Small Fire Suppressed Near Twin Sisters Trailhead

This morning, Monday, July 11, Rocky Mountain National Park visitors notified officials that they saw smoke and flames near the Twin Sisters Trailhead. Estes Valley and Allenspark Fire Protection District and Rocky Mountain National Park firefighters responded to the scene. The fire was contained to a 20 feet by 20 feet area. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The quick response from interagency partners made a difference in quickly suppressing and containing this fire.  

There are always fire restrictions in place at Rocky Mountain National Park. Campfires are only allowed within designated campfire rings at select locations in the park, including picnic areas and campgrounds.



Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
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HikinginGlacier.com
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Two Arrested For Role in Nederland Wildfire

High winds Sunday pushed the Cold Springs Fire towards Highway 119 and Boulder Creek Canyon, but fire fighters worked overnight to construct fire lines and protect newly-threatened homes. Total acreage is now estimated at 606 acres with zero containment. Two very small “spot” fires on the south side of Boulder Creek Canyon were fully contained and are being put out. At least 17 engines crews and four, 20-person hot shot crews worked overnight to build fire lines from Highway 119 along the fire’s edge. Crews also conducted some “burn out” operations along the Highway 119 to strengthen fire lines by carefully eliminating fuel between the road and the main body of the fire. Highway 119 remains closed between the town of Nederland and Boulder because of the fire. Updated information about road closures and evacuations is available through the Boulder County Office of Emergency Management at BoulderOEM.com/emergency-status.

Today fire fighters will work to protect homes and keep the fire from spreading across Highway 119 or across the Peak-to-Peak Highway. Air resources working today include five “heavy” helicopters, two Blackhawks from the Colorado Air National Guard, and one smaller helicopter. Fixed wing airplanes, capable of dropping retardant, are available if needed.

Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team 2, Shane Greer, Incident Commander, took command of the fire at 08:30 p.m. Sunday night. “We want to thank the local fire resources, law enforcement and Boulder County for all their hard work thus far,” said Greer. “We plan to continue their good work and get this community back to normal as soon as possible.” A meeting to brief evacuees and community members will be held at 1:00 p.m. today at Nederland High School.

On the afternoon of July 10th at 4:40 pm, sheriff's detectives arrested two men at the Nederland High School evacuation site for their role in starting the Cold Springs Fire.

The fire is currently at 606 acres. The following are some closures to be aware of:

Peak to Peak - Gold Hill to Indian Peaks Hard closure
Boulder Canyon - Sugarloaf to E Street Hard closure
Boulder Canyon - Base to Sugarloaf - Soft closure - residents only Magnolia
Boulder Canyon to Peak to Peak - Hard closure
Sugarloaf - Boulder Canyon to Peak to Peak - Soft closure - residents only
County 126S closed at Peak to Peak
County Road 97 closed at Coal Creek Canyon

You should also note that Stage 1 Fire Restrictions are now in place on the Boulder, Canyon Lakes and Clear Creek Ranger Districts. For more information, click here.

For the most up-to-date information on the fire, visit: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4848/



Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

USFS Introduces New Interactive Visitor Maps

The U.S. Forest Service announced yesterday that they have launched a new online interactive map tool on their website.

Forest visitors can now search for a recreation site or a forest, zoom in on the local map, and view a variety of recreation information for that site. The maps can also be printed (via Settings).

The maps are updated every 5 minutes with site-specific weather watches and warnings from the National Weather Service. And if your Twitter accounts are geo-located, you can see real-time photos, content, and links from your Twitter feed (you must geo-tag for this to work). Wildfire activity across the country is also displayed.

You can visit http://www.fs.fed.us/ivm/index.html for an online view of Forest Service roads, trails, and recreation areas throughout the USA.



Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

Rocky Mountain National Park Announces Safety Checkpoint For July 9th

To help ensure a safe and enjoyable stay for park visitors, Rocky Mountain National Park rangers will be increasing Law Enforcement Patrols and conducting a Safety Checkpoint on Saturday, July 9, on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park.

For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park please call the park's Information Office at (970) 586-1206.



Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
HikingintheSmokys.com

Hundreds of Thousands of Americans Drawn to National Trails Day

American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day® (NTD) motivated outdoor enthusiasts all across America to venture into parks and forests on June 4, 2016. Individuals, trail clubs, non-profits, businesses, and land managers hosted thousands of events from coast to coast in honor of NTD.

This year event hosts offered Americans more trail activities than any other year since 1993, when NTD was first launched. Nationwide, 2,391 activities including hiking, biking, horseback riding, trail maintenance, paddling, geocaching, trail dedications and children activities took place in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. NTD events enticed more than 168,000 adventure-seekers to explore parks and trails.

* 70,900 hikers and trail runners hit the trail at 1,148 events traveling a cumulative distance on foot of 296,400 miles—a distance equivalent to hiking around the Earth 16 times!

* 8,200 cyclists attended 100 bike rides and pedaled a cumulative distance of 164,200 miles.

* 4,000 paddlers attended 72 paddle trips covering 29,500 miles.

* 1,700 equestrians attended 21 horseback trips and rode a cumulative distance of 20,900 miles.

Volunteers made great improvements to critical trail sections across America. Trail stewardship projects brought out 25,900 trail volunteers taking part in 466 projects, building and maintaining 1,200 miles of trails—a value of $2.8 million in sweat equity. “For the last 24 years, individuals from coast to coast have rallied in support of America’s magnificent trails system on the first Saturday of June each year,” remarks Gregory Miller, American Hiking Society President. “The growth and impact of NTD over the years reveals America’s enthusiasm for trails and outdoor experiences. We are looking forward to an even more impactful NTD next year for the 25th anniversary of NTD.”



Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
HikingintheSmokys.com