Retired Times and Denver Post outdoor writer Bob Good of Buena Vista has recovered from his auto accident well enough to elk hunt again. Successfully, we see.

Saturday morning’s starting temperature was 43 degrees, but by the time the podium placers crossed the East Main Street finish line, it was nearly 80.

The heat did not seem to phase the eventual champion, who made the kilometer half-century look like another day in the office.

14erFest’s Vitamin B group ride drew three locals Sunday morning.

The trio met at the Black Burro vendor tent on East Main Street before catching a ride to the entrance to Fourmile Recreation Management Area and making their way from there to the Vitamin B trailhead 6 miles north off CR 377.

Overall between weather and local focus, 14erFest could hardly have gone better it seems.

14erFest 2021 kicked things off with a 5k race on Friday, Sept. 24. About 30 people participated and Emily Roth put down the fastest time, finishing the race in a bit over 20 minutes.

Recent dry conditions prompted Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze to implement Stage 1 fire restrictions effective at 8 a.m., Sept. 24 for unincorporated Chaffee County.

The long-range weather forecast predicts little to no moisture for Chaffee County, a press release stated.

The town of Buena Vista and Peak To Peak Pickleball Club took a major step toward funding six new courts adjacent to the existing tennis courts at the Buena Vista River Park.

14erFest is bringing dozens of events to Buena Vista this weekend, starting on Friday and continuing through Sunday. East Main Street will close to vehicle traffic from Colorado Avenue to Court Street to make way for a vendor village and meet-ups for dozens of events.

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.

By D.J. DeJong

A bear that entered a home just east of Highway 40 in Steamboat Springs, trapping the residents inside, was euthanized by Colorado Parks and Wildlife after displaying aggressive behavior with responding wildlife officers.

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.

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.

The Chalk Creek Stampede returns to the McMurry Ranch in Nathrop Sept. 11-12 where BV Racing will open the Colorado High School Cycling League season opener.

BV Racing coach Taf McMurry says the event this weekend still needs volunteers and race marshals for both days. 

Rhonda Davis, left, presents a check for $5,000 on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Racquet Club to Jennifer Eggleston, receiving on behalf of the Peak to Peak Pickleball Club. The pickleballers are constructing courts north of the tennis courts.

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. 

For the third consecutive year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is encouraging hunters to take a friend hunting. 

For the third consecutive year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is encouraging hunters to take a friend hunting. 

The 4-H Showmanship Round Robin at the Chaffee County Fair has received and will continue to receive sponsorship from the Miller family in the form of the Codi Miller Memorial Belt Buckle.

After a close second place finish in Fairplay and win in Buena Vista in this summer’s Triple Crown, Leadville local Marvin Sandoval and his miniature burro Buttercup won the long course race. Tracy Loughlin and burro Mary Margaret of Salida crossed the finish line shortly after.

The annual Buena Vista Pack Burro Race on Curtis Imrie Day burro race brought 85 interspecies teams trotting through Buena Vista’s east side Sunday, Aug. 1.

Curtis Imrie Day in Buena Vista and this year’s second leg of the Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation’s triple crown of burro races will start at 10 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 1.

The National High School Trail Championship race came down to a photo finish for the boys, as brothers Sullivan and Porter Middaugh raced across the finish line just 0.02 second apart, with Porter diving forward trying to beat his older brother.

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.

Dean Zenoni, a retired U.S. Marine Corps master sergeant, rode through Buena Vista on Monday for the middle leg of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.

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.

The Central Colorado Unmanned Aircraft Systems Club invited Chaffee County SWAT and Buena Vista school district representatives to their drone park Tuesday for a flight demonstration and presentation.

The return of the Mountain Mania Car Show drew 126 entrants to East Main Street July 10.

Buena Vista resident Max Champie took home the Grand Champion award with his orange 1969 Chevy Camaro.

 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.

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.

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

After wading into the virtual world last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Buena Vista’s summer kickoff – CKS Paddlefest – is back this weekend with live-action river sports fun.

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 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.

Registration is open for the 2021 OHV Color Tour taking riders through the public lands around Buena Vista.

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.

The town’s first Keep Bewnie Buena event, an expansion of the long-standing spring River Park Cleanup, drew about 150 people of all ages to pick up surface trash not just near the river, but throughout the town.