In this episode of the OutThere Colorado Podcast, Spencer and Seth chat about a wolf that was recently killed by officials, underground fires that rage around the state, a horrific attack that took place in Boulder, a controversial trail project, and more.
[00:00:08] Welcome to the OutThere Colorado Podcast. Once again, I'm Spencer, here with Seth. Hello, hello. And once again, we have a very interesting Colorado show lined up for you. Before we get into all the outdoor recreation news though, it's impossible not to mention the attack that happened in Boulder over the weekend. The suspect in this case is said to have targeted a group of Jewish people who were essentially killed by the police.
[00:00:38] Actually, the group is called Run For Their Lives. Their main focus is increasing awareness about the hostages that are still being held by Hamas. This guy allegedly showed up to one of their events with a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices, so like a Moltov cocktail essentially, and lit several people on fire allegedly.
[00:01:08] He's identified as 45 year old, or the suspect was identified as 45 year old Mohammed Sabri Salman. He was taken into custody at that situation. As that was unfolding, there's videos online, you can find this. He's seen on the ground shirtless. Police seem to take him into custody with, I guess, without much additional conflict once he was on the ground there.
[00:01:35] There were eight victims in this attack, ranging from ages of 52 to 88 injuries spanned serious to minor. So is that still a state on the injuries? I haven't followed along with any news, any update on conditions of people? Yeah, so this information here is coming from a report that is from Associated Press. It's been updated fairly regularly throughout the last 24 hours.
[00:02:04] Yeah, earlier this morning I saw that there were no deaths still as the latest update. But yeah, I wanted to mention that just to start off our show. Very serious situation. Happened on Pearl Street in Boulder, so like a popular tourist spot as well. Awful, awful, awful news. We talk, you know, people tune into the show and hear about what you and me love talking about,
[00:02:30] which is the beautiful landscape and beautiful aspects of Colorado. But, you know, we live in a place like every place where there's hate that all too often occurs. I was going to say all too often prevails, but that is most certainly not the case, you know. Yeah, it definitely rears its head there. Yeah, it rears its head and hopefully, not to get all cheesy, but hopefully love prevails, right?
[00:02:58] Hopefully this is another awful reminder about how we got to come together and quash out this awful bug of hate. So, yeah, definitely thinking about all those victims, hoping for full recoveries. Yeah, and quote from FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. I feel like I always mispronounce his name. But, yeah, this act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts.
[00:03:28] We will speak clearly on these incidents when the facts warrant it. So, something to follow along with that, you know, every Colorado was probably shocked to see that headline. So, yeah, like Seth said, hearts go out to those impacted by this and obviously a horrific act of violence. But, yeah, moving on, though, to some of our more traditional Colorado topics. Good weekend, Spencer?
[00:03:56] Yeah, yeah, a decent little weekend. Did a lot of yard work. So, that tends to be the trend lately. Both Seth and I and Tim all have our yard work projects that we're, you know, just breaking our bodies over every weekend. I think I mentioned, well, yeah, weren't we in here? Did I literally say this last week? Pardon if I did. But, like, there's, like, house shape. You know, there is such a thing as being in house shape. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because you realize all these muscles that you just, like, my wrists are killing me. Like, what the heck?
[00:04:25] Yeah, I was, like... Oh, man. I was swinging an axe trying to get rid of that stump and all of a sudden had random muscles in my legs hurting. Yeah. I guess from, like, swinging an axe, you know? Little pieces of your body you don't know. So, you're still working on that stump. It has you... No, it's good now. It's good now. The stump is officially gone. Nice. I thought it had stumped you. It had it right. Right. Right. It's like a classic battle of, like, man versus nature. You're just trying to get rid of this, like, this, like, you know, decades-old stump in my yard. They don't go easy. Yeah. Got the stump out. Got the roots removed.
[00:04:56] Painstakingly, I might add. And, yeah. So, we're good to go there. Got it filled. Got it covered with mulch. Shaping up. Not gonna lie. All I gotta say is, I tend to think xeriscaping might be the most, shall I say, ethically proper form of landscaping in Colorado in the West. But it is most certainly not the most physically forgiving. Very true.
[00:05:23] Much easier to put down some grass seed than it is to move tons of rock. Literally tons of rock. That's all I got to say about that. But, hey, I'm a fan of xeriscaping. Yeah. Yeah, I gotta have you over to check out a, see if I can get your vote of approval on the design, bud. Oh, yeah. I would love to see it, Seth. Yeah, my big thing right now, though, is trying to redo a lot of the xeriscaping and get some better weed barriers in there because that is a pain. I could be. I could be definitely encountering that. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:05:53] We found a weed barrier rule for, like, 30 bucks, and I'm like, this will be worth it. Man, I think they find a way no matter what. I know. I hope I'm wrong. Don't tell me that. I hope I'm wrong. But I have a feeling they're just going to come anyway. Yeah. So, yeah. Moving on. I honestly didn't do anything too crazy over the weekend. It was a pretty chill weekend, mostly just doing housework. But did pop over to Fossil Brewing. So, big fan of Fossil. Shout out. Shout out to Fossil. Popped over to Urban Animal myself. There you go. What do you think? We always have our quick little local brewery report.
[00:06:22] I know, right? What do you think? They do really good beer over there. They do really good beer. So, same with Fossil. I'm a fan of Urban. Yeah. Fossil, for sure. It hides out. Seems to, I don't know, you know. People should talk about Fossil more. Well, Fossil's cool too, just because it's right there by Red Rock Open Space. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which, for those unfamiliar with Colorado Springs, this little, you know, kind of on that western side of town before you get to Manitou, it's this big open space area that connects to a
[00:06:49] lot of really cool sections in the mountains, but it also has its own trails there. Very good mountain biking, very good trail running. But yeah, it's right there. So, you get a ton of mountain bikers at Fossil. That's right. You go to the Urban Animal downtown location. Nice. I love that spot, man. Yeah, kind of a newer location there. Yeah, and full disclosure, I am a Mug member there. That is where my Mug membership lies. He might be biased. Yeah, he might be biased. But hey, their Mug membership deal is pretty good. You get two free crowlers a month. I noticed that.
[00:07:18] And bigger pours, so. Yeah. I'm a fan. I'm a fan. What beer do you get? Propaganda. Ooh, yeah. Classic IPA. Yeah. I might drink Propaganda, but I don't spread it. There we go. I'm not here to spread it, folks. Well, keep drinking it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, Colorado news. So, what you got? Seth has some pretty exciting topics lined up. But as is tradition, I guess we usually throw out a news story first.
[00:07:46] So, I was just wrapping up for the day on Friday, ready to get out of the office and get my weekend started. Yeah. And, you know, after 4 p.m., this press release comes out, or at least that's when I saw it from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, about how a wolf had been killed in response to chronic livestock depredation that was taking place in Pitkin County.
[00:08:08] So, essentially, between May 17th and May 25th, there were four confirmed depredation events that were believed to have involved this same wolf and these same wolves. I saw one report that said, like, three wolves were involved. But the most notable thing about this is that the wolf that was lethally removed, as Colorado Parks and Wildlife say, from the landscape, its identification number was 2405.
[00:08:38] Right? So, what that means is that this was a wolf born in 2024 in Colorado. So, this is a wolf pup of the Copper Creek Pack. There were five wolves from this litter that they found eventually. The mother wolf, as far as I know, is still alive. The father wolf died of a leg infection. I believe it was due to a gunshot wound, actually. And that was last year.
[00:09:05] But either way, this lethal removal involved a yearling wolf pup that was just born in Colorado and had kind of already started this, like, livestock depredation behavior. So, obviously, it's something Colorado Parks and Wildlife take very seriously. Their hope is essentially that the killing of this one wolf is going to essentially influence this pack, the Copper Creek Pack, first wolf pack to be established in the state to change their behavior.
[00:09:36] So, yeah, interesting situation there. Prior to this, there have been five other depredation events that have been confirmed this year in 2025. There were 19 confirmed depredation events in 2024, or, well, since the reintroduction effort in December 2023. But all those happened in 2024. So, yeah, kind of something that I'm sure there's plenty of internet commentary on this situation.
[00:10:02] The Colorado wolf story is not going away anytime soon. Yeah, and I try to stay away from the news now, like, in terms of, like, covering it constantly just because there are a lot of headlines that come out related to the wolves. This one did feel noteworthy just because it was one of these pups, first pup born in Colorado to die, and it was at the hands of officials, essentially. So, interesting stuff there.
[00:10:27] Also interesting on that same topic, there's four other dens, at least at last report, that are, or potential dens, I should say, that are being monitored this year. Mm-hmm. They essentially can see when two of the collared wolves, male and female, start hanging out in a certain area, then the female disappears for a little while because she's underground in this den, right? The collar doesn't track with GPS properly, or it can't just because she's underground. So, that's kind of the situation that they're looking at.
[00:10:54] So, there's four other cases where they're monitoring that right now, and we'll find out here probably in, you know, next month or so if any of those potential dens resulted in more wolves being born. But if all four of those dens end up having a full litter of wolf pups, right, the general litter size is between four and six. So, that might mean that there's 16 to 24 new wolves in Colorado that were just naturally born here.
[00:11:23] So, interesting stuff there. Yeah, last year, whenever the, with the death of the patriarch of that initial Copper Creek pack, officials actually collected all five of those pups and the mother pup and kind of kept them in a more controlled environment where they were still able to do natural things. But, yeah, but kind of kept them in a space where they could make sure they survived that winter. So, yeah, interesting stuff on wolves. The wolf story continues.
[00:11:53] The wolf saga continues. And Spencer always has the update. I know, man. No, it's good to cover. It's a new resident here. Yeah. You know, we should be paying attention to how that resident is doing. Yeah, it's a hot topic for sure. But, yeah, so, like I said, Colorado Parks and Wildlife takes this situation very seriously in terms of killing any wolf.
[00:12:18] I am curious if it, like, weighed in that it was a young pup, like, you know, or young, you know, it's like, it's an interesting topic. A quote from them is, we have great respect for these animals and take the removal of every wolf very seriously. Removal of problem animals is unfortunate and rare, but consistent with the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. So, yeah, there you go. Some wolf news. Got anything else to say on the wolf news, Seth? I'm out of wolf things to say, man.
[00:12:48] All right. Well, how about we hop to a topic that we've covered a couple times. I'm thinking mad rabbit trails here. Oh, yeah. We've covered the latest. This a little bit, but, yeah, the latest news in this, like, what could be a very cool trail system that has been causing a little bit of controversy out by Steamboat. Yeah. A little bit might be an understatement, my friend.
[00:13:11] Recently, a steamboat city councilor at a recent meeting referred to it as the most contentious trails project in the state, possibly in history. So that kind of, which also speaks to why there's been so much attention statewide to this proposed trail system in northwest Colorado around Steamboat, off Rabbit Ears Pass, called the Mad Rabbit Trails Project.
[00:13:38] Refers to kind of this sweeping, big, would be one of the, you know, in recent memory, I think it's one of the bigger proposed trail projects that I can remember kind of on federal land here in Colorado. Calls for, gosh, I think it's, oh, close to 50 new miles of trail off Rabbit Ears Pass between there and what's called Mad Creek, hence the name Mad Rabbit.
[00:14:04] But, yeah, this has been discussed for the better part of a decade, this idea for this trail system has been floated locally along there. And it's really caused a line in the sand between recreation enthusiasts and others criticizing this trail for vastly impacting wildlife habitat, particularly elk. A lot of concerns about elk habitat there. So, hence the crux of the debate.
[00:14:34] The Forest Service, at the end of this long debate, just pretty recently put out their final notice, as they call it in official government terms, their final notice decision and approved environmental assessment, clearing the way for this trail system. Celebrated by some, and as you can imagine, criticized by many others, including the state of Colorado.
[00:15:02] The state of Colorado throughout this process, i.e. the Department of Natural Resources, which is the department over Colorado Parks and Wildlife, has objected to this plan in the past. That spurred talks of what was called an adaptive management plan, whereby, essentially, this is Forest Service land to manage.
[00:15:28] And Colorado Parks and Wildlife would play some role in wildlife monitoring. From what I can tell, at least from where I was sitting, the details of what that role would specifically be, it seems like those discussions kind of played out internally. Certainly publicly, to an extent. I mean, people following along were aware of this adaptive management plan, where trails would be built while elk were being monitored.
[00:15:57] That's essentially what the idea was. What that collaboration was, I think, was still very much in the works. Regardless, late last year, before Steamboat Springs, a city council, approved $1.6 million for this project. That was the big question. Where was the money going to come from? Steamboat answered that last year, seemingly. That happened just as the state had pulled back their objection. They said, you know, we're good with this adaptive management plan.
[00:16:26] We're going to go on this collaboration. That's kind of the message that was sent, at least, from pulling back that objection. Forest Service comes out with this. Flash forward a few months later. After the money came through, Forest Service puts out this final decision. And the state reinstates, quote-unquote, reinstates their objection. Saying, heck no. This is not what we agreed to. We don't see ourselves playing the role that we had hoped to play. We don't see elk protected.
[00:16:56] Essentially, it was the upshot of this objection. And we're not good with this. So the obvious question, what happens now? The ball is kind of back in Steamboat City Council's court. Because there is concern among locals, among some on the council. Like, is this the plan that we gave money to? Mm-hmm. So later this month, a meeting is set to re-deliberate on that funding. Dang.
[00:17:22] And so kind of the question of, is this project going to happen? Might still be in the air. Local advocates there say, we're going to find a way to make this happen no matter what. But it's not nothing that the state is saying, we're not good with this. It's not nothing that the wildlife officials with the state, essentially, right? Yeah. Department of Natural Resources are saying, we're not good with this. So how does the Forest Service handle that?
[00:17:49] I heard back from the Forest Service where they kind of carefully addressed these disputes. It's, again, if you read the tea leaves, I would say this is very much an issue of authority, right? Where I think one could presume that Colorado Parks and Wildlife wanted to play a role in monitoring,
[00:18:13] wanted to play a role in the timing of this project, in these trails coming to life. And maybe the Forest Service was a little uncomfortable on authority. Where it's, you know, we're answering to a larger public. We've done our environmental assessment. We want to collaborate. That very much came through in responses I got from the Forest Service. We want to collaborate. We want to continue collaborating. We will continue collaborating.
[00:18:42] But it seems a little unclear on just where that adaptive management plan stands at this point. Dang. So that reason for the shift then was just that authority. It was an aspect. At least that's what it seems like. It seems, well, and even, you know, I think the Forest Service said something along the lines of, you know, essentially we could not agree. Well, let me find it. We have the technology. Yeah.
[00:19:10] Could not agree on the requirement or timing of a possible elk study, right? So there was this call for specifically an elk study, quote unquote. And I think there's some disagreement on just what that would look like, how that should look like. And, you know, it's like you and I have talked about before. We're talking about one part of the state. Why does this matter?
[00:19:34] I heard one side on the conservation side of things talk about Keep Route Wild is a group that has really led pushback to this. And initially they were like, you know, we'll step back. This adaptive management plan seems like a potential path for other controversial projects here and beyond. And so that group is now saying, what's the precedent here? Forest Service says they're going to do an adaptive management with collaborating partners and then says, nope, we're good to go.
[00:20:02] That's one interpretation of it, right, to be clear. Another interpretation of it is I heard from a group that's been leading the four, right, the four side of it, saying, how about this for a precedent? You know, we have an agency that is tasked with protecting wildlife that is also committed to funding trails, right? A very robust trails grant program in Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
[00:20:30] Are those, is this a conflicting, is this a situation that underscores a conflicting call, you know, a conflicting duty, shall we say? Right. So it's interesting in that way. I mean, this project has underscored a lot of interesting aspects of how we manage the land and how we partner to manage the land and how we fund it ultimately. Right.
[00:20:57] So here again, we have a local government in the middle of, hey, is it our, is it, are we right to fund this or not? You know? I mean, so, yeah, I think that's why you see a lot of people from all around the state following this situation. Dang. And to kind of give some of the listeners a little bit of perspective too, so I, usually when Seth's talking, I'll pull up his, pull up his reporting on whatever subject we're looking at. His garble? Yeah. Just to see what's going on, you know, and see what he's said in the past.
[00:21:28] But one of the first things that popped up is an August 2023 piece he wrote, it says, another hurdle cleared. So presumably this has been going on for at least two years. Like how long have you been reporting on this topic? Personally, probably the past couple of years. Yeah. But like I said, these talks have been going on the better part of a decade. Dang. Yeah. For mad rabbits. So it'll be interesting to see where the city council lands.
[00:21:56] I kind of tuned into the last meeting where they were discussing, should we vote for this? Should we re-vote for this? Should we not re-vote for this? Ultimately, they are going to open up public comment again. It's going to be a long meeting. I can almost guarantee that. And I was kind of intrigued by what one city councilor said in that, quote, it's not our role as a city council to ask government agencies to get along. If we think we can do that and make a change, we are highly mistaken. So, you know, it's, yeah. What's their responsibility? Yeah.
[00:22:26] Mountain bikers are the ones who really want these trails too. Right. Which it's worth noting, like, when you are talking about, like, wildlife impact, and this is not a bash on mountain bikers by any means, but obviously a bike might be a little bit, you know, more noisy as it's going through the forest than someone just walking. And just more farther roaming. Yeah. Capable, you always say. Yeah. Yeah. Doing 50 miles on a bike is way easier than doing 50 miles on the trail. So, well, dude. Yeah.
[00:22:53] A lot of people in that community see this as kind of like the next big recreation destination. Yeah. That what this would kind of create. Be big for the steamboat area for sure. Yeah. Just in terms of tourism. Yep. But yeah, interesting stuff. So, another saga that kind of keeps continuing in Colorado here between wolves and mad rabbit. Wolves and rabbits. Good follow-up stories here today.
[00:23:19] So, to switch gears, this is something that you and I have been wanting to chat about for a bit of time here. I'm dealing with these underground fires that are burning around the state. Because those also come up. You know? They do. Yeah. You'll see a headline here and there. You will. You know? Small or small wildflower traced to wildfire, pardon me, traced to underground coal fire. Or what have you. Yeah. Yeah. And if you want to read Seth's full report on this, the article's titled,
[00:23:48] The Hot, Toxic, Uphill Battle Against Colorado's Underground Fires. A little older now. Yeah. 2020. Crazy how time flies. Still going on, though. Right. Same situation, though. Right. So, yeah. You want to just give us a breakdown of what you've learned? Yeah. So, I kind of, at least the story starts, I think, maybe in a convenient way to sort of bring this to the table, if you will. So, in 2002, Glenwood Springs had a devastating wildfire. I think it was something like 29 homes were destroyed.
[00:24:17] Just a mass exodus on I-70 out of that beautiful town where a lot of people worried that that town was going down. Yeah. The coal seam fire. It ended up burning more than 12,000 acres. So, name the coal seam fire for that fire that originated from a vent in South Canyon. So, if you're looking south of town, especially around now when snow is melting, on some days
[00:24:45] you can see some steam coming up from the mountainside. And that is originating from this historic fire that started in an old coal mine and has refused to go out because there's a vent providing oxygen, essentially fuel for that fire to continue burning. Right? And these are scattered around the state. Again, traced to this deep history of mining. Here in Colorado and elsewhere. We are certainly not unique in this.
[00:25:15] Pennsylvania has dealt with this issue for a long time. There's a very devastating story there where a whole town, was it called Centralia? Had to be evacuated forever. People had to leave town because of this underground fire causing toxic concerns, I believe. Yeah, you're right. If I'm not calling that. Centralia. Yeah. West Virginia, same thing. They've dealt with this. But I've also talked to people, actually, in those states who say, well, but what makes
[00:25:43] Colorado unique is very simply and very complicatedly your topography. Right? How the heck do you put these fires out? That is a question that the state has not fully answered at this point due to money, the sheer money that is required in putting these things out, and just, yeah, the sheer... I mean, I think I had an official tell me, like, South Canyon. How do you put that fire out? Take the mountain down.
[00:26:13] That's not going to happen. Right? Excavating is the way to do this. Yes. Mm-hmm. But that's extremely expensive, and in a lot of cases, not possible. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, literally bringing the burning parts of the cave out of it. Yeah. Getting to the fire and digging it out. Dang. Yeah. So there was a report, again, from 2020 when I did this story. That was right around the time when the state had ordered a report on, you know, what are
[00:26:43] we looking at here? And that study identified 38 coal mine fires around the state. South Canyon is one of the few still considered highly active, if I'm recalling that right. Many of them posing low to moderate threats. But South Canyon is still deemed, yeah, low or very low risk.
[00:27:07] 12 medium and high levels are listed on the western slope. Well, and a lot of people probably remember the Marshall Fire up in Boulder County area. Right. Their high profile. Initially, there was some concern that that might have been an underground mine that was on fire that started that. I think they ended up saying it was something else. But either way, though, you know, a fear that surfaces pretty... Yeah.
[00:27:35] And in some cases, they're not even, as I'm recalling, you know, like I mentioned, this study outlined 38. But I think a lot of these can't even be assessed because of their toxic nature. Mm-hmm. Right? I mean, you don't want professionals getting close and getting potentially exposed. Mm-hmm. So, big problem in Colorado?
[00:28:01] I don't know if that's fair to say, but definitely a problem and one that is not easy to address at all. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I talked to someone in Glenwood who was evacuated, who was among that exodus out of Glenwood in 2002. And he'll still look up to the canyon and see that smoke going still, you know? And what do you tell people who have those memories?
[00:28:29] How can this be prevented from happening again? It's like, don't awaken the sleeping giant. Exactly. Yeah. No, for sure. Yeah. That's a great way of putting it. Like, there is a beast underground and hopefully it doesn't wake up, you know? Yeah. Dang. I would venture to say that most Coloradans, too, probably have no clue that this is a thing, even. Like, you don't really hear about it unless you happen to stumble on one of these reports or if there's something like in 2002. I would imagine it was getting a ton of coverage there, at least the topic was.
[00:28:58] But, yeah, it's something that not many people know about. And they are very widespread around the state, too, which is interesting. It's not like it's, like, one specific area. Around the Front Range, around Boulder, like you mentioned. Western Slope, for sure. I'm trying to remember where some of these were mentioned. I think at the time when I was reporting this, they were busy at work putting out something in rifle. Yeah. Dang. Yeah.
[00:29:26] Looking at some of these temperature numbers where there's fumes spewing out of cracks at 500 degrees. Yeah. It's something like that's wild. Scary. Especially with the fire situation in Colorado, you know? It's always dry. Yeah. And, you know, even on a day that's seemingly calm, you can have a devastating fire start. It's interesting, too, because you think, oh, well, they're not exposed to wind, right? But it's kind of amazing the way the topography is.
[00:29:53] If you're on a slope and wind gets into that vent and the fire reaches the top and wind can do the rest, you know? Well, that's what happened in South Canyon and Glenwood Springs. And that's something with caves, too, right? It's like one of the ways of finding a new spot in the cave is if you feel a slight breeze blowing through. So it's like a lot of those underground spaces, you know?
[00:30:16] It's like even though it's underground, if there's two holes, essentially, you're going to find a way to get that air through there. That's a trip. So, yeah, that's interesting stuff. Hopefully something that doesn't make headlines, in all honesty. Like you said, yeah, every now and then I think that's why you and I talked a couple or three weeks ago. Maybe we should talk about coal fires because I think it came up in a headline fairly recently. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
[00:30:45] Yeah, so you got two other things that we wanted to chat about here today. I guess two kind of, one of which is like an annual opening, right, in a waterfall destination. Another one that's like this pretty exciting trail that's right on the front range. Yep, yep. You want to tell us about Rainbow Falls first? Rainbow Falls is back, is open again. Manatee Springs. Manatee Springs looking for just a quick little waterfall chase, especially if you got kids.
[00:31:13] You know, this is a good bet at the end of the, really, really pretty much at the end of the street in Manitou, you know, where the street becomes a canyon and inside this canyon is this waterfall. If people are familiar for over the years, you know, it was subject to graffiti concerns. There's a lot of graffiti going up on those rock walls surrounding the waterfall and that forced a closure for some years.
[00:31:36] In more recent years, the land managing El Paso County had talked about rockfall concerns that I closed that parking lot. And they were very concerned about people going back in there. And I think it was, was it last summer where they debuted this new arrangement for parking at the top at Higginbotham Flats? Yes. And then riding a shuttle down. And so that's on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays all day.
[00:32:07] Got to pay $20 to park your car to fund the shuttle system. Feels a little pricey. Yeah, it's got some people. It's got some people upset, you know, about how this is getting managed. People missing the old days when they could just walk up there. But probably there's got to be, I'm recalling the county saying that rock mitigation is going to be a very expensive endeavor.
[00:32:34] So I think there's still a lot of talk about that right now. Dang. It's a pretty waterfall, too. At one point, though, to put it in perspective, like the graffiti was so bad that people called it graffiti falls. Right. Like, and it was like just the walls. And it's a free falling waterfall. So you kind of have like those, you know, the cliffs around it and just covered in colorful graffiti to the point where it almost looked like it was like by design in a weird way. Like where you're like, is this a spot where they've hired people to do this?
[00:33:02] Like it was, but they've since cleaned it up. And you can like, there's not much graffiti at all, if any, around it now. And that was like a painstaking. Yeah, it was like a painstaking effort with that graffiti removal. So. It's a nice little walk in. There's a beautiful, the bridge. You see that bridge, the US 24, Highway 24, spanning over the waterfall. It's kind of a iconic little structure view there. Yeah. That's a pretty spot. Can you walk up to it or do you have to park? That's what I'm trying to figure out, Spencer. As we talk, I'm like, can I just walk up to this thing?
[00:33:32] Because, again, if you're in Manitou, it's at the end of the street. Yeah. Yeah, I see parking on side streets and other prohibited areas could mean a parking ticket. But yeah, I mean, yeah. Walking up. Maybe that's a. Do your research, folks, before you go. Yeah, do your research. But we got another thing that is another exciting kind of outdoor endeavor that people will be able to take advantage of here. And water related. And water related. So yeah, taking place at Horsetooth Reservoir in the area of Fort Collins.
[00:34:01] Everyone knows Horsetooth Reservoir. Certainly one of the more popular water destinations in the state, don't you think? Oh yeah. And yeah, they just opened a new aptly named trail called the Bay to Bay Trail. So it explores, travels about two miles from South Bay and Inlet Bay. So you could start from either side, kind of. If you're familiar with the parking area near South Bay, or there's a swim beach there, I think. Ooh.
[00:34:30] Or from the other side, which is the Blue Sky Trailhead. And that connects over to Inlet Bay, that bay. So South Bay to Inlet Bay. And you could just keep going. I mean, you could take the Inlet Bay Trail to the north, as I'm recalling, kind of heading toward the state park. What is that state park? Horsetooth Mountain State Park? No. No. That's that open space to the south. Oh yeah, you're right. Which I think you can access from Blue Sky, if you just continue on Blue Sky. I think Blue Sky goes miles and miles.
[00:34:59] So it caught my eye as just, oh yeah, a fun new way to see Horsetooth Reservoir. Oh yeah. Make some good connections. Nice shoreline trail. Yeah. Get some good waterfalls. Everyone's like, why would you want to hang out on land if you're at Horsetooth Reservoir? And it's like, good way to see the lake still, man. Yeah. Good way. Good way to take in those foothills. Yeah. For sure. That whole area is cool too. Like I've climbed the Horsetooth Mountain Trail and nice little like intermediate hike and trail there. Beautiful views. Yeah. It's been a while since I've been on that. Been down to Horsetooth Falls too. Is that cool? Oh yeah.
[00:35:29] It's just spur off there, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. It's like kind of the same trail. You start out in the same place for the mountain as the falls and you go one way for the mountain and one way for the falls. But yeah, no, the falls were cool. Like it's a kind of little hangout area. When we were there, there were a bunch of families, you know, just kind of sitting around this beautiful scene. So yeah, if I live closer to Fort Collins, I'd be hanging out at Horsetooth Falls. Shout out Fort Collins. Yeah. Fort Collins. Great, great spot. Fun little personality. Good beer town. Mm-hmm. Love Odell.
[00:35:58] Is that your favorite Fort Collins pick? Good question. I knew you were going to ask that. Producer Tim is shaking his head yes over here. It's a good space too. Really good space. Good vibe. Trying to think, like there's definitely some good small ones around there. There are. Scrumpy's Hard Cider we're hearing from Producer Tim. Love Hard Cider. Producer Tim with his longest residency in the state among the team. Producer Tim.
[00:36:28] Stumpy's Hard Cider. I mean, I like even just like the new Belgium tour. You know, we've talked about it before. Yeah, yeah. But it's a fun spot. It's a cool spot to hang out. It's cool to see that. Purpose. Purpose brewing. There's a small, small, very experimental brewery started by really the founding brewer of New Belgium. What's the purpose of it? The purpose of it. I think the purpose is to not be a big brewery. Yeah.
[00:36:57] Which he knew all too well. Peter Bockhart, if I'm recalling his name right. Very much considered like a father of craft beer in America. Literally, New Belgium brought him over from Belgium. I didn't get it. And a lot of people, you know, a lot of people would say, well, my first craft beer was Fat Tire, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, many have called him kind of like, have credited him for inspiring the craft beer taste buds of a generation, you know, in America.
[00:37:26] So now his whole project in more recent years has been purpose brewing. Interesting. Funky beers. Speaking of funky, I like Funkworks. That's a Fort Collins one that I'm a fan of. Great one. And a great segue. Good job, Seth. Great one. We're good at segues. Yes. Also, Horse and Dragon Brewing Company. And it's right there, isn't it? Close to Funkworks? Yeah. I think so. Yeah. It's another popular one that has some very good beers. The list is, I mean, there's what, two dozen, three dozen breweries probably in the Fort Collins area.
[00:37:56] Yeah. Yeah. No shortage of breweries. No shortage of breweries in Fort Collins. And good food. Yeah. And good food. Great food. All right. Cool. Well, yeah, I think that's about all we've got to chat about today. Sweet. So I hope you enjoyed the show and we will be back at some point next week. With more riveting content. With more riveting content. Until next time, though. I'm Seth. And I'm Spencer. And we will see you out there. Nice. There we go. Mixing it up. Got to keep them guessing.
[00:38:25] I'll let you have this one. Yeah. Yeah.