Bear breaks into bedroom; Tarantulas emerge; Two 14er deaths; Mudslide at the Maroon Bells; & More

[00:00:05] We are back! It's been a while. Welcome to another episode of the The OutThere Colorado Podcast. Once again, I'm Spencer here with Seth. Hello, Spencer. We got Tim Page in the booth over there. Hello, Tim Page in the booth. Yeah, so back in the studio after about a week, week and a half off. Back in the saddle, as we say here out west. There you go. I like it. Someone's gonna make fun of me for that. Got a lot of news, but first, it is football season again. I know. And we know what that means. That means our listeners are familiar. Yeah, fair warning to everybody.

[00:00:35] A quarter of the show turns into a football show. Yes. Largely regarding my beloved Chicago Bears. And I provide the updates on the Broncos. Yeah. And occasionally, whatever else comes to mind. But whatever. Are you a fantasy guy? We'll try. I am doing fantasy this year. My fantasy team got the third highest points in our league and I lost. Yeah, well, the Bears got the second highest. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the Bears set a record though. I was gonna say the Bears look like the greatest.

[00:01:05] The greatest football team ever. I mean, they were playing the Panthers. Of all time. Who scored a lot of points. They did. I was watching a replay. Maybe that's our problem too. I was watching a replay last night that happened to be on when I was out getting some tacos. And I saw it was 31-31 at one point. And I was like, ooh. And then all of a sudden, you know. Things got a little weird. Bears are a late game team. The surge, yeah. Yeah, they get that surge.

[00:01:28] Man, 59 points, brother. Yeah. It was the most points ever scored in an opening week game, correct? Between both teams. Yeah. I'm trying to be honest. I know I just said they're the greatest football team in history. But I'm kidding, man. I mean, I don't. I try not to get too excited. Yeah, you said. You said. I try to keep it calm. When I said the Panthers got a lot of points or whatever, you look at that like a sense of pride. That might be saying something about the Bears' D also. We'll see. Maybe the Panthers will be a star team this season. I have faith in the Bears, though.

[00:01:58] But clearly, we're just going to score 50 points every game. So it doesn't matter. Yeah. For the sake of you, I will be hoping the Bears are. At the very least. Live up to their potential. At the very least, they're a fun team to watch. They are a fun team to watch. Broncos, though, not so fun to watch. I was surprised by that. I was on a plane looking at someone else's screen like a seat ahead of me. Lost to the. I was freeloading on his YouTube TV. That's what he got to do. Yeah, lost to the Chiefs 31-10.

[00:02:26] The Chiefs were at home, right? At Arrowhead Stadium. So I was expecting the Broncos to lose. I was not expecting Bo Nix to just limit himself to little five-yard passes all game. O-line looked like it had some holes in it a little bit. A lot of pressure on Bo Nix. And we saw how he reacted to that pressure, and it was not great, I don't think. A lot of rolling out to the left and throwing across his body. Yeah. But that's enough football talk. The lights got pretty bright for Bo Nix.

[00:02:53] Yeah. Hopefully he can get it together. Obviously, he was injured last year and a very disappointing end to the season for Broncos fans. I will say, so watch the game with a couple of buddies at Sportsbook. It's a new sports bar in downtown Colorado Springs. Is that cool? Very cool. All right. I'm like, I want to be here for every sporting event. And there's one in Denver, right? Yeah, I believe so. But yeah, they had some massive TVs, like massive projector screen, like massive TVs.

[00:03:21] Three of those, I think, stretching down one wall. TVs everywhere. It was packed. Like, there was not a table available. We had to buddy up with some people just to find some seats. Yeah. But we'll definitely be back. I did not try the food there, but the food looked good. Okay. It looked like they had some really good cheese curds. Yeah. And you know, Stoney's on the other side of Taylor Street opened up to prime to be another game day hangout, right? I've heard good things about that spot as well. I mean, it's a great space. Mm-hmm.

[00:03:49] You know, people familiar here with Oscar Blues. Yeah. That's the old space of the Oscar Blues. So it's kind of a turnkey operation there, as far as I know. Yeah. And I mean, I've been saying it for a while. We need like a true sports bar. And Sportsbook felt like a true sports bar where it's just a massive open space and just a ton of tables in there. Yeah. Where it's like everyone cheering. Like, it really caters to that, I think. So yeah, cool spot. Shout out to Sportsbook. Got to check out Stoney's next for sure. But yeah. Okay. What news we got?

[00:04:18] We missed a lot of stuff. I'm texting my wife on the podcast. Spencer says we got to go to Sportsbook. There you go. Sometimes I do some live texting. Make your reservations. Is that inappropriate? I'm sorry, Spencer. Oh, you're totally good. I might be breaking decorum here. Yeah. Get her on. Let's FaceTime her. Let's... I don't think she's ever listening. She has to say. Yeah. So first thing that I wanted to talk about today, two more bear attacks occurred this last weekend. Yeah.

[00:04:48] Bear attacks number nine and bear attack number 10. For the year. So like, I mean, you never hear... You might hear about one or two bear attacks that happen in a year, but not double digits, right? And we haven't even entered that more active season for bears as they're really trying to pack on the calories for hibernation. But yeah, so to get into these attacks, because they are pretty wild too. I think a lot of times in the past, these attacks have maybe involved like a bear, like,

[00:05:18] you know, passively swiping at a hiker or something, no injuries. But both of these attacks were very brazen, we'll say. So this first attack took place on September 11th involving a camper who was in her tent near South Fork, right? This bear comes up at night. She's in her tent. And all of a sudden, she feels something bite her through the tent wall, right? Like, obviously a tent wall is not really protection, even though it feels like protection. And then she heard some growling as well.

[00:05:47] Whenever she called the officials, I think Colorado Parks and Wildlife showed up. It was determined that, yes, it was a bear that had bit her through the tent on her arm. So that's the first story. Was she... She was transported to the hospital for some medical care, but I would imagine... It didn't sound like it was that wild in terms of the injuries. At least Colorado Parks and Wildlife didn't make it sound that way in their press release.

[00:06:13] The second attack, though, even crazier, September 13th in the Durango area. There's a 17-year-old girl. This is overnight, so she's sleeping in her bed. 17-year-old girl in her bedroom. All of a sudden, she wakes up to the crash of some blinds or curtains getting pulled down. Turns out a bear has entered her window from... It was only cracked, right?

[00:06:39] The bear opened the window up, pushed the screen out, came into her bedroom, and was essentially at her bed. And she woke up to this. She puts covers over her to try to hide herself from this bear. She hears it sniffing. And then I think it clawed her across the stomach. Oh, my God. So, she screams. The bear goes out of the window. Immediately comes back into the room for a second time. She screams again. It scares the bear off. So, wild situation there as well.

[00:07:10] It's like literally nightmare stuff. Right? Yeah. That's what I was thinking. Imagine waking up to a bear in your room. Yeah. In your room. Yeah. And you're in bed. You're under the sheets. You can't really make a quick escape. And if you do, maybe that prompts an attack, right? Like just that quick movement and kind of gets that bear scared and defensive.

[00:07:34] In the camping, in the case of the camping situation, authorities essentially closed down the campsite for the rest of that weekend, right? And then closed for the season on September 14th as scheduled. They took no action against the bear in that scenario. They said it seemed like it was more of a surprise situation where the bear prompted the bear to bite, opposed to it being aggression.

[00:08:00] And there hadn't been any other reported bear instances in that area. So, they kind of like let that slide in a sense. That campsite will be closed for the season now too. So, no risk to the public there. But in the case with the Durango bear entering the bedroom, authorities at last report that I saw, they were trying to trap that bear. Apparently, there have been multiple home break-ins from bears in that area. They believe it to be this bear.

[00:08:28] And then the following day after that attack, there was another break-in. So, trying to capture that bear, apparently that one is, and obviously, considered a risk to the public. And I mean, if that bear is trapped, it'll be removed, presumably lethally, which is the standard for a case like that. There were some pretty staggering stats that came out. I don't think we've talked about it on this show. We probably haven't.

[00:08:53] So, regarding how just immensely high bear reports are this year, in line with that, the number of bears that have been euthanized, killed by parks and wildlife, as a result of some of these incidents that we're talking about here. I can't remember those numbers, but isn't it like 300 plus? 300 and something bears? Yeah, I'm pulling it up right now here. So, basically, what is this? Got to put him on the spot here.

[00:09:23] Well, okay. I'll go off memory. So, these percentages might be slightly off. I'll try to pull it up if you know more than me. I think bear reports and encounters were like three and a half times what they had been in the past, or like what the average number is. Right. Yeah, compared to last year. Three and a half times through like mid-August or something like that.

[00:09:47] Bear euthanizations, though, only up 2.7x what they normally would be. 294 bears this year. More than three times the number killed last year? Is the report I'm seeing? Let's see here. I'll find. But, yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, there's those. Yeah, 2.7x the norm in terms of the, yeah. So, nearly. Yeah. Nearly three times would be the accurate.

[00:10:11] I mean, so I think it's important to note that, though, too, because bear-related sightings and incidents are up 3.6x, right? So, they're actually euthanizing bears at a lower rate than they normally would be because that's only up 2.7x, right? But you know how people are going to read this. Yes, yeah. Read the number of bears. The number of bears killed. You know, we can go in and we can go back and forth on, well, what's the rate of that number of those number of bears getting killed?

[00:10:38] Lethally removed is how it's very often described, right? That alarms a lot of people. But we're hearing instances that lead to this very uncomfortable conversation that we're having right now. And that is, in a year like this, where bears seemingly are getting more brazen. That was your word. That's a good word for this. How do we handle that, right? And how do we, dare I say, set a tone, right? Mm-hmm.

[00:11:08] Mm-hmm. For how we're dealing, how we're going to deal with bears going forward and the costs of human. And I mean, you know, it seems like we're getting to a point where we're going to hear about a really bad situation involving a person, right? Worse than what we're talking about. That's the fear anyway. Yeah. I mean, it seems like there is a fine line between what happens if those attacks get worse, especially when you're looking at scenarios like the two that we just talked about where it's people in a very defenseless situation.

[00:11:38] Mm-hmm. And I mean, we have had bears that have killed people in the past in Colorado. Generally, if a black bear is killing someone, it's not territorial as well, right? It's the grizzlies that are territorial attackers, whereas a black bear, you know, it tends to be either defensive or it tends to be they're hungry. Yeah. So. Yeah. And bears are hungry. Very hungry this year as we've established in this show, right?

[00:12:07] Due to drought and all that. Yeah. Yeah. And I think also my takeaway from this report, right? And I kind of addressed it there talking about how they are killing bears at a lower rate is that a lot of times people will avoid reporting bear sightings. Right. Because they're worried the bear will be killed. A lot of concern about that. Yeah. And I mean, you know, even just like loosely looking at these numbers, you know, there have been 8,672 bear-related sightings and incidents through August this year.

[00:12:37] Mm-hmm. 294 bears killed. So a pretty small percentage of the bear sightings and reports actually result in that utilization. Good perspective there. Yeah. Obviously, that's a very sad situation. We were just talking about it back at the, back in the out there Colorado area, Tim and I about a bear that was killed in Vail, I believe, charging an officer. They released the body cam footage.

[00:13:04] I don't know if you saw that, but this bear rounds this corner after being shot with some of the less lethal beanbag guns, which come out of a shotgun-style weapon. And drops the shotgun down, pulls out his pistol and shoots his bear while it's probably like 15 feet away from him. Mm-hmm. A very intense situation, but it really highlights just like how, you know, how dangerous it can be when humans and bears are in a close area together. Mm-hmm.

[00:13:32] Hopefully, a lot of these things go without saying, but as good a time as any to remind of some of these, some of the messages out there of how to be safe in bear country, where we all live, where we all play. That's bear country, right? Leave no food out. Yeah. Leave no trash. I mean, gosh, just even the other day, Spencer, I think we were talking about Sand Beach Lake on this show not too long ago, right? Mm-hmm. I'm parked at that trailhead, and I brought like a bunch of snacks because I was going to be in Estes Park all day. And I had this very brief thought, ah, just leave in the back seat. Big no-no. Big no-no. Yep. Right?

[00:14:02] Big no-no. I packed them. I packed them, right? But people got to have that awareness, right? If you got a lot of food, don't leave it in the car. You might come back to a wrecked car for all we know these days, right? Oh, man, I have a soft top on the Jeep right now. Mm-hmm. And I picked up pizza the other day, like a week ago. Mm-hmm. And I was like, oh, I got to drive with all my windows down. I don't want the inside of my car to smell like pizza. Sure. And a bear, yeah. Yeah. Sure enough, a bear did hit the trash can that night, too. Yeah. But my locking system worked. Mm-hmm.

[00:14:32] So I'm proud to say that. Mm-hmm. It did flip over the trash can. Same with camping. You know, be aware of those canisters. Mm-hmm. Yep. I was worried about it. I finally got the topper on the Gladiator and slept in the back of the Jeep for the first time. And it was actually quite pleasant camping. I think I'm going to like that a lot. But the whole night, we were just happy that we had some friends there that were in a tent while everyone else was like in their vehicles. We're like, at least they're in the tent. They'll go for that. They'll be the first ones to know if a bear shows up. Yep. Crazy, man.

[00:15:02] And if you do... Had my keys closed so I could hit the panic button and scare them away if I needed to. If you do see a bear, right? The general approach there is stand still, stay calm, try to scare it away, right? Try to shout, scream, wave your arms, whatever at it. My understanding is running is a no-no, right? Yeah. If you run, that might trigger a certain response. So you want to stand your ground, try to scare it away, right? Bears aren't generally looking to attack people. Yeah. Or black bears aren't generally looking to attack people. Yeah. And that's really important too.

[00:15:30] We're going to be talking about lots of stories like this involving bears. Bears, we don't want to give bears a bad reputation, especially my Chicago bears. So here's one for you too. Apparently this is like we're going from 5% of the podcast being football to 20% of the being bears. But this one kind of caught me off guard, so I wanted to mention it. I had an Aspen. A man was cited $250 for animal harassment with what he says trying to scare a bear away. Oh, wow.

[00:16:00] Essentially he was on some sort of a scooter and he pulled into an alleyway by his home. This bear is in the alleyway. So he starts revving his little engine on this scooter and honking the horn to try to get the bear to move out of the alleyway. Got cited for that. Really? Which you always hear this, and I mean, it sounds like the case is still ongoing. Who knows if that citation sticks if it ever hits some sort of a court system. Wow, I did not hear that. That's pretty bizarre. Yeah, right?

[00:16:29] Because I was like, oh, that's like hazing, right? We all might have done the same thing there. Yeah, I think a lot of people would, you know? But especially honking at a bear that's there, you know? Who knows? Maybe there's details we're not aware of, right? Yeah. So much gets out and so much doesn't get out. Yeah. Apparently the reason the citation was handed out was because the bear wasn't doing anything. It was just passing through. So that seemed to be the biggest factor in why that citation came into play.

[00:16:59] Which, and why it constituted harassment opposed to hazing because the bear apparently wasn't threatening, you know, life or property. I don't know. Sounds like something where I would guess there's some debate that's going to take place over whether or not. Yeah. Yeah. That's nice. Because you always hear, like, if you see a bear in your personal space or on your property, you know? Yeah. You always hear the recommendation of hazing it away. Right. Like banging pots and pans and scaring it off. Yelling. Yeah.

[00:17:28] Even if it's not necessarily, like, you know, like actively ripping up your fence or something like that. Yeah. So, I don't know. But, I mean, it might also be Aspen, too. I mean, that is very much so, like, bear country. So, that could be at play as well. Just the fact that bears are inherently going to be there opposed to, like, our neighborhoods in Colorado Springs where, you know, bears should probably not be that deep into civilization. I feel like I got things to say about that situation, but maybe I better not because I do not know the details. Yeah. We'll have to wait and see.

[00:17:58] Look it up. I think it was Aspen Daily News had a pretty in-depth report on it. Yeah. And also, it was interesting for that report when officers arrived with, I think it was, I want to say it was, like, a park ranger or something that, like, gave this guy the citation. When officers arrived, they haste the bear away. I'm like, oh, okay. Either way. Two officers and the other officer gives the other one a citation, you know.

[00:18:27] Yeah, right. I was like, okay, here we go. All right. That's enough bears. We've talked a lot of bears. That's enough. From Chicago bears to the Colorado bears here. Here, let's quickly get into two other wildlife phenomenon that are taking place in Colorado this year. Good time for it. One deals with a little eight-legged creature. And one, a big four-legged creature. Big four-legged creature. Both? Who should we start with? Both searching for love. Both searching for love. That little tarantula.

[00:18:56] Big in some people's eyes. Too big in some people's eyes. Right. And the elk. Yeah, this is the season of love in Colorado. It is funny. It is funny. I think more people are scared of a tiny tarantula compared to an elk. Which is like, if one of them is going to kill you, it will be the elk. People got to get their priorities. 100% of the time, it will be the elk. People got to get their priorities straight here. What do you know about the tarantula? It's popularly called a migration.

[00:19:24] But maybe improperly called a migration, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, essentially, it's August through October, really. These tarantulas down in southern Colorado start to emerge, male tarantulas. And they try to hunt down some female burros to mate, which will be the only time they mate throughout their life. And then they'll die either at the hands of the female or they'll die from the cold. Right.

[00:19:54] Or from a car. They're on the move. They're on the move. Yeah. So this is important, too, because every year we write about it. And every year I'm like, thousands of tarantulas are starting to roam Colorado, which is true. But you won't see thousands of them at one time. One at a time. Maybe two at a time. Yeah. Maybe 10 if you're lucky. These are solo bachelors, generally. Yes.

[00:20:15] Crossing the road, bravely crossing the road in hopes of finding a burrow on the other side where they might tap their legs right at the top of the burrow in performance of a mating dance of sorts, hoping that they get a favorable response for the evening. Yeah. And La Junta is a great place. Yeah. I've been told Comanche National Grassland. Yeah. And the reason for that is, as some people may or may not know, Comanche National Grassland, for one, is one of the largest grasslands in the country, meaning a protected landscape.

[00:20:45] Female tarantulas prefer to live in a place that is not plowed over. So that's why we're always talking about tarantulas and the Comanche National Grassland for its basic nature, you know, just how big it is and how unprovoked and undeveloped it is. That's why we see this phenomenon in that part of the state. Yeah. And that makes sense. And also, I mean, you mentioned it a little bit there, but one of the best places to see them is on roads. Yeah. Highways.

[00:21:15] Crossing the road. If you're going to stop and look, make sure you're doing so legally and safely. I would have to imagine that that lower traffic that you get on some of those roads might be at play to it. For sure. Yeah. Best time to see them, you know, mid-September, probably the next week or so down in this part of the state. About an hour before sunset. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a big key because I went there like late afternoon. I think it was like three, two or three o'clock and there was nothing.

[00:21:42] I was like, am I ever going to see one of these fuzzy guys? And like, yeah, five or whatever that time is, six o'clock, whatever, an hour before sunset hit. And sure enough, one, two, three. It's like they're going to work. Yeah. You know, it's like a flip just switches and they're moving. They're either going out to find love or die. Yeah. Die lonely. However long they live. I think they live for quite a bit of time before they, uh, before. Yeah.

[00:22:10] Up to, up to 10 years to reach sexual maturity and then they head out. So they've been waiting for 10 years. Is that right? For this night that will result in death. Females. Females might live two decades in those boroughs. Yeah. You know? That's wild. Sounds pretty boring. Yeah. Well, I mean, if you watch the videos of how tarantulas hunt, they just like wait for something to go by. And then they're just like, get it. Opportunistic. Yeah. Yeah. Very opportunistic. So that definitely, uh, yeah. Not that exciting.

[00:22:36] The tarantula festival in Lajana is coming up September 25th and 26th. Cool. That'd be a good time to check out a part of the state that you don't find yourself venturing to often. We all get obsessed with the mountains, but the plains are beautiful in there on the, for sure. Check out the dinosaur tracks that are down in that area. Maybe check out, uh, Ben's old fort. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah. Lots to do around there. Cool stuff. Awesome museum in Lajana. Shout out to that museum. Huge museum.

[00:23:03] So let's talk about these screeching, these screeching and screaming elk now about to, or probably right now as we're talking about it, invading Estes Park. Yeah. Um, you've been up there for that. Yes. Yeah. Explain it. It is the time to go to Estes Park for sure. Yeah. I, I, I've, I've said like the Elkra is just a must do in Colorado. I've heard it described as like a, a, a wildlife soap opera.

[00:23:31] And I think that's a pretty fair description from what I've seen around there. Yeah. I mean, yeah. If you get into the, into the national park, be aware of those, the reservation system in place this time of year, but, um, everything excluding, I, I keep coming back to this, everything excluding the bear, what is that? Bear, uh, Bear Lake, Bear Lake corridor. Everything outside there. You can go into the park before 9 AM without a reservation. You can go in after 2 PM without a reservation. And those are really times where elk are most active anyway. Yeah. Kind of when you want to be going in.

[00:24:01] Um, so the meadows there, you know, there's kind of increased protection around the meadows there where the soap opera plays out. I mean, I've seen, um, males with their harems, these groups of females that I guess I'll just say they go about collecting, uh, this time of year and they protect them. Uh, and if a female, uh, ventures too far, you might see that male rush and corral her back over. Uh, you might see males clashing with other males, man.

[00:24:30] I saw it in Lake Estes once right in town, like these two bull elk just going at it in the water. I remember your video. Yeah. That's intense, man. The only time I had a few retweets, you know, in my life. That's intense. It was awesome. Yeah. It was awesome. Plus. And the colors are going. I was about to say perfect time to visit Estes in that regard. Yeah. Cause it does have that little bit of like a spooky mountain town vibe in a good way with like the Stanley there and just like, it's a perfect like fall town. Yeah.

[00:24:59] Did you know, uh, so I was digging into, uh, Estes park specifically as it relates to elk. And just like why they're even there in the first place. Did you know that elk were essentially like, essentially, I mean, extinct from the Estes park area there for a little while. Is that right? Yeah. So like back in, uh, before the national park, I might guess. Uh, yes. Before the national park. So like during the 1800s when civilization started to really start up in that area or

[00:25:26] at least the modern, uh, civilization, um, elk were being hunted. Right. And then that coupled with the predator species that they were always trying to avoid as well, uh, took their numbers down fast. Makes sense. Essentially they had, you know, disappeared, uh, from that area. There was actually a reintroduction program that took place, uh, that was like an official elk reintroduction, uh, took place between 1913 and 1914. 25 elk were introduced to the Estes park area.

[00:25:53] Um, kind of just outside of that area that, uh, became Rocky Mount national park the very next year in 1915, I believe. Um, and, and then these elk had protection, right? So all of a sudden they really started to thrive and with more civilization there, maybe those predators are kept away a little bit more too. Um, there were a thousand elk in the area by 1944. So to show you how, how big of a boom took place there. Yeah. Um, at that point.

[00:26:21] So Rocky Mount national park entered this elk management period where they wanted to keep that herd between 350 and 800. Uh, eventually that was, um, removed in 1968 where they were like, okay, let's just like let the elk self-manage their population. The number exploded to 3,500 elk. Wow. Uh, by, by 2001, uh, it was the highest, um, highest density elk population, uh, I think

[00:26:46] on the planet of a naturally sustained elk where people aren't feeding them. So pretty wild stuff. Uh, they've since put some more, uh, management in place to kind of keep those numbers, um, you know, down a little bit. I think the, uh, the official policy is that they want to limit the overwintering elk in Rocky Mount national park to 800. Um, so, uh, that's, that's what their goal is. And I think they've been successful with that. Um, but yeah, pretty wild stuff. Yeah.

[00:27:15] Like it's a, it's, there's a whole story there of just how there almost weren't any elk that we would be seeing in Estes park because of the over hunting. Right. And then, um, yeah, that was one of the first, I mean, I can't think of another, uh, reintroduction program that took place before that in Colorado. Interesting. Yeah. Um, so yeah, the, um, yeah, I think that plan that the Rocky mountain national park hatched, gosh, was that around 2008 or something? That elk and vegetation management plan, I think is, is how it was titled.

[00:27:41] And that's referring to there, and this concern, uh, still exists, um, in the center. The focus has really gone on moose, uh, more recently, the wetlands and, and the forage there, um, the willows specifically Aspen getting browsed away in those wetlands, you know, elk have been feared to contribute to that. And those, uh, probably goes without saying how essential those wetlands are.

[00:28:06] And, um, you know, so that explains the management that has come in place and the concern about that, that booming population. And that was essentially, yeah, like in the early two thousands, that was the concern that kind of with, I mean, yeah, I mean, 3,500 elk, like imagine today, like it's like significantly larger, uh, uh, significantly larger population compared to, uh, today. It's a reminder about, you know, wildlife are not stupid.

[00:28:33] They know where they can be hunted by people and where they cannot be hunted by people. Yeah. Hence why they have congregated in Rocky mountain national park where hunting is not allowed. And hence why we talk about the elk rut in Estes park, because it has become such a safe haven more or less for them. Right. Yeah. And essentially, I mean that the herd there, um, you see them in the kind of the higher elevation areas of Rocky mountain national park during the summer.

[00:28:59] And then once fall hits, um, conditions, uh, you know, get worse up high. So they, then they move into the city and even on the Eastern plains, apparently that herd stretches out quite a bit on the Eastern plains, which I didn't realize that either. Yeah. Great time of year. Yeah. The elk rut is, uh, is, is quite a spectacle. Um, you are told to stay 75 feet away from elk. So if you see one, don't try to pet it. Don't try to feed it.

[00:29:23] Um, I, I have not reported on a goring yet this year, I will say, but I would not be surprised if I check my email, like even later today. And it's like person gored by elk in Estes park happens pretty much every year from someone getting too close and not giving them their space. So good reminder. Yeah. I've been around the golf courses there. They closed the golf courses because elk take over the golf courses in Estes park. And, uh, I have definitely seen people getting a little too close for comfort. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:52] I went golfing the other day and, uh, there were a lot of elk. I didn't, but there were, there were a lot of geese and fun fact about my early life. I was chased by some geese one time for like 15 minutes around the neighborhood. You don't recover from that. Oh, it was, it was scary. It was me and a buddy. And all of a sudden, uh, I guess we got too close to the nest or something. And I like, we literally had to make it all the way back home and inside before this goose would stop like dive bombing us. It was, it was scary.

[00:30:21] Wow. Sorry to hear that, man. That sounds traumatic. So you don't like geese. You don't. I was probably like. You're good on geese. 10 at the time or something. Yeah. Back in the day when children could roam the neighborhoods. Back in our day. I was unleashed. Back in the 1900s. On the neighborhood to, to, uh, be put at risk by the geese. Sorry to hear that, man. Yeah. Um, yeah. Okay. What else we got here? What else we got? We got knocking out the wildlife stories here. I'll fly through a couple, uh, uh, news stories real quick for you.

[00:30:52] Um, and this one actually ties into, or one of these actually ties into something that, that you wanted to chat about. Um, so, uh, have you seen the, uh, number of finds on Ganella Pass that have been getting handed out? Another year of this. Yeah. Another year. Um, where, so this past weekend they handed out, I think it was a year. I think it was 20, I want to say 25, uh, fines this past weekend. They're all 87 50. So, I mean, that accounts to like over $2,000 in parking fines handed out on Ganella Pass

[00:31:21] over just one weekend. Obviously a lot of leaf peepers, uh, out and trying to find spots on a very crowded road. Um, but a quick reminder just to not park illegally that they literally published a bit or a photo, uh, Quig Creek County Sheriff's office. Uh, the, uh, SUV literally parked at, on a no parking sign where it's like two inches ahead of the vehicle and they're just right behind it. Uh, they will tow you too.

[00:31:47] So if you are blocking the road in any way, you get towed to this lot that's about two and a half miles down from the Mount Beardstadt, uh, trailhead. So it could be very inconvenient, um, obviously, and you know, costly as well. Uh, so just a very quick reminder as your leaf peeping around Colorado on these mountain passes park legally, because I mean, one, it poses a, a, uh, safety hazard.

[00:32:16] If, if large emergency vehicles can't make it up these tight winding mountain passes, if fire breaks out or if someone has a heart attack, like literally could have some very serious consequences there. Um, but also, uh, you don't want to get towed or a parking ticket, you know? Yeah. It's gotten serious on Guanella Pass. Yeah. Yeah. Man, I've, uh, go on a weekday if you can. Goodness. I was up there last fall and it's just chaos. Like it is.

[00:32:40] I mean, the fact that they only handed out 25 parking tickets is, you know, maybe a testament to them not actually being up there all day, like you're having some mercy. Yeah. Yeah. I have, uh, you know, I've actually never driven Guinella Pass. How? I've never hiked Beerstat. Beautiful. Yeah. You've never hiked Beerstat? Never hiked Beerstat. That's a good one too. Um, it's fun. I know. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe it's just cause I have this association that it's just crazy busy. It is crazy busy. Yeah.

[00:33:08] I mean, even on weekdays, you gotta get up there if you want a parking lot. Is it crazy on weekdays still? It's even, it's crazy. Yeah. Um, it is one of the, you know, one of the easier 14 years in the state. Yeah. But I think one of my favorite routes that I did was, uh, you go up Bierstadt and then you cut across that sawtooth ridge over to, uh, Mount Blue Sky. Yep. That's a pretty iconic line there. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's like, it's mostly like class two, but there's some, maybe a couple class three moves there, but, uh, you're, it's really cool.

[00:33:38] You're on like this exposed cliff and it's like just absolutely stunning. Something for next summer. Yeah. Yeah. That's a one I would highly recommend. Um, so also wanted to briefly touch on this. Uh, you see the mudslides that hit the Maroon Bell scenic area. Heard about that. Yeah. Yeah. There's like photos of people. Uh, so I haven't heard about damage yet, but there are photos of people like walking through mud. That's like up. Up to their, past their boot. You know? Yeah. Like at the main scenic area there. Yeah. The main scenic area, the parking area is specifically what got hit.

[00:34:08] Um, you know, it looks like the photo here, a small car with like mud up to like, it's kind of the middle of its wheel. So to give you an idea of how much mud was there, I know they closed it, uh, closed it down on Tuesday of this week to remove some debris. Um, but yeah, it's, I think one of the most interesting parts about this is that the mud in the parking lot is like red. Right. Like showcasing the maroon bells and the, the, the mudstone that makes up those mountains. The name. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

[00:34:38] So also apparently like four pass loop got hit pretty hard in that area. There were a lot of debris flows, uh, that took place. I've seen some video footage on like Instagram and stuff in recent days of people out there. And it's like the trails, some of those trails just look very damaged, huh? Um, from, from some of those mud slides. That could be a situation for, yeah. Cruise next summer. Yeah. Something to, something to follow if you're going up there, you know, playing for mud, maybe playing for some trail impacts. Yeah. So rain, I presume. Uh, yeah. Heavy rain. Yeah. Munsono rainfall.

[00:35:08] And we can't complain about that, can we? But yeah. Wow. But either way, look up the photos. We'll throw some on the video of this, uh, podcast, but. So there might be someone new to manage those situations going forward. Precisely. Got our segue there. Yep. Yeah. We've talked about this, uh, in the past, man, this has kind of been brewing for a little while now. For those who don't know, Forest Service obviously owns that land around the Maroon Bell Scenic area. One of the most iconic sites in Colorado.

[00:35:35] Um, that's always been the Forest Service managing, owning that site and managing that site. And there's been talks in recent years about Pickin County stepping in, uh, as that day to day operator, if you will, right. To oversee, um, um, maintenance there and, um, the systems in place where people can reserve to drive themselves there and pay that fee in the shuttles in place, uh, that take people

[00:36:03] there over like 200,000 people a year, I think between May and October when that road is open to, to vehicles. Um, and yeah, Pickin County commissioners just recently, uh, approved going into a special use permit with the Forest Service to, for, for the County to be that day to day, uh, uh, overseer at the Maroon Bells. So what does this mean for us, uh, going forward? Let's not bury the lead. Um, why did we get here in the first place?

[00:36:33] Because of concerns about funding and the Forest Service just, uh, feeling like they are not able, um, to kind of put together, I guess we can just call it a business plan, right? To, to manage people there. Um, Forest Service has reported in recent years operating at like a $3,800 deficit a year. I want to say, I think I got that wrong. Um, I think it's more than that. Right. Right.

[00:37:01] So, so the numbers that I was seeing, uh, I think this actually. $380,000. Yeah. I was going to say, it's like they're able to get $220,000, but the actual cost of operating, it's like $600,000. Yeah. Yeah. So very recently Forest Service at this meeting reported in recent years operating at a $380,000 deficit. Right. They, I think they put that vehicle rate of $10, uh, in back in like the late nineties. Yes. And that's always been in place. Yeah. And that's stayed in place.

[00:37:31] And that's wild. Definitely gone up. Yeah. That's wild to think about. Like, I think a lot of people are going to be like, Oh, everything's getting more expensive because some of these fees are going to triple. But the important thing to remember is that these haven't changed, um, because of a lot of that, like slow moving nature of just the government. Yep. A lot of these fees have not changed for three decades or two, two and a half decades. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, I mean, it, anyone can look around and be like, yeah, things have gotten expensive or more expensive.

[00:37:59] It makes sense to increase some of these fees if we need to do that just to be able to manage this properly. Yep. So that's going to be happening. The County proposed this fee schedule where, yeah, that vehicle fee, $10 is going to go up to 30. Um, some things are staying the same, uh, for next year. We're talking about next year. Um, those shuttle fares are staying the same. Um, campground fees are going to go up to $33 currently at 15 this year. Mm-hmm. That's going up. Uh, you're on your bike.

[00:38:29] You can still pedal up there for free next year. Um, e-bikes, motorcycles, that's going up to 10 bucks currently at five. So, um, those are some of the changes that, uh, have been proposed anyway. Forest Service has to formally adopt that. But Forest Service said as much that those fees are in line with other big popular recreation areas. And it should be said other recreation areas where the Forest Service, where federal land

[00:38:54] managers have looked to local governments like this, or even have looked to private concessionaires to do the day-to-day and handle people at some of these places. Forest Service, there's kind of been a trend. Hanging Lake. Hanging Lake is one of those. Yep. Over the past decade, really, of Forest Service kind of saying, we got to shift priorities and, um, we need to look to partners to take up, um, the management of people, you know, in these places. So that's what's happening at the Maroon Bells.

[00:39:23] And I will say for the record too, uh, with the Hanging Lake example, um, I've, I've generally heard like a net positive impact from that switch, uh, where people do seem to, you know, it's a little bit more built up now. And obviously it's a very crowded destination, literally has an interstate exit for it. Something needed to be put in place to protect that trail. Um, I think a lot of people would agree on that. And it seems like it's, you know, they have the money there now to like, make sure the

[00:39:51] bathrooms are clean, to make sure that people that are going to the trail have the information they need to, to be safe on the trail. Um, we were chatting about it a few months ago, but the number of rescues that has dropped, it went from being like the top spot for rescues in that part of the state. Um, and it just calls for help in general, uh, that number has dropped to like a couple rescues having taken place since the management system has been put in. So to put that in perspective, I mean, that means those rescue teams and those resources

[00:40:21] are free to be applied to any other situation that arises opposed to having to constantly respond to this little mile long trail. Right. Um, because people are in over their heads because they don't know what, what's up before they get on that trail. Yeah. People who ask, where's that money going to go, right. For the sake of the Maroon Bells, uh, the County, uh, has also approved to set up this enterprise fund, right. Which is meant to operate as quote unquote, as they call it, this clear and transparent fund

[00:40:47] where, um, it's going to show money coming in and how money is going out. Yes. That's going to be for staff. Um, but ideally also to address this maintenance backlog that's been estimated in the millions of dollars, right. For some of the infrastructure there, also for some of the environmental degradation that's been tracked over the years. So the County thinks that people will be able to see improvements, you know, on the ground there and, uh, in the years ahead. Very cool. Yeah. To put it in perspective, they couldn't even open all the bathrooms last year at

[00:41:17] Maroon Bells. Like, uh, because of a staffing issue. So like they, they, they need to figure something out there. Um, so I did want to touch on two things that happened since the last time, um, last time we were on air here, uh, two 14er deaths that occurred in the Elk mountains. Um, this first one, uh, reporting kind of started going out about it, uh, the end of that first

[00:41:41] week of September, but essentially, um, a climber or a person was reported missing, uh, on September 2nd, I believe. Um, all right, let's, oh yeah, sorry. Uh, climber was reported missing on, uh, yeah, September 2nd. Um, whenever rescue crews got this call for help in the Aspen area, they had no clue where this climber could potentially be.

[00:42:08] Uh, they believed that they were somewhere in the Maroon Bells snowmass wilderness area, but because that climber hadn't told anybody where they were going, um, or what their intended route was when they were, when they were hiking, when they'll be back. Uh, they were really kind of at a loss in terms of like, where do we even start this search? Um, they ultimately located this, uh, climber's vehicle. Uh, I believe on the day that report came in inside of that vehicle, they found some clues,

[00:42:35] you know, like routes and itineraries, uh, related to climbing the Maroon Bells. Uh, this let them narrow their, their search, uh, essentially. Um, and then on a, uh, September 3rd aerial search, uh, they were able to locate that climber in very technical terrain, um, deceased. So, uh, had, whenever I chatted with search and rescue about this, um, his location was

[00:43:01] described or the climber's location was described as well off the standard route for climbing Maroon Peak. Uh, not a lot of details, uh, have been released yet, um, regarding what's believed to have happened at the time. Uh, the search and rescue member that I talked, I chatted with said that it was presumed to be a fall. Um, they did actually end up closing that peak on September 8th. Yeah. So, uh, Marine Peak was closed as well as the traversing route over from North Marine Peak.

[00:43:28] Uh, it was closed on September 8th for the recovery of that climber's body, which, um, that, that was a successful recovery mission, uh, without any snags. Um, sounds like that recovery took place pretty early in the day. Uh, so, I mean, obviously a tragic story, but just another reminder of always making sure someone knows where you're going to be and when you're going to be back, um, it can really expedite any sort of search and rescue scenario. Yep.

[00:43:54] And, uh, sincere condolences go out to, um, to the loved ones and those impacted by that climber's death. Um, a couple of days later, uh, on September 6th, uh, there was another response to a fatal 14 year incident on Castle Peak. Uh, essentially this climber was on, I believe it was the North face of, uh, Castle Peak, which is a, is a, uh, Kalea route. Right. Uh, so typically should only be climbed in snowy conditions.

[00:44:22] Uh, some images from the scene did show a little bit like old snow lingering on the mountain in certain places, like super dirty looking, like I'd been there for a while, but there, there wasn't enough snow to be in this, uh, in this part of the mountain, uh, which, you know, becomes really loose and dangerous when there's no snow there. Um, sounds like a fall occurred there as well. So, uh, I think the takeaway lesson with that one is to be aware of, uh, you know, the seasonal, the way that the way the seasons can impact the route you're picking.

[00:44:52] Um, and I mean, 14ers.com is a great resource for that. Yep. So make sure you are checking that out. Um, yeah, some tough news toward the end of the 14 or season. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, but we'll, uh, we'll end the show on a, on a little bit of a happier note. So, um, September 15th, right. I saw a nine news report where a viewer had submitted a photo of a snow capped Mount Massive. I know.

[00:45:21] I saw that there was officially snow for the season coming in. Um, it feels early. We're getting snow. Yeah. Yeah. Apparently we're getting snow. And I mean, it looked like it started on the photo. It looked like it started at about 13,000 feet, maybe 13,500 feet or so on the peak. So it's not like the whole mountains blank and then like this fluffy white powder, but it was a snow cap. It was not a dusting. I know. Um, so that's important to, uh, to, I think, you know, celebrate.

[00:45:50] And we're, we're feeling a chill in the air here in Colorado Springs for sure. Yeah. I've seen it described as a little bit late too, which is kind of sad. What do you think about it? Where normally maybe we get our first snow capped 14 year before this, but, um, either way there's snow. Um, also some more snow in the forecast too. I was digging, digging into the mountain forecast report. It looks like about 0.4 inches of snow is expected on Mount, uh, Mount Albert on Wednesday.

[00:46:17] Uh, with another inch of snow on Friday and another 0.4 inches on Saturday. Sweet. I don't know the map there. I think I'm hearing two, two and a half inches there. Yeah. A little bit less than two and a half over three days, but either way, it's only mid September, but there is snow. And you know, ski resorts are putting out their messaging. My inbox is filling up with what's on deck at ski areas coming up. Aspen snowmass making some big headlines recently.

[00:46:45] Offering $3 and 75 cent tickets. Very briefly. Not a typo. Yeah. Very briefly. People might think, is there a, is there a dot where it's not supposed to be between that three and seven? Is that supposed to be $375? No. $3. 75 cents. Yeah. And that was on December 14th, which you currently can't even buy a ticket on December 14th anymore. So, uh, people pretty much everyone missed that unless they were like on the internet or something very early in the day. Yep.

[00:47:15] Um, tickets originally priced at like $209. Yep. We already put a video out about this too. So sorry if you've heard this before, but I will say, uh, so December 12th and December 13th, uh, you can get $80 tickets at Aspen still. Yep. Yep. So I think the resort's celebrating what, like it's a six, 80th year. Is that right? I want to say it's the 80th year at Aspen. Okay. Um, at least for Aspen mountain. And, uh, wow.

[00:47:41] I didn't see a press release on this, um, back in, uh, was that 1946 when they, when they opened tickets were priced at $3 and 75 cents. And I bet they were thinking that is so expensive. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. It was equivalent of like 50 bucks. I think back in the day. Um, so yeah, definitely, uh, definitely still pricey compared to some other, some other options. Um, some things only slightly change. Yeah. So yeah. Exciting stuff. Ski, skiing will happen.

[00:48:11] Skiing will happen this year. It's almost here. Yeah. I mean, September 16th, you know, a basin is hoping that they can open here in about, about a month, right? It's not uncommon for mid October to happen for a basin. Right. It seems like it's been October 20 something in recent years. But yeah. One, one place to definitely look to, um, if you are looking for like some very cheap ticket lift tickets, right? Uh, purgatory, man.

[00:48:41] Yeah. Purgatory, uh, they do, uh, tickets are not released yet, but, uh, their headline, for example, right now on their website says get paid to ski $9 tickets with a $10 resort credit tickets coming soon. Is this regarding their, what do they call it? Dynamic pricing. There you go. Yeah. Got it. So, so you got to hit it, right? It fluctuates. You got to, it basically the more people that want to ski on a given day, the price, the higher the price gets, uh, to a certain extent. Uh, but if it's a day where it's not going to be crowded, then I think the tickets are

[00:49:10] cheaper as far as I understand. So, which I mean, Hey, that's like kind of best of both worlds in a sense. Keep your eye on ski Cooper, little ski Cooper, right? Especially if you know, you've got kids or if you just want a quick day on some quick slopes right around Leadville. Um, they've been pretty bold about relatively lower prices in recent years. I saw it. So this season, it looks like new pricing will be available in the fall.

[00:49:36] So that's TBD, but at least last year, um, you know, adult tickets, it was Monday through Friday, 49 bucks. Yeah. Uh, Saturdays and Sundays, 99 bucks, you know. Also, if you're in Leadville in the winter, right? Mm-hmm. Um, you can also do their year round zip line tour. Oh, I know that. Literally in the snow. Like it's like dead of winter and they're running a zip line. So, uh, yeah, it's, I think it's a, what's it called? Top of the Rockies zip line.

[00:50:03] Um, so that's something worth maybe, uh, looking at if you're going up with your family, you know, and yeah. Um, wanting to do something there, but, uh, speaking of the family, quick shout out for the gems pass. Oh yes. You know, um, I'm looking up the details on that to double check myself, but that could be, that could be an option for you. If you've got kids, um, I'm pulling it up myself. Colorado ski country USA puts these gems passes out every year. Um, okay.

[00:50:32] So yeah, the ski passport, um, $50, one card, 20 discounts is what I'm saying. There you go. Yeah. Double check on all those details, but the gems they refer to as how many skiers is it? You've seen that 10. I think it's like 10 skiers. Including like a basin. Yeah. Loveland. Monarch. Got a basin, uh, Cooper, Echo, Eldora, Granby Ranch, Loveland, Monarch, Powderhorn, Purgatory, and Sunlight. Yeah. So yeah, 10. Yep.

[00:51:02] Ski passport for the little ones is 76 bucks. Uh, gems teen pass that's for ages 12 to 17 is for 210 bucks. Um, and when you purchase one of those, one parent per households per household can buy a gems parent pass for $350 accessing again, those 10 gems. Um, that, you know, that's a deal that might appeal to, to the families out there. Yeah. And this is giving you discounted tickets. Correct.

[00:51:30] It's not giving you the lift tickets for $50. You get two lift tickets at those 10 places. There is a gems discount card that you're thinking of. Yes. That is a $50 card that unlocks discounted tickets for two days at those 10 gems. There we go. So we are talking about kind of like a, operates kind of like a Costco membership. Yeah. You know, think of it that way where, um, you're getting discounted prices, you know? Yeah.

[00:51:58] I'm seeing what the gems card, it looks like it brings like an Arapahoe basin, a weekend ticket down to one 29, um, for the kind of their peak season. Yeah. Uh, it varies by date though. Uh, there's a couple of different date ranges here. Yeah. Um, those, those, those aforementioned ski passport for the little kids and the gems teen pass, as well as the gems parent pass that gets you multiple days. I think two to four days, little guys get four days, multiple days at those 10 for those prices that we mentioned.

[00:52:28] Kind of kind of a little complicated. Look it up. I'm just saying it might be a good option for the, uh, the parents out there. So me not being a, uh, a kid or a teen or a parent, uh, I can only use the discount card. You gotta go to the, that's why you're so focused on the discount card. You and me, that's the one that, that is open to us. Yep. Yep. So there we go. Very cool. Yeah. So, uh, it looks like sales just opened there on September 1st for that too. Um, yeah. What else we got here? I don't know. Monday. Yeah.

[00:52:58] We got lots for Monday. Good stuff for Monday. Yeah. I'm storing, uh, storing a couple of things we really wanted to get into today, but we're running long already. Look at us go. This is what happens when football comes around, man. We load up the front of the show. It's true. It's true. Got a, got a historic trail we're going to talk about off I-70. Yep. Yep. Got a certain chocolate factory that Seth is, uh, very excited to talk about. I'm always going to find the nearest chocolate factory. Yeah. I want to talk about a train, uh, that is a new passenger train proposal, but it is not.

[00:53:28] Uh, maybe the slower passenger trains you're thinking of this one could go, hey, you know, 90 miles per hour on average or up to 120. You're talking about cocoa? No, not cocoa. Not cocoa? Not cocoa. No, this one be, uh, might be blasting through the mountains at 90. Wow. I'm faster than a car, uh, getting you to the resorts from DIA. I do that. It's not like Elon Musk's next great invention. Very much so in the proposal phase, but, um, yeah, I'll be, uh, chatting about that.

[00:53:55] So I guess, I guess we'll see, uh, see you on Monday and we will see you out there. Indeed. One last time. I'm Spencer. I'm Seth. We'll see you out there. There we go. It's like, I already said it. I got you, man. I'm rusty.