When Colorado leaf-peeping season ends, go to Kansas for fall colors

When Colorado leaf-peeping season ends, go to Kansas for fall colors

I grew up in the Midwest, and if there’s one thing I really miss, it’s the long, drawn-out falls of years past. Here in Colorado, autumn is a blip, a frantic shoulder season that usually includes one nightmarish day stuck in I-70 traffic with my kids, all of us racing to Kenosha Pass, hoping to … Read more

Colorado public lands would get protection under Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act

Colorado public lands would get protection under Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act

More than a third of the public land in one of Colorado’s top ranching and tourism counties could receive increased protections if a bill introduced by the state’s U.S. senators Thursday becomes law. The Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act would place more than 730,000 acres of federal public land in Gunnison County and surrounding areas … Read more

5 bison dead after 2 vehicles hit them in Elk Island National Park: Parks Canada

5 bison dead after 2 vehicles hit them in Elk Island National Park: Parks Canada

Five bison are dead after two vehicles hit them in a national park east of Edmonton early Thursday morning, Parks Canada says. RCMP are investigating the incident, which killed three bison and injured two others so severely they had to be euthanized. It is the most calamitous collision the park has recorded, according to Dale Kirkland, superintendent … Read more

Why an Alaska island is using peanut butter and black lights to find a rat that might not exist

Why an Alaska island is using peanut butter and black lights to find a rat that might not exist

On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it.  A rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a … Read more

Baby hippo Moo Deng becomes internet sensation

Baby hippo Moo Deng becomes internet sensation

CHONBURI, Thailand —  Only a month after Thailand’s adorable baby hippo Moo Deng was unveiled on Facebook, her fame became unstoppable both domestically and internationally. Zookeeper Atthapon Nundee has been posting cute moments of the animals in his care for about five years. He never imagined Khao Kheow Open Zoo’s newborn pygmy hippo would become … Read more

Why Salida is an RV family’s paradise, per RV Trader

Why Salida is an RV family’s paradise, per RV Trader

So you’ve packed the RV with road trip essentials and your kids’ favorite snacks for the drive. Where to? Well, if you really want to wow the little ones, head to Salida. That advice comes courtesy of RV Trader, which recently culled a list of five RVing destinations that will “blow your kids’ minds.” The … Read more

Endangered Vancouver Island marmot numbers get a boost

Endangered Vancouver Island marmot numbers get a boost

Wildlife researchers are optimistic for the future of the critically endangered Vancouver Island marmot species, after they counted a record 86 wild-born pups this summer. The Vancouver Island marmot, which is endemic to its namesake, is one of the country’s most endangered species. The Marmot Recovery Foundation estimates there were fewer than 30 in the wild about 20 years … Read more

Would Colorado’s mountain lion population grow if hunting is banned?

Would Colorado’s mountain lion population grow if hunting is banned?

For decades, licensed hunters have killed hundreds of Colorado mountain lions every year to control the state’s population of the elusive feline. Voters in November will decide whether to ban the practice, along with the trapping of bobcats. That prospect has set off a deluge of competing claims about what will happen if big-cat hunting … Read more

Rocky Mountain National Park hikes: Glacier Creek Trail

Rocky Mountain National Park hikes: Glacier Creek Trail

In 1908, Abner and Mary Alberta “Bert” Sprague built a summer cabin in Glacier Basin. By 1910, they were living in it full time, operating it as a lodge that sat in what is now the Sprague Lake parking lot. Because of their love for the area and their impact on Glacier Basin – to … Read more