Watch out for bears while camping, hiking and backpacking in Colorado bear country

Colorado is home to a large population of black bears–estimated at 17,000-20,000 animals–and the majority of them live in areas where humans camp, hike, and backpack. This summer, CPW is reminding the public to be BearWise to avoid conflicts when enjoying our wonderful outdoors.

Most conflicts between people and bears can be traced to easily accessible trash, human food or other attractants with strong odors. A bear’s natural drive to eat can overcome its fear of humans. When bears become too comfortable around humans, they can destroy property or even threaten human safety.

As of June 12, 2026, CPW has received 1,192 reports of bear activity across the state.

“Most conflicts between people and bears begin when bears gain access to food, garbage or other attractants left by people,” said CPW Area Wildlife Manager Tim Kroening. “Properly storing food, securing trash and pet food, and keeping campsites clean helps protect both people and bears. If a bear visits your campsite, make loud noises by yelling, clapping, blowing a whistle or using an air horn, and always give the bear a clear path to leave. These actions can discourage bears from becoming comfortable around people and help prevent future conflicts.”

Bear reports are high this year, likely due to the generally warm and dry winter Colorado experienced impacting natural forage opportunities for bears. This year, it is even more important that humans not provide unhealthy, unsafe food attractants for bears.

“When camping or recreating in bear country, carry bear spray, stay alert and report concerning bear encounters to Colorado Parks and Wildlife,” Kroening said.

For more information on bears in Colorado, visit cpw.state.co.us/living-bears.



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From Montana to New Mexico, the American Rockies stretch for more than a thousand miles. Within this spectacular mountain range are thousands of miles of hiking trails. With such an overwhelming number of options, how will you find and choose the most scenic and rewarding hikes?

Ultimate Hiking Guide to the Rocky Mountains takes all the guesswork out by focusing on some of the most amazing hikes across this range, and provides you with a handpicked list of options that will allow you to make the most of your trips in the Rockies:

The first trail guide published in the United States

The following is an adaptation from Ramble On: A History of Hiking.

In 1882, William Pickering published Walking Guide to the Mt. Washington Range, which is arguably the first hiking trail guide to be published in America. The book also contained a topographical trail map, which is likely the first published trail map for the White Mountains.

Though there were a handful of other guides that preceded his book, I would argue that Pickering’s volume is the first modern trail guide. And while the guides published before 1882 provided excursion information for peaks in the White Mountains, they devoted very little ink to route descriptions or any other information that modern hikers normally consider important. These older books functioned more as travel guides that included generic hiking information, and focused heavily on descriptions of the scenery one could see from the various mountaintops. Pickering’s book, on the other hand, provided fairly detailed route descriptions, mileage, elevation data, estimated times to complete each hike, water sources or lack thereof, as well as potential hazards and obstacles that hikers might need to be aware of.

Pickering’s guide preceded the Appalachian Mountain Club’s authoritative White Mountain Guide by 25 years.



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Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century. What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.

Pike National Forest increases fire response capability along the Front Range

On April 24, Deputy Chief for Fire and Aviation Management Sarah Fisher approved the addition of the Monument Helitack crew to the Forest Service helicopter short-haul programs. The program recently moved forward to complete short-haul ground and flight training. The crew completed ground training this spring at the Monument Fire Center on the Pike National Forest, followed by a short-haul flight training in McCall, Idaho, in early June.

The Forest Service short-haul program began operations in 2015 and was initially used for medical extraction. Since then, the program has expanded to include inserting aerial delivered firefighters.

“The addition of the short-haul capability will be extremely beneficial both regionally and nationally,” said Mike Spink, zone aviation officer. “As we get closer to the heart of fire season, this will increase our readiness and preparedness to respond to medical emergencies that occur on an incident and responding in difficult terrain.”

The Forest Service manages most of the large firefighting aviation assets for the federal government, including helicopters, airtankers, smokejumper planes and other fixed-wing aircraft. These assets are used across all jurisdictions.

Monument Helitack is a 10-person wildland fire crew based in Monument, Colorado on the Pike National Forest. They are focused on providing highly trained firefighters and aviation managers to increase our response capacity for initial attack and large fire support both regionally and nationally.

The Forest Service will continue to respond to fires in an aggressive, coordinated and unified response with interagency partners, states, tribes and local governments.



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Check out our online trail guides:

• Glacier National Park: HikinginGlacier.com

• Grand Teton National Park: TetonHikingTrails.com

• Rocky Mountain National Park: RockyMountainHikingTrails.com

• Ramble On: A History of Hiking

Make History This Father’s Day: The Ultimate Gift for Dad

Father’s Day is rapidly approaching! Do you know what you’re getting “dear old dad?” If I had to guess, I bet he loves history. And if your dad’s a hiker, or simply loves the outdoors, I bet he would absolutely love to read Ramble On: A History of Hiking!

Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time for Amazon to ship a copy to you or directly to your dad.

Here are a couple of reviews of the first edition of the book:

"Doran's book is a treasure: a well-written, entertaining, knowledgeable, and exactingly researched book on the roots of hiking and hiking clubs, the history of trail-making, the evolution of hiking gear and clothing, and the future of hiking on overcrowded trails. Doran weaves the social, cultural, industrial, and political milieu into this fascinating history. Amusing, astonishing, and sometimes alarming anecdotes, along with photos, footnotes, and an extensive bibliography, make this a fascinating and significant account of the history of hiking."

- Appalachian Footnotes, Delaware Valley Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club

Others:

* National Parks Traveler

* MAZAMA Magazine

* Hiking For Her



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Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century. What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.

GMUG Proposes Recreation Fees for Blue Lakes Area: Comment period runs thru August 31

The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests’ Ouray Ranger District is proposing new recreation fees for the Blue Lakes area in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness.

Under the proposal, visitors would pay a fee of $25 per site for an overnight permit and $5 per person for a day-use permit during the peak season, which is expected to run from June 1 through September 30. Permits would be available through Recreation.gov, which adds an additional processing fee — currently $6 for overnight permits and $1 for day-use permits.

“We’ve seen unprecedented visitation in recent years, which has led to overcrowding and resource damage,” said Dana Gardunio, Ouray District Ranger. “The majority of the revenue generated from the fees would be used on-site to manage these areas, which is key to allowing us to reduce resource damage and continue providing high-quality recreation opportunities.”

The fee proposal is the next step in a larger effort to address overcrowding and resulting impacts in the Blue Lakes area within Mount Sneffels Wilderness. Fees would fund restoration of heavily damaged areas, increased ranger presence, trail and site maintenance, and improvements to recreation area amenities.

In 2004, Congress passed the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (REA) which allows the Forest Service to retain at least 80% of the money collected at recreation sites and use these funds locally to operate, maintain, and improve these sites. Revenue collected through recreation fees would help the forest improve infrastructure at recreation sites and fund additional recreation staff during the season of operation. Recreation fees help provide quality recreation opportunities that meet the modern expectations of visitors and creates a more financially sustainable recreation program for future generations.

The public is invited to comment on the proposed recreation fee changes. The comment period will start on June 1 and close on August 31. To ensure that your comments are considered, please send your comments no later than the above date to sm.fs.bluelakes.vump@usda.gov

Comments can also be provided online at https://arcg.is/qyij80.

In order to provide more details and answer questions on the fee proposal, the GMUG will also host a webinar on June 15 from 5-6 p.m. Link to access the meeting will be available here.



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Check out our online trail guides:

• Glacier National Park: HikinginGlacier.com

• Grand Teton National Park: TetonHikingTrails.com

• Rocky Mountain National Park: RockyMountainHikingTrails.com

• Ramble On: A History of Hiking