Buena Vista’s 14erFest returns Sept. 24–26 bringing a wide range of outdoor activities and events. 2021’s fest will be the fourth. Attendees grew from the low triple digits in 2018 to around 2,000 in 2019.
Chaffee County Search and Rescue-North capped off the high season with a daring night rescue at Chalk Cliffs on Sept. 7.
The group was also activated the following morning to respond to a medical distress call from the Three Apostles basin west of Mount Harvard. Both rescues were successful.
Buena Vistans have waited more than 25 years to realize their vision of a trail bridge over Cottonwood Creek upstream from the intersection of Marquette and Arizona streets.
High Rocky Riders presented Colorado Off Road Enterprises founder Marcus Trusty with a $1,000 check at their recent meeting. Trusty said he started the stewardship group to do something positive for outdoor riders.
A siren cued the fishing lines to fly into the Town Lake at McPhelemy Park for the annual Kid’s Fishing Derby on Sept. 4.
A total of 69 fish were caught by the 107 kids registered for the event.
Chaffee County is among 25 counties, 42 projects, to receive funding under the Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation program from the Colorado State Forest Service.
The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Steve Reese, the first Colorado State Parks manager for the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, during GARNA’s 25th Birthday Bash Fundraiser.
Children will once again be able to cast their fishing lures at McPhelemy Park for the annual Kids’ Fishing Derby on Saturday, Sept. 4.
The event is open to all girls and boys under the age of 15 for no entry fee.
Indicators from town sales tax revenues to the Friends of Fourmile annual Memorial Day survey report confirm the impression one gets cruising around Buena Vista — outdoor recreation tourism is way up. How are roads holding up to the increased use?
For the third consecutive year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is encouraging hunters to take a friend hunting.
A group of 90 United States Air Force Academy cadets from around the world are taking to the trails, rivers and crags of the Upper Arkansas River Valley this summer.
The Salida Ranger District manages the new Chaffee Rec Rangers’ work on all public lands in Chaffee County.
The program was developed under the Chaffee County Outdoor Recreation Management Plan to help address the impacts of dispersed camping.
The results of the Friends of Fourmile’s 13th annual Memorial Day weekend visitor use survey are in. The report shows that camping and recreational usage were record-breaking this year.
Natalie Lewis, owner of the local package and shipping business Mailboxes, has successfully summited all of Colorado’s 14ers.
A group of state and local stakeholders with vested interest in the upper Arkansas River watershed met at Hayden Meadows last week for a walking tour of the recreation area. Mike Conlin, facilitator of Lake County Open Space Initiative, led the tour and presented on future plans for Hayden Meadows.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook, which will likely be upgraded to a hazardous weather warning, for weather arriving today and lasting through Sunday, meteorologist Paul Steward said.
The big (game) day is almost here! Hunters mark their calendars for the first Tuesday in August each year to take a shot at any big game hunting licenses remaining after the primary and secondary draws.
A Colorado Springs man on a commercial rafting trip in The Numbers section of the Arkansas River north of Buena Vista died when the raft he was in flipped at rapid No. 5 at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Sick and dying birds have been reported in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife is watching for any signs of similar concerns in Colorado.
For members of Trout Unlimited, resource conservation comes first.
A new Chaffee Rec Adopters program that enables public lands stewardship begins this month.
Volunteers are needed to use a newly developed mobile app to inventory dispersed campsites at twice monthly meet-up and training events. Adopters also can inventory sites on their own and take actions in areas important to them, once they receive a short training.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife issued its annual warning to avoid elk, moose and deer that have newborn calves and fawns this time of year.
Buena Vista nonprofit elevateHER has hired a new executive director, according to a June 17 press release. Daniela Wohlwend has taken over for Kristen Van Norman, who founded the organization in 2017.
Central Colorado Conservancy, a Salida-based nonprofit, was recently awarded $390,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The money is from the foundation’s Restoration and Stewardship of Outdoor Resources and Environment (RESTORE) program.
Envision Forest Health Council partners will treat the overgrown forest above the Arkansas River north of Buena Vista to improve wildlife habitat and reduce risk of wildfire and its potential effects on area residents and infrastructure.
The Chaffee Recreation Council is providing a draft of the Chaffee Recreation Plan for community feedback. The plan’s goals are to protect natural resources, maintain exceptional outdoor experiences and sustain the economic benefits of recreation tourism.
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Central Colorado Conservancy, a Salida-based nonprofit, was recently awarded $390,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The money is from the foundation’s Restoration and Stewardship of Outdoor Resources and Environment (RESTORE) program.
Envision Forest Health Council partners will treat the overgrown forest above the Arkansas River north of Buena Vista to improve wildlife habitat and reduce risk of wildfire and its potential effects on area residents and infrastructure.
The Chaffee Recreation Council is providing a draft of the Chaffee Recreation Plan for community feedback. The plan’s goals are to protect natural resources, maintain exceptional outdoor experiences and sustain the economic benefits of recreation tourism.
As FIBArk weekend approaches, Tom Waters, director of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, said the river is getting close to peak flow.
Chaffee County will apply DuraBlend on multiple county roads for dust mitigation starting Monday.
The Friends of Browns Canyon is seeking volunteers for a work project to build buck and rail fence at the north end of Browns Canyon National Monument.
Local ranch co-owner David Puchi has partnered with RareWaters, a fly-fishing company based in Denver that offers affordable fly-fishing on private lands throughout Colorado and Wyoming.
Puchi is part of a small group that owns the historic Maverick Ranch in Wellsville. The ranch is about 5 miles outside Salida, and the Arkansas River runs through it.
Chaffee County Search & Rescue-North held their first in-person meeting in over a year June 1.
The Buena Vista Public Library hosted representatives from the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative and Chaffee County Search & Rescue–North for a talk with a crowd of about twenty hiking enthusiasts at McPhelemy park on Friday.
A couple years ago I was visiting a loved one at a nursing home when I heard a quiet voice whispering “help me.”
The Chaffee Recreation Council offers opportunity for the public to review elements of the Chaffee Rec Plan starting today on the Envision Chaffee County website.
Both Chaffee, Gunnison sides of the pass to be opened
The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association will accept entries from May 22-July 1 for its seventh annual photo contest for Upper Arkansas River Valley nature photos, celebrating the group’s 25 years of nature education and stewardship.
elevateHER, the Chaffee County nonprofit that connects young women with the great outdoors, empowering them and building foundational skills for careers in the outdoor industry, will be hosting its first Climb-a-Thon fundraiser on Friday, May 28.
Join GARNA and Stephanie Shively, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service Salida Ranger District from 7 to 8 p.m., Thursday, May 20, for a presentation on the status of the boreal toad in the Pike and San Isabel National Forest.
More than half of all Coloradans live in the wildland-urban interface, where homes and other structures meet wildland vegetation, and are at some risk of being affected by wildfire.
Join Greater Arkansas River Nature Association executive director Dominique Naccarato for a fun, experiential introduction to birding in the Upper Arkansas Valley from 8:30-10:30 a.m., Saturday, May 8, at Sands Lake in Salida.
A Colorado Parks and Wildlife pathologist found human remains inside the stomachs of a sow and her yearling bear that CPW wildlife officers suspect of killing and eating a 39-year-old woman Friday north of Durango.
Work on the trail to the summit of Mount Columbia, long considered one of the more miserable climbs in Colorado’s repertoire of fourteeners, is nearly complete after five seasons of work, but for the time being the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative will be moving on to other projects.
Someone once said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But every spring Colorado Parks and Wildlife adds another item to that list – bears emerging from hibernation.
To help landowners create defensible space around their homes, Chaffee Chips will coordinate free neighborhood slash removal and chipping services in four geographic areas this year.
If you think this week’s regular season finale has a playoff feel to it, you’re not alone. No. 1-ranked Buena Vista (4-0) travels to No. 3 Estes Park (4-1) for a noon kickoff Saturday.
The weirdness of spring football and its necessitated cozy scheduling suddenly has a sense of electricity, the kind urgency brings – an urgency borne of playoff seedings on the line.
The Pike and San Isabel National Forests Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands Salida Ranger District is extending the dates for seasonal road closures in the Four Mile Travel Management Area which will now be in effect from Dec. 1-April 30 each year.
The Bureau of Land Management Royal Gorge Field Office opened a public input period Tuesday on the subject of dispersed camping in BLM-managed lands in Chaffee County.
After extending its 2020-21 season by a week, Monarch Mountain closed its season Sunday, setting a record for visitor numbers despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Randy Stroud, Monarch general manager, said in setting its season record, it broke the 200,000 mark for the first time.
Colorado Mountain College will host its fifth sustainability conference from 9 a.m. to noon, April 23. Presented by the Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability Studies program, “Envision Sustainability 2021,” will be accessible through Zoom across CMC’s district and beyond.
GARNA executive director Dominique Naccarato will host an hour-long Zoom lecture from 7-8 p.m., April 15 about birding, an exciting way you can interact with nature anytime and anywhere.
The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association and Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative lead forester Andy Lerch will lead an interpretive hike through areas just above Monarch Park, where ARWC and the US Forest Service have worked to mitigate fire danger.
Competitors have followed the path of spring runoff since 1999, skiing from the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass for 6 miles, then mountain biking in the shadow of Mount Shavano for a 17 mile ride to the banks of the Arkansas River where whitewater kayaks take paddlers into downtown Salida.
The Arkansas River Basin has the best water supply outlook in the state with a streamflow volume forecast of 86 percent of average following recent storms that brought heavy snow accumulations to the eastern slope.
Construction on U.S. 50 will cause significant delays between Gunnison and Montrose in the upcoming months starting April 19, and will likely affect traffic patterns in the Central Peaks Region as motorists will drive north or south on U.S. 285/24 to avoid it.
Mountainfilm on Tour brings a selection of culturally rich, adventure-packed, and incredibly inspiring documentary films curated from the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride.
Snow in the mountains, sun in the valley and spring break have combined to inspire legions of people to visit Buena Vista recently. And while business owners and their staff members rejoice as visitor dollars help make up for a difficult year, the surge in tourism also brings challenges for the town’s trail network.
One, near the Tunnels north of Buena Vista has been vandalized. Fourmile volunteer Alan Robinson discovered the damage to the sign, as well as damage to the newly built Bureau of Land Management restrooms at the CR375 parking area.
At its virtual meeting last week, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to approve a new Colorado State Wildlife Area Pass as an option to access state wildlife areas. The new pass will go on sale May 1, 2021.
In 2020, the Friends of Fourmile organization of the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association received a grant from the Chaffee Common Ground Fund with an ambitious objective attached.
The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association is seeking the next generation of leadership for its board of directors.
The 2021 GARNA/CPW nestbox monitor volunteer training session will be held virtually from 5 to 6:30 pm., Tuesday, March 23.
Signs officially marking the path of the Stage and Rail Trail, a planned 70-mile cycling trail that closely follows the rail line of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad between Salida and Leadville, were recently erected along CR 371, a big step in a very gradual process to create a long-distance cycling trail in Chaffee and Lake counties.
The Bureau of Land Management’s Rocky Mountain District fire staff recently completed two large fuels reduction projects in Chaffee County.
While CKS Paddlefest “as it has happened in the past” will not be taking place this Memorial Day weekend, some of the land-based competitions that make up the riversports celebration are moving ahead.
Beginning in November and extending through May 1, the Cottonwood Pass area becomes one massive state park, beloved by snowmobilers, cross-country skiiers and fat-tire bikers alike.
Hunters hoping to draw a big-game license in Colorado in 2021 are urged to review the changes in license requirements and fees prior to the March 1 opening of the application period (March 1 – April 6 at 8 p.m. MT). For a good overview of what’s in store, watch CPW’s “What’s New” video for the 2021 big-game seasons.
A Colorado Springs man who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor poaching charges in three counties likely will never legally hunt again in Colorado or 47 other states after a Colorado Parks and Wildlife hearing examiner permanently suspended his hunting privileges.
After a bit of a slow start to the ski season at Monarch Mountain, snow storms have been steadily hitting the ski area during the last month.
The mountain has received 25 inches of snow in the last seven days as of Thursday and received a measurable amount of snow in 12 of the first 18 days of February, said Scott Pressly, Monarch’s vice president of mountain operations.
When Charlie and I both wore the clothes of younger men, I owned a successful organization that provided hunting and fishing opportunities for folks in several states in addition to packaging trips to exotic locations worldwide in the same pursuit.
February is only halfway over, but it’s already been one of the deadliest months for avalanches in the history of Colorado. Six people have died in avalanches already this month, including two more during the weekend, bringing the number of fatalities to 10 this season.
In December, Chuck and Lindy Chicowitz sold the whitewater rafting outfitter they started on the Upper Arkansas River in 1983. Noah’s Ark will now have two longtime employees at the helm.
As temperatures dipped rapidly Saturday evening, Chaffee County Search & Rescue-North and a Chaffee County Sheriff’s deputy were called to Browns Canyon National Monument to escort a group of hikers back to the trailhead.
Are you curious about our local wildlife? Join the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) for a virtual lecture, “A Wildlife Wander”, presented by Ryan Kempfer and Chris Kassar of Elk Raven Photography.
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