Uncompahgre National Forest proposes cap on number of hikers on Blue Lakes Trail

The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests’ recently announced that they are proposing new regulations that will cap the number of hikers on the popular Blue Lakes Trail each day. Based on public comments and findings from an Environmental Assessment, the draft decision for the proposed Blue Lakes Visitor Use Management Plan would limit hiker access on the Blue Lakes Trail to only 40 people per day. Additionally, a maximum of 24 campers in four designated sites per day would also be permitted.

“This decision is based on years of monitoring data, public input and the environmental analysis findings that demonstrated the need for action to protect these areas from the impacts of increased visitor use,” said Dana Gardunio, Ouray District Ranger. “The permit system and additional management actions are critical to enabling us to effectively manage, restore and protect this cherished area.”

The Montrose Daily Press reports that nearly 35,000 people are hiking the trail each year. Visitor logs indicate that more than 100 people are hiking the trail each day during peak hiking season, with a record of around 500 in one day!

Gardunio was also quoted in the Montrose Daily Press, stating, “You see a lot of human waste by the trail or by the lakes, we see trash or dog feces, dog poop bags by the trail. We have a lot of people creating their own little side trails, creating their own campsites, so you start to see this creep of trampled vegetation, things brought down to bare soil, which then causes some erosion concerns both on the trails and also into the lakes and creeks themselves.”

The final plan incorporates changes in response to public comments. Some of the changes include pushing back the start date for the permit season in the Wilderness Zone to June 1, prohibiting dogs in the Mount Sneffels Zone, prohibiting overnight stock use in the Wilderness Zone and adjustments to indicators and thresholds that would trigger adaptive management.

The plan will be implemented in phases as capacity allows. One of the first actions to be implemented will be reconstructing the Blue Lakes Trailhead parking area, including installing two new toilets, which is expected to occur in the spring of 2025. Additionally, the Forest Service will begin creating a monitoring plan and working with Recreation.gov to implement a reservation system for a limited entry day-use and overnight permit for the Wilderness Zone in the plan. Depending on technical feasibility and resources, the reservation system may be online as early as the summer of 2025. Permit administration will likely include a processing fee for the reservation transaction.

The GMUG will investigate options for providing additional resources that could include a permit fee under the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) since implementation of the plan will require additional resources for restoration and enhanced services on the ground that are currently not being provided. A separate public process is required for new or increased FLREA fees. Future phases and implementation timelines for other management activities, such as designated camping, improved signage and closures of user-created trails, will be included in the implementation plan that will be developed over the next year.

Objection Process:

The release of the draft Decision initiates a 45-day objection period. Individuals who submitted timely and specific written comments during the scoping period (April 8–May 20, 2022) and/or the comment period on the draft Environmental Analysis (Oct. 18–Dec. 4, 2023) have eligibility to file an objection to the draft decision notice under 36 CFR 218 Subparts A and B.

Objections, including attachments, must be filed via mail, fax, email or hand-delivery to Reviewing Officer James Pitts, Attn: Blue Lakes Visitor Use Management Plan, 2250 South Main St., Delta, Colorado 81416; FAX: 970-874-6698, or electronically.

Objections must be submitted within 45 calendar days following the publication of a legal notice in the Montrose Daily Press. The legal notice is anticipated to be published on approximately April 17, 2024. The publication date in the newspaper of record is the exclusive means for calculating the time to file an objection. Those wishing to object should not rely upon dates or timeframe information provided by any other source. The regulations prohibit extending the time to file an objection.

For more information on the proposed Blue Lakes Visitor Use Management Plan and other documents associated with this release, visit the project webpage.



Jeff
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Rocky Mountain National Park Proposes Changes In Campground Fees

Rocky Mountain National Park is proposing a change in its current camping fees at four campgrounds beginning next year, in 2025.

The park is proposing a 10-dollar increase to overnight fees at four reservation campgrounds including Moraine Park, Glacier Basin, Aspenglen and Timber Creek Campgrounds. This proposed increase in summer fees would be from $35 to $45 per night. There is also a proposed additional increase of $10 for the new electrical sites that are being constructed at the Moraine Park Campground. The proposed fee for these forty-nine electrical sites is $55 per night.

There are no fee changes to group sites, the Longs Peak Campground which is a first come, first-served summer campground with no water available, or winter rates.

These proposed campground fee increases are based on comparable fees for similar services in nearby campgrounds.

The proposed fee increases are necessary for Rocky Mountain National Park to improve and maintain high-quality visitor services. While basic park operations are funded by direct appropriations from Congress, the recreation use fees collected by the park are used to support new projects and the ongoing maintenance of park facilities that directly enhance the visitor experience.

The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) is the legislation that allows the park to collect entrance and amenity fees. This law allows parks like Rocky Mountain National Park to retain 80 percent of the fees collected in park for use on projects that directly enhance the experience of park visitors. The remaining 20 percent of all collected fees is distributed for use throughout the National Park System.

Some of the projects funded through the collection of entrance station and campground fees at Rocky Mountain National Park include:

* Hazard Tree Mitigation: The park is among many areas along the Rocky Mountains where trees have been dying from a beetle epidemic. Recreation fee monies have funded extensive mitigation of hazard trees in or near developed areas and other popular park facilities, such as campgrounds, parking lots, road corridors, housing areas and visitor centers.

* Campground Improvements: The park continues to use recreation fee monies to replace tent pad log linings, fire rings, maintain walking paths and repair and replace picnic tables.

* Hiking Trail Repairs and Improvements: Many hiking trail repair projects have been funded by recreation fee monies, such as repairing washed out sections of trail, the installation of bridges, and the installation of vault toilets at heavily used trailheads.

* Bear Management: Park entrance and campground fees help keep bears wild at Rocky Mountain National Park. Thanks in part to fee dollars collected over the past 20 years, 100% of the park’s garbage cans, recycling bins, and dumpsters are now bear-resistant. The park has also gone from zero food storage lockers to 352. Your recreation fees also help support visitor education programs focused on black bears.

Public engagement is an important part of the park’s planning process. Rocky Mountain National Park is accepting public comments on the proposed fee increases. Please submit all comments here. 

Comments may also be submitted via mail to:

Rocky Mountain National Park
Office of the Superintendent
1000 US Hwy 36
Estes Park, CO 80517

Please be advised, before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. Although you can ask in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.

All public comments on the proposed fee increases will be accepted through May 23, 2024.



Jeff
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Ramble On (2nd edition book on the rich history of hiking)
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The Legacy of Abner Sprague

"We came here for small ranch operations, but guests and visitors became so numerous, at first wanting eggs, milk, and other provisions, then wanting lodging, and finally demanding full accommodations, that we had to go into the hotel business or go bankrupt from keeping free company!"

    - Abner Sprague

In 1874, just 14 years after Joel Estes settled in what is now Estes Park, Abner Sprague began building a humble homestead in Moraine Park. Almost immediately he began hosting travelers at his cabin, thus establishing the first tourism business within the boundaries of the future national park. The homestead would eventually become a lodge that was used for hunting, fishing, dude ranching, and even golf at one point. By the turn of the century Sprague’s lodge and guest cabins could accommodate up to 100 guests per night. In 1900 (or 1904) the property was sold to James Stead, which remained in business as the Stead’s Ranch and Hotel until 1962.

After selling the lodge the Sprague's moved to Loveland. However, in 1910, seeking "to prevent my homesickness for Estes Park and the mountains from becoming chronic", Abner Sprague and his wife built another guest lodge in the Glacier Basin area. This was located in the current parking area for Sprague Lake. In 1932, the National Park Service purchased the property, but gave the Sprague's a twenty-year operating lease before razing the buildings in 1957.

Abner Sprague would go down in Rocky Mountain National Park history once more when he became the first visitor to pay an entrance fee in 1939.

Today, 12,713-foot Sprague Mountain, Sprague Lake, Sprague Glacier, and Sprague Pass all bear his name. Additionally, Alberta Falls is named for Alberta Sprague, Abner's wife of 55 years.



Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
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Ramble On (2nd edition book on the rich history of hiking)
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Most Colorado fourteeners are about to get a little shorter

Mt. Elbert has shrunk! And at some point in the future it will be official. Fortunately, however, the iconic mountain will retain its status as the highest peak in Colorado.

Meanwhile, Colorado has a brand new lowest fourteener. After shrinking nearly two feet, Huron Peak is set to be demoted. As a result of this, and Sunshine Peak growing about a half-foot, Sunshine Peak will officially surpass Huron by a few inches. Quandary Peak, one of Colorado's more popular fourteeners, has also lost 2.1 feet.

The biggest losers were Mt. Massive and Longs Peak, both having lost more than three feet. In fact, nearly every fourteener in Colorado will officially lose elevation once the new national vertical datum is implemented. The new elevations were recently published in the Journal of Geodesy by a team of researchers from the National Geodetic Survey (NGS).

According to the NGS, the key takeaways from the study include:

* All of the 14ers have updated estimated elevations and uncertainties. The changes in elevations are due to both:

-- the upcoming adoption of a new national geopotential datum

-- as well as a re-analysis of the original heights based on classical geodetic surveying techniques

* All the 14ers continue to be above the 14,000’ threshold, though there is some “shuffling” in their rankings. No peak is newly ‘elevated’ to the 14er level. Huron Peak, is now the lowest 14er, with an estimated elevation of 14,004.1’ in the new geopotential datum.

* Currently published North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) elevations on the mountain peak triangulation stations are found to be systematically too high by roughly 1 meter. To investigate and correct this, the team developed a novel technique to redetermine these heights from the historical triangulation data that was measured in the 1950s.

The mountain summit elevations were determined using a combination of two data sources:

* Airborne LiDAR data, acquired via the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 3-D Elevation Program (3DEP) and Colorado Water Conservation Board. These data were used to provide raw ellipsoidal heights.

* A number of available geoid models (i.e. high-resolution models of the Earth’s geopotential field) were used to convert the ellipsoidal heights into orthometric heights (i.e. “heights above sea level”). A combination of these models was used as a proxy for the eventual, “final” model that will serve as the new vertical datum in the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS).

The results of this paper have broad implications for all elevations across the nation with the upcoming modernization of the National Spatial Reference System. The new NSRS will be the foundation for all surveying and mapping in the US going forward.

Jeff
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Ramble On (2nd edition book on the rich history of hiking)
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GMUG Acquires Rare Dinosaur Trackway, Additions to Silvershield Trail

On Tuesday, April 9th, the Grand Mesa, Uncompahge, and Gunnison National Forests acquired three patented mining claim parcels totaling approximately 27 acres in Ouray County, Colorado. Two of the three parcels contain a rarely recorded fossilized dinosaur trackway comprised of 134 consecutive footprints, 106 yards long, known as the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Track site. The site is recorded as the largest continuous dinosaur trackway in the world. The acquisition solidifies public access along National Forest System Trail (NFST) #199 –Silvershield trail and protects the rare dinosaur tracks for generations to come.

“Acquisition of these new parcels, with the unique dinosaur trackway, highlights our dedication to conservation," stated Jim Pitts, Acting Forest Supervisor for the GMUG. "By preserving these fossilized imprints, we are not only safeguarding a valuable scientific resource but also creating an incredible opportunity for the public to connect with the distant past, inspiring curiosity, education and stewardship." The parcels were purchased from the Charles Real Estate Trust with funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for recreation access. Created by Congress in 1964, the LWCF provides money to federal, state and local governments to purchase land, water and wetlands for the benefit of all Americans.

The Charles family has owned the parcels since 1945, with the dream of prospecting for gold. Jack Charles and his five children often spent their summer vacation packing supplies for their camp to improve the sites and trails. It wasn’t until 2021 that the family became aware that the pothole-like features on their property were prehistoric dinosaur tracks. The tracks, which often held water, were a favorite resting spot for their family dogs. The family approached the Forest Service in 2022 about the agency’s interest in acquiring the land for public and research benefit due to the unique features along the trail.

“The family is happy to offer this unique trackway to the U.S. Forest Service, ensuring that the land is protected and enjoyed by future generations,” said Anita McDonald, daughter of Jack Charles and a trustee of the estate.

The dinosaur trackway is located at 9,300 feet in elevation and is etched in sandstone layers that are over 150 million years old. The tracks were made by a single long-neck sauropod dinosaur, looping in a 270-degree turn, a rarely recorded occurrence in the fossil record of dinosaurs.

Now that the parcels are in public ownership, the Forest Service plans to develop interpretive information, including signage and a web page, to inform visitors about the site's significance and natural history. Those interested in learning more about the trackway can see it via Google Earth or read more about the site's significance here.

Visitors wanting to view the site in person can access the trackway via a two-mile hike (one way) via Silvershield Trail. Trail conditions are steep and rugged, with an elevation gain of approximately 1,600 feet. The trailhead and parking are accessed via County Road 17 near Ouray, Colorado and is open to foot and horse travel only. Parking is limited and located on private property in a residential neighborhood, so please be considerate to others. Visitors are reminded to “know before you go” and be prepared for sudden weather changes or unexpected circumstances.



Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com

Ramble On (2nd edition book on the rich history of hiking)
Exploring Glacier National Park
Exploring Grand Teton National Park