Estes Park earns its accolades

ESTES PARK—Last Thursday, a convoy of cameramen and reporters was supposed to be taken past Many Parks Curve on U.S. 34 to film the country’s bravest plow drivers trying to dig out Trail Ridge Road.

Rocky Mountain National Park’s annual media day was postponed, however, because good old Mother Nature had other plans.

But I didn’t, so after I heard three feet of (new) snow prevented the tour, I decided to continue to Estes Park. Better than going back to the office, I thought, especially when I could maybe spot a bighorn or two.

It was a serendipitous decision, for I came to find out that Thursday was when Estes Park leaders learned they had won four different honors as a top place to spend a day. The Weather Channel, Kids Pages, the Greeley Tribune and TripAdvisor.com all said Estes was a top travel destination.

So I decided to find out why, with no particular hike nor souvenir in mind.

My first stop was Sheep Lakes, just past the Fall River entrance to the national park. In summer, bighorn sheep cross U.S. 34, aided by rangers with orange flags, to feast on the minerals found in lakes on the east end of Horseshoe Park. The animals’ harsh winter diets, coupled with the stress of calving in late spring, means they need the extra nutrients found in the glacial ponds.

There were no bighorns that day, though—just a small harem of elk cows across the meadow, a mountain bluebird and Tom Heuerman.

Heuerman lives in Moorhead, Minn., but travels the Rocky Mountain West with his American Eskimo dog, Casey, and his trusty Nikon camera, capturing images of velvety elk antlers and the peaceful chaos of the country’s national parks.

“I like the vastness of it, and the smells and the sounds,” he said of Rocky.

Heuerman, 62, is a former newspaper executive, a former Secret Service agent who protected President Richard Nixon and a sort of corporate philosopher who writes missives on everything from leadership to politics to South Dakota’s Crazy Horse memorial.

He is one of the unique spirits you can encounter in the park, which counts people from Albert Bierstadt to Marilyn Musgrave among its admirers.

The next stop was the Alluvial Fan, a boulder field created by the Lawn Lake Flood in 1982. The lake’s earthen dam breached on a July morning, releasing 29 million gallons of water that cascaded four miles down to Horseshoe Park. The flood deposited boulders, rocks and sand to create an alluvial fan, which last Thursday provided good hiking for a group of 7th-grade students from Kent Denver School, a prep school in Englewood.

The students, who were on a two-day field trip, corralled around their teacher, squinting at the sun as he explained the flood. Suddenly Mount Chapin disappeared behind a cloud, and 30 seconds later, the wind started howling and snow started falling.

The 7th-graders donned sweatshirts as I ran back to my car and headed into town, where it was 15 degrees warmer and where I ran into newly elected mayor Bill Pinkham.

Pinkham, who hails from eastern Pennsylvania and retired to Estes Park eight years ago, said he loves his adopted town because it’s accessible to people of all ages.

Pinkham and his wife had planned to retire at Lake Winnipesaukee, in central New Hampshire, because that’s where the couple met decades ago and still enjoy visiting with family. But then they visited Estes Park.

“We came up the canyon, looked at the view, did some thinking and said, ‘This is better than New Hampshire,’” Pinkham said.

True, that. It’s no wonder so many settlers stopped when they reached the valley.

Estes Park was founded by a family, a fitting genesis given the town’s reputation for offering something for any age. Even the Arapaho and Ute Indians would spend summers in the Estes Valley with their families, according to Peter Marsh, communications director for the convention and visitors bureau.

In 1858, gold-seeker Joel Estes was hunting, hoping to supply Denver’s growing meat markets, when he and his son came across the valley now named for him. He built cabins for farming and market hunting, according to the national park’s tourism guide, but he didn’t stay long, deciding that ranching was too difficult in the mountains’ short growing season.

The MacGregor family found otherwise, homesteading near Lumpy Ridge in 1873 and forming a successful cattle ranch which still exists. But it was a difficult life, and Estes Park residents still labor to live in the picturesque place, where tourism is now the biggest industry.

Residents survive on tourist shoppers, campers and hikers, but the great outdoors is not something locals enjoy regularly, Marsh said.

He said locals like it when their relatives visit because that’s when they can make time to go horseback riding, for instance, or take a hike.

“We don’t get into the park very often; there’s just not time,” Marsh said. “Everybody works so hard to live here that you don’t get to enjoy why you live here.”

Last Thursday, shop owners and artisans were getting ready for warm weather and the unofficial first event of the summer, the Jazz Fest and Art Walk this weekend.

At the Village Goldsmith, Ron Monroe was bent over a small table, working on gold jewelry he creates with Karen Jirsa. The shop is known for its custom-designed jewelry and gold pendants featuring Longs Peak.

Elkhorn Avenue’s few visitors included a family with small children and some window-shoppers, but stores along the town’s main street, including the Village Goldsmith, will be buzzing during the next few months—at least they hope so, Marsh said.

“A lot of people work very hard in this town. You walk into a shop, it’s very likely going to be the owner” behind the counter, he said. “For the entire summer, from May to October, it’s busy, but by November, if they’re speaking to anybody, it’s amazing.”

Tourism declines in a bad economy, but Marsh is hoping Estes Park will benefit from people who can’t afford the gas to drive to further destinations.

“Folks are still going to travel, but they may do it differently,” Marsh said. “From Boulder to Cheyenne, we hope the folks that live there consider us their backyard.”

Business leaders still expect a tough year, he said, but he hopes the travel rankings will help.

Of the town’s four recent accolades, Marsh said he is most proud of the TripAdvisor ranking, because it’s based on reviews by people who visited the town and offered their opinions.

Estes Park is in good company—it ranks No. 22 on that list, beating New York City and Washington, D.C., and just behind the Hawaii destinations of Poipu, Lahaina, Wailea, Honolulu and Hana.

“This never hurts, and we’re honored to be chosen for that,” Marsh said, adding that he hoped it would help summer tourism.

“Maybe you’ll get that shift, and Estes Park will come out OK. Who knows—check with me in October,” he said.

Well, that’s during the elk rut—just in time for another day trip.