
On March 1st & 2nd, members of the public and science communities alike will gather at the Estes Park Town Hall for Rocky Mountain National Park's 2017 Biennial Research Conference - "People and Stewardship: Using Research for Management." The conference focuses on celebrating research at Rocky Mountain National Park, among other things; providing a place research and park staff can share their discoveries and creating opportunities for young scientific professionals and the public to connect with park staff and one another.
The park hosts on of the largest research programs, which keeps 0ver 100 research permits active each and every year. This year, more than 100 scientists are expected to attend the event to discuss various research projects and approaches!
If you'd like to attend, feel free - the conference is open to anyone interested and is free; no registration is required. Sessions will begin on March 1st at 8:15am, and will end by 4pm each day. Wednesday will include topics such as visitor use, youth relevancy, wetlands and rivers, and the Grand Ditch breach restoration. Attendees will see presentations on Longs Peak history, citizen sciences, streams, student projects, willow restoration and monitoring visitor use. Thursday will focus on vegetation, environmental contaminants, archaeology, wildlife, and public health. Presentations are on things like ice patch archaeology, sub-alpine forests, invasive species,, air quality, restoration, birds, ticks, elk and even toads.
For more information, call the park's Information Office at 970-586-1206.
Skiing is a Colorado pastime that cannot be replaced - well, maybe just for a weekend.. The Stanley Hotel has launched an effort with Kent Mountain Adventure Center to offer families and couples an adventurous alternative to the standard winter weekend-getaway. Whether sledding & snowshoeing is more your speed or if climbing frozen waterfalls is what you're longing for, their Winter Adventure Packages fit the bill if you're looking for something outside the norm.
"We're taking winter back," says Harry Kent, owner of Kent Mountain Adventure Center. "Why spend your day fighting crowds and traffic when you can have a world-class adventure playing in Rocky Mountain National Park? Where we go and what we do is unique every time and there are no life lines.. guaranteed!"
As of January 9th, the Stanley Hotel is offering ultimate play-and-stay winter packages. The packages combine exploration with luxury in order to meet everyone's needs and desires. With an array of custom add-ons like romantic gestures, whiskey tastings or gourmet dinners, you can build the getaway of your dreams!
For both the experienced and inexperienced family, spend the day in Rocky Mountain National Park. An experienced guide shuttles you from the Stanley Hotel and into the park for a safe, fun-packed and photo-friendly experience that takes into consideration all of your family's needs. Some options include snowshoeing, cross country skiing, or backcountry sledding! It includes:
Accommodations at the Stanley Hotel, Lodge at the Stanley Bed & Breakfast, Aspire Residences or Overlook Condos
A half day of guided snowshoe, cross country skiing, or sledding trip inside the park
Transportation to and from Rocky Mountain National Park
What's more romantic than getting out and playing in the snow together? Spend the day out with your favorite person on a private guided snowshoe, cross-country skiing or sledding tour through Rocky Mountain national Park. Afterwards, talk about your day over sparkling wine & chocolate truffles or a personalized whiskey tasting at the Whiskey Bar. It includes:
King Bed accommodations in the Stanley Hotel, Lodge Bed and Breakfast or Aspire Residences
Sparkling wine & truffle welcome or a whiskey tasting for 2 upon your return
A private half-day guided snowshoe, cross county skiing or sledding trip in the park
This is the ultimate adventurer's option - not for the faint of heart! But if you'd like to step past the boundaries of the norm and push your limits, this is the package for you. Included is a full-day of privately guided back country skiing, ice climbing or avalanche safety training within Rocky Mountain national Park. It includes:
Accommodations at the Stanley Hotel, Lodge Bed and Breakfast, Aspire Residences or Overlook Condos
A full-day of back country skiing, ice climbing or an avalanche safety course in the park
Transportation to and from the park
A sack lunch is provided
Entrance fees into the park
Basic gear provided (A/T ski and boot rental is not included)
Optional add-ons and customizations to the packages include making your adventure a full day, a culinary journey, sparkling wine & truffles, cookies & milk, fruit & cheese, a roll away bed, $50 dinner credit a Cascades or an Eldora lift ticket.
Cascade Cottages sits on 42 acres of privately owned land just inside the Fall River entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The collection of 14 cabins is by far the largest privately owned properties left inside the park's boundaries, but it won't be for long - soon the National Park Service will acquire the land they sit upon, thanks to a handshake-deal made back in 1941.
The sole person overseeing the Cascade Cottages never intended to be 'last man standing.' Richard Sipe fell in love with Grace Davis, the woman who worked the front desk and whose parents were the original owners of the land and cabins. For nearly two dozen summers following their marriage the couple lived happily at Cascade, maintaining the cabins and befriending visitors.
(Photo Credit: Rachel Estabrook)
Sipe explains that his father-in-law wanted the property because he was a conservationist at heart and truly loved the outdoors. "His philosophy was that he wanted to be a friend of man and live by the side of the road, and he truly fulfilled that obligation," says Sipe.
(Photo Credit: Rachel Estabrook)
After Grace passed away in 2014, her remaining family members decided to sell the property. Between their own families and lives, they simply couldn't justify the maintenance and time required to keep the cabins running. Though certainly a bittersweet end to what became a big, beautiful part of his life, Sipe is at peace with the decision. "It's emotional, but I feel honored that I happened to be here."
Thanks to a promise and a handshake that Grace Davis' parents made decades ago, the National Park Service was given the first opportunity to buy when the family was ready. "I'm so thankful for the family and honoring the commitment that was apparently just a handshake between L.V. Davis and whoever was superintendent at that time. I don't even know who that was," Larry Gamble admits, as current Park's Chief of Planning and Compliance.
(Photo Credit: Rocky Mountain Conservancy)
Grace Davis' family will receive $3.4 million in the purchase but the park will only shell out $1.65 million after the Rocky Mountain Conservancy had their say. The Trust for Public Land also assisted in paying the park's portion upfront. At this point, the sale is expected to be complete by spring of 2017.
Gamble cannot say with certainty what the park will do with the land, or even if the cabins will stay standing. But the park has assured it will ask for comments from the public before making any final decisions. "I can totally understand the incredible connections to this place," he says about Cascade Cottages. "It's surrounded by Rocky Mountain National Park, so it brought a lot of people here to an incredible setting and generations of attachments. And I can understand the sense of loss, and I think what we do offer is that it will be preserved for future generations to come and enjoy."
Photo Credit: NPS/Russell Smith
