Moraine Park

Abner E. Sprague was a man who lived through the decades of change after 1875 and took the time to record his memories before his death in 1943. A dark, handsome fellow then aged twenty-four, Sprague climbed Longs Peak ...

MacGregor’s Pass

Elizabeth and Esther Burnell were sisters who came to Estes Park in the summer of 1916 to stay at the Longs Peak Inn. Both women were college educated and enjoyed the Estes Park area. Esther purchased a homestead near ...

Beaver Meadows Visitor Center

During World War II, visitation to all the national parks declined dramatically. After the war, a surge of baby boom families found the facilities in disrepair. This widespread deterioration of facilities demanded a major reconstruction program. The National Park ...

Moraine Park Lodge

Born Mary Imogene Bates of Indiana, Imogene Green MacPhearson lived an entrepreneurial life. During the Civil War she bravely crossed into the Confederate South to rescue her husband when he was ill in a Union Camp. MacPhearson set out ...

Mummy Range

Bighorn sheep move to low elevations in late spring and early summer, when they descend from the Mummy Range to Sheep Lakes in Horseshoe Park. Here, they graze and eat soil to obtain minerals not found in their high ...

Grand Lake

In the late 1860s, suffering from rhuematism, Joseph Wescott became the first resident of Grand Lake looking to use the Hot Sulphur Springs of Middle Park as a cure and relief.

By 1868, pioneers began settling in Grand Lake ...

Bear Lake

Many fires swept through what is now the national park between 1850 and the early 1900's. A walk around Bear Lake passes through forests that regenerated after large fires at the turn of the century. In 1956, Climber Patrick ...

Ute Trail

Between A.D. 400 and 650, the Ute people finally laid claim to these mountains through occasional summer visits, and to the hunting grounds on either side. And for a while at least, between A.D. 650 and 1000, game-drive systems ...

Grand Ditch

From 1895-1935, Grand Ditch was built to bring water from Never Summer Range across La Poudre Pass and down the Cache Le Poudre to the plains for agriculture. According to historian D. Ferrel Atkins, this project was one of the ...

Andrews Glacier and Tarn

Today, the park’s small glaciers are restricted to high elevations above 11,000 feet (3,350 m) and north- and east- facing cirques, where they are sheltered from the Sun’s direct rays. Local topography helps to shelter the glaciers and directs wind- ...