HIQH COUNTRY HEADLINES Planning Your Trip
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HIQH COUNTRY HEADLINES ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK WINTER SUPPLEMENT Vol .1, No. 1 February 14 -June 12,J992 EMERGENCY INFORMATION National Park Service rangers are here to provide assistance if an emergency occurs. In case of fire, medical or law enforcement emergency call: ESTES PARK ParkHqtrs. 911 or (303) 586-2371 GRAND LAKE Hqtrs. 911 or (303) 627-3471 EMERGENCY PHONES are located throughout the park at McGraw Ranch, Lawn Lake Trailhead, Chasm Falls and Willow r- Park (along old Fall River x Road). Deer Ridge Junction c^ and Fall River Pass (along c Trail Ridge Road). Bear _o. <o Lake parking lot, Longs X -a Peak Ranger Station, Wild > Basin Ranger Station, and a Never Summer Ranch. © EMERGENCY MESSAGES FROM HOME Emergency messages may be Planning Your Trip- What to See and Do efficiently delivered to a camper if the caller is able to provide: Rocky Mountain National Park is filled Wildlife watchers may see some ot offer outstanding views. Rocky's wildlife in only a few hours. Those - person's name with opportunities for adventure, explora tion, solitude and reflection. Spend sev who wish to spend a day or several days Wildlife Watching - campground name & site will see abundant signs of wildlife by look Many small mammals come out of no. eral hours, a day, or many days collecting memories from this special place. ing for trails and tracks in the snow. hibernation as springtime nears. Please - vehicle description & don't feed any park animals. Although license plate no. Time is a treasured commodity. To they beg for handouts, feeding them only make the best use of your interests and Hiking, Snowshoeing and Skiing Please provide this informa There are many opportunities for hiking reinforces a bad habit. tion to anyone who might available time, try a few of the following suggestions. during winter on the east side of the park. Springtime in the Rockies is the time need to get an emergency Trails to The Pool, Upper Beaver Mead when young are born. Bighorn sheep give message to you. Winter ows, Gem Lake, Chasm Falls, and Deer birth to lambs on high rocky cliffs that pro Winter in Rocky Mountain National Mountain offer easy to moderate hikes. tect them from predators. When lambs are GENERAL PARK Time needed ranges from two hours to all several days old they scamper down the INFORMATION Park offers many magical opportunities. This is the season to enjoy the sparkling day. Because conditions are highly varia mountains with their mothers (ewes). GRAND LAKE ble in the winter, check with park SHEEP ENCOUNTERS, a ranger-led (303) 627-3471 snow covered peaks, watch wildlife, ski, snowshoe or hike. rangers at Visitor Center Headquarters activity begins in early May. For more ESTES PARK for local snow conditions, weather fore details see page three - Ranger-led Activi (303) 586-2371 Scenic Wonders cast and current avalanche hazards ties. WRITE: Superintendent, Magnificent alpine scenery, including before each outing. Ranger-led Rocky Mountain National Elk begin calving in early May. Occa 14,255 foot Longs Peak, the Contintental snowshoe hikes are offered Saturdays and sionally scrawny, still wet calves are seen Park, Estes Park. CO 80517 Divide, and Never Summer Mountains, Sundays at Hidden Valley, snow permit TTY-TDD - Telecommunica soon after they have been born. Do not provide spectacular views for photography ting. For more details see page three — approach the motfier and calf, but observe tion Device for the Deaf and sight-seeing. Even a few minutes of Ranger-led Activities. (303) 586-8506 Weekdays from a distance of no less than 25 yards. mountain watching can be very satisfying. Many trails are available to snowshoers Horseshoe Park and Moraine Park are but even better are several days spent VISITOR CENTER and skiers with abilities from novice to good places for elk watching. exploring Rocky Mountain National Park's expert. Half-day, all-day, or several-day SCHEDULE THROUGH scenic wonders. In early summer, elk and bighorn sheep MEMORIAL DAY trips may be planned. Detailed descrip tions of ski and snowshoe trails are avail climb to higher elevations and may be WEEKEND Wildlife Watching able at visitor centers. Always notify a seen from Trail Ridge Road or Alpine Visi Visitor Center Headquarters, Many animals are busy feeding and friend of your trip plans before each out tor Center. Estes Park, CO: 8 a.m.-5 keeping energy levels up to survive the ing. A non-fee permit is required for Look for signs left by animals. Porcu p.m. severe cold temperatures of winter. Look every overnight backcountry trip. pines peel bark off trees. Elk shed their Kawuneeche Visitor Center. for elk and mule deer in open meadows antlers and winter guard hair. Watch for Grand Lake, CO: 8 a.m.- and on hillsides. Bighorn sheep can be Summer] otter slides by the Colorado River. 4:30 p.m. seen on rocky slopes. Watch for coyotes Birdwatching hunting mice in meadows. You may see Nearly 75% of Rocky Mountain WINTER ROAD National Park's visitors come during the Although several species of birds remain the tassel-eared Abert's squirrel scurrying in the park during the winter, many migra CONDITIONS and bounding among the ponderosa pine summertime. Trail Ridge Road is usually Trail Ridge Road is antici open from Estes Park to Grand Lake by tory birds return in mid-April and early trees. Stop at the Beaver Boardwalk along May. The peak nesting period is frdTn mid- pated to open from Estes Trail Ridge Road to see beaver sign Memorial Day weekend, snow pack and Park to Grand Lake on weather permitting. This 48-mile drive June to mid-July. A few hours trip in the including aspen stumps, dams, and park will allow you to see the magpie, Memorial Day Weekend lodges. takes about two to three hours and trav erses the five major ecosystems of the common raven, Stellar's jay, Clark's nut OPEN - ESTES PARK: Trail You may see moose among the willows park as it rises to 12,183 feet above sea cracker, and the gray jay (often called Ridge Road to Many Parks and frozen streams of the Kawuneeche level. Early summer visitors will find the camp robber). Curve and Bear Lake Road Valley. Foxes are a rarer sight, sometimes high country and the Kawuneeche Valley To see a greater variety of birds it is best to Bear Lake - weather per seen on early mornings in open wood still cloaked in snow. to select a habitat, and then spend an mitting lands or meadows. Mountain lions are hour or so there. The best time of day to OPEN - GRAND LAKE: even more elusive, but you may be for Scenic Wonders watch birds is in the morning when the Hwy 34 to Timber Lake Trail- tunate enough to see big cat paws printed In addition to grand mountain vistas, sun first reaches the area you plan to visit. head - weather permitting. clearly in the snow. Snowshoe hares and summer travelers can gaze at the world Check at visitor centers for sunrise times. During and after winter snow- weasels disguise themselves in winter- beneath them from the top of Trail Ridge An abundance of birds can be seen in white coats. Look for the weasel's black- (Continued on page four) Road. Stops at Forest Canyon Overlook, tipped tail. Rock Cut, Fall River Pass and Milner Pass (Continued on page 4) Moraine Park Museum RMNP Associates Tackle Two More Revitalized Major Projects Rocky Mountain National Park Superintendent Jim Thomp The Moraine Park Museum son asked the RMNP Associates and friends of the park for their The colorful on the east side of Rocky help with educational exhibits at the Lily Lake Visitor Center. In Mountain National Park will addition, three scenic trails - Sprague Lake, Bear Lake, and new exhibits reopen May 30 with all new ex Adams Falls - have been selected for wheelchair accessibility im include 3-D hibits. Based on the theme, provements. "The Making of a Landscape", models, the exhibits feature the forma Lily Lake Visitor Center Opens tion of Moraine Park, its touchable geology, climate, weather, The Lily Lake Visitor Center is located at the north edge of the specimens, and flora, fauna, and human Tahosa Valley on State Highway 7 - Scenic Byway. The visitor history. center first opened in June 1991. New exhibits will be several "hands- developed by May 1993 and will cost $158,000. Already on" exhibits The non-profit Rocky Moun $58,000 has been raised toward that goal. tain National Park Associates It's expected that the U.S. Forest Service will join the National which illustrate funded the new exhibits by rais Park Service and the non-profit Rocky Mountain Nature ing $241,000 from private, Association in operating the Lily Lake Visitor Center. mountain foundation, and corporate building, donations. The exhibits were Sprague Lake Wheelchair Trail designed and constructed by Coming Soon glacier the Denver Museum of Natural Rocky Mountain National Park plans to have the three movement, and History under the direction of park interpreters. The National wheelchair-accessible trails completed by 1993. Efforts to con the creation of Park Service funded the struct the trails began in 1987. Sprague Lake is the first of the ac cessibility trails to be developed. The Chevron Company pledg an ecosystem. building restoration and added new restrooms and an elevator ed $10,000 for this project and will provide volunteer labor to for special needs accessibility. help construct the trail. Curt Buchholtz, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain National Park Associates, stated that $170,000 is needed for completion of the three projects.