ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
The summer camping season is set to start with a bang today, though lingering lousy weather could put a damper on things.
Oh yeah, and bears are making conditions interesting as well. Difficult Campground east of Aspen opened on May 13 and there has already been at least one bear trying to access campers and vehicles for food, according to David Boyd, public information officer for the White River National Forest.
“We continue to monitor the situation and are making sure campers know about it right now,” Boyd said. No injuries have been reported.
Bears are hungry after emerging from hibernation, so campers must take special care to properly store food and waste so they don’t attract the bruins. The White River National Forest has a food storage order in place for all developed campgrounds and many dispersed camping areas in the backcountry.
The basic rules of the food storage order are to keep your food, garbage, coolers, pet food, canned or bottled beverages, and other bear attractants in a hard-sided vehicle, the bear-resistant food lockers provided at many developed sites, or an approved bear-resistant food container. The exception is when a camper is actively preparing food or within 100 feet of it during daytime hours, according to the Forest Service. Backpackers in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness are required to use bear-resistant food containers and backpackers throughout the forest are urged to do so.
Some of the major campgrounds around the Roaring Fork Valley opened May 13 and additional openings will occur for the Memorial Day Weekend. However, the opening of campgrounds up Independence Pass will be delayed because Highway 82 remains closed until June 1. Once the road opens, U.S. Forest Service crews and the concessionaire that operates campgrounds will need time to get facilities ready, Boyd said.
The campgrounds that opened earlier this month are Difficult, Chapman, Dearhamer, Elk Wallow and those around Ruedi Reservoir — Little Mattie, Little Maud, Mollie B and Ruedi Marina. In the Crystal Valley, the Redstone, Bogan Flats and Avalanche campgrounds are open.
The “silvers” in Maroon Creek Valley are scheduled to open today. Those include Silver Bar, Silver Bell and Silver Queen.
The openings of Weller, Lost Man, Lincoln Gulch and Portal are up in the air. That will depend on when Highway 82 opens and when crews can prep the sites.
The Forest Service relies heavily on a reservation system for most campgrounds. It can be accessed at recreation.gov. The few remaining first-come, first-served areas are Lincoln Gulch, Lost Man, Portal, Weller, Elk Wallow and Avalanche. Nightly fees range from a high of $32 at Difficult to $15 at the campgrounds in Maroon Creek Valley.
Reservations for backpackers are also now required on the Four Pass Loop, Conundrum Valley, Capitol Valley and Geneva Lake. Reservations are currently available through July 31. Reservations won’t be available until June 15 for the period of Aug. 1 through November. More information on the backcountry reservation system can be found at fs.usda.gov/recarea/whiteriver/recarea/?recid=40555.
The shuttles to the Maroon Bells start operating today. Reservations are available through the Aspen Chamber Resort Association website at aspenchamber.org/plan-trip/trip-highlights/maroon-bells/reservation. The cost is $16 for adults for the roundtrip ticket, $10 for riders over 65 years of age and $10 for children under 12. A limited number of “no-show”tickets will be issued when available, but at a higher price.
Parking reservations at the lots by Maroon Lake are offered from May 15 through Oct. 31, but they often sell out quickly for popular times. Tickets are $10. Vehicles that are dropping off hikers and backpackers are allowed to do so between 6 and 8 a.m. without a reservation. No commercial operations are allowed to drop off people. Hikers and backpackers needing a lift downvalley after 8 a.m. will need to purchase a one-way shuttle ticket.
“New this year in response to public feedback, a limited number of parking reservations will be released 72 hours in advance to avoid all permits being booked months in advance,” the Forest Service said in an announcement.
The White River National Forest transitioned to the summer travel season on May 21 which opened some roads and trails for motorized vehicles and mountain bikes. However, some routes remain closed due to snowy or wet conditions at upper elevations and for elk calving. In addition, just because some roads and trails are open doesn’t necessarily mean they should be traveled yet.
“A lot of places are still snowed in and there’s a lot of places with that patchy stuff — ya know, it will be completely open on the south-facing slope and then you’ll be in punching through to your waist on the north slope,” Boyd said. “If it’s snowy and muddy, turn around.”
Regardless of spring melt-off, reservations will be extremely limited throughout the summer for the Hanging Lake Trail in Glenwood Canyon. Boyd said extensive work will be underway to repair damage sustained in debris flows in recent years. The available days and times to hike the popular trail will be released each Tuesday at 8 a.m.
In addition to national forest facilities, operations will gear up this holiday weekend on Aspen Mountain. The Silver Queen Gondola will be open for weekends only May 25-27, June 1-2 and June 8-9, then open daily from June 15 to Sept. 2, according to Aspen Skiing Co. It will resume operating on weekends only through September.
Tickets are $37. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the last ride down at 4:30 p.m.
At Snowmass, the Elk Camp Gondola and Elk Camp chairlift will start operating June 21.
Aspen will be inaccessible over the holiday weekend via Independence Pass. Recent snowfall thwarted plans by the Colorado Department of Transportation to open the Pass on Thursday, as it traditionally does. CDOT has tentatively set the opening date on June 1, but that is weather dependent.