5:01 pm, May 21, 2012
The numbers are startling: Pine beetles have decimated more than 1.5 million acres of forest in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Here’s your chance to do something about it. Help regenerate the valley’s lush landscape by volunteering for the third annual ReTree Steamboat (June 9). After a morning of planting—last year’s crews set 3,570...
MORE
4:58 pm, May 21, 2012
South Platte Park, Littleton Wander in search of bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and great blue herons. The more adventurous can brave obstacles while kayaking or fish in one of five lakes along a restored floodplain previously mined for gravel. Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Colorado Springs Besides 80-plus climbing routes, history buffs can...
MORE
4:48 pm, May 21, 2012
Not quite five feet tall, Lynn Prebble is a sucker for vertical challenge. Last fall, the Silver Cliff resident became the 24th person to summit all 637 of Colorado’s peaks over 13,000 feet. Beyond that, the retired physical therapist rescues distressed climbers in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains with the Custer County Search and Rescue technical...
MORE
1:32 am, Apr 23, 2012
5280.com Exclusive: Images from May's Back at the Ranch.Take authentic ranch living, add upscale accommodations, chef-prepared cuisine, and countless outdoor activities and adventures, and you’ve got the makings of a Western guest ranch. Escape to one of these six dreamy destinations for a taste of the Old West—and the good life.4UR RanchCreede,...
MORE
7:58 pm, Apr 22, 2012
There was a time in Ben Knight and Travis Rummel’s lives when fly-fishing meant long, peaceful days on the Gunnison River. Now, their days are no less long, but their pastime plays a new—and more public—role. The pair uses fishing as the vehicle to create compelling environmental documentaries that expose the consequences of human activity on...
MORE
11:34 am, Mar 28, 2012
April is an erratic weather month in the Centennial State: You might encounter temps anywhere from the teens to the 80s, which makes planning an outdoor adventure, well, a bit of an adventure. Use this handy guide to help you decide how to spend your weekends this month. Remember: Check the forecast, consult officials, and plan accordingly for...
MORE
10:49 pm, Feb 20, 2012
Let’s be honest, Colorado’s college basketball teams aren’t in the habit of making the postseason—but our scenery can top anyone’s. To overcome our March Madness blues, we pitted the best city and mountain vistas against each other and came up with one winner.
MORE
2:28 pm, Jan 24, 2012
On any given winter day at the YMCA of the Rockies, kids romp around the Snow Mountain Ranch’s Nordic Center while graybeards sip warm beverages out of thermoses as they pull on another layer of Lycra. The lodge-like registration building overlooks a cozy valley and a distant ridgeline dotted with evergreens that is inevitably covered in pristine...
MORE
6:30 pm, Dec 22, 2011
MORE
10:40 pm, Nov 23, 2011
Product More than 100 seeding generators from Winter Park to the San Juans burn silver iodide over a flame, and wind currents carry the smoke into passing storm systems, where the particles attract water vapor that crystallizes to form snowflakes. Buyers Ten Colorado ski areas have used weather modification in recent years, including Vail, Beaver...
MORE
10:37 pm, Nov 23, 2011
When we haul our skis all the way to Crested Butte, it’s usually for the powder—not the posh. After all, the Butte’s reputation lies in the epic steeps of a peak called the Banana Funnel. But new snowcat outfitter CS Irwin, which shuttles skiers and boarders to the Elk Mountains in a cat equipped with a flatscreen and a leather interior, just...
MORE
1:29 pm, Oct 28, 2011
Most hikers retire the boots come fall when the flakes start to fly in the high country, but even when the trails are buried in white, Colorado’s fourteener faithful dust off the snowshoes and continue hoofing up our 54 tallest peaks. We asked avid winter climber and 14ers.com contributor Scott Patterson for his take on the best nontechnical hikes...
MORE
1:03 pm, Oct 28, 2011
It can be intimidating to try an activity that leaves you squarely outside your comfort zone. So this year, that’s exactly what we did—and you can, too. Sure, we could ask an expert for a step-by-step, how-to guide on every winter sport out there; instead, we took the lessons ourselves. Turn the page to find out where to go and what to expect when...
MORE
2:57 pm, Sep 30, 2011
By Sarah L. StewartAttention, fall foliage hunters: The leafy clusters now turning parts of Rocky Mountain National Park a riotous shade of yellow are more than just a treat for leaf peepers. It’s a sign of progress in the park’s three-year battle to restore a balance between its dual autumn icons: the trees (aspen and riparian willow) and the...
MORE
12:39 pm, Sep 30, 2011
Bats have long been demonized as symbols of Halloween lore (or worse), but the critters themselves have been dying of disease at an alarming rate in parts of the country—and the problem could spread to the Rockies. Colorado is home to 18 species of bats, and in a twist fit for a Batman movie, wildlife officials fear that humans may be transmitting...
MORE
