An amusing sideshow comes from watching the people who come to watch the elk. There is more to the ritual of rutting season than watching elk, though. Still another herd gathered near the Moraine Park Campground. That same morning, another herd gathered about a mile east of the Beaver Meadows entrance to the park, attracting onlookers who pulled their cars onto the shoulder to snap pictures with phones and cameras. Such is the drama that unfolds at the town’s nine-hole course, which closes during rutting season, and in Rocky Mountain National Park every autumn. When the herd bull turned his attention that way and began approaching, the second interloper jumped back over the fence. While the herd bull was focused on the first interloper, one of the bulls by the bike path thought he saw an opportunity and jumped a wooden pole fence to get onto the golf course. The herd bull began walking toward the would-be interloper, which quickly backed off, but two other bulls were hanging out over near the bike path. He can push them anywhere he wants to push them.” Look at this, one bull with 35 cows, one bull controlling this whole herd. “They come here out of the mountains to rut every year. “They’re just so amazing, big majestic animals,” Ford marveled. Occasionally the bull would sit nearly nose-to-nose with one female or another, seemingly staring into their eyes. They wondered if they would get to see him hook up with a female, or maybe defend his turf if another bull dared intrude into his domain. Four miles from the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, enthralled visitors listened for the herd bull to bugle, which he often did. We travel in that van, me and my wife we go all over the United States looking at wildlife.”įall was in the air, with scarcely a cloud in the sky, and fresh snow was visible high on the north face of Longs Peak. “I drove 16 hours just for this right here,” drawled Ford, who was situated about 100 yards from the herd. He was focused on a magnificent bull elk that was sitting in the shade of pine trees on the ninth hole beside the Big Thompson River, surrounded by three dozen females that the herd bull was anxious to impregnate.įord and his wife had driven from Shreveport, La., spending the night in a van parked nearby, to witness the annual drama of elk rutting season in one of Colorado’s favorite mountain towns.

Pair it with a pretty purple gin tonic, boasting a hue from butterfly pea flower-infused spirits ($11).As a crowd of onlookers gathered on a bike path along a nine-hole golf course in Estes Park on a brisk morning in late September, Rodney Ford peered through a magnifying scope attached to a tripod. Ultreia joins the patio party, knocking it out of the park with an Ibérico mini hot dog on a split-top bun, curtido relish, and caraway aioli ($6). Stoic & Genuine hits a home run with an extended Oyster Happy Hour from 11 a.m. Milk Box dishes up purple ice cream and boozy shakes, while Pig Train keeps you caffeinated, ready to slide into the day’s adventures.

Swing by the Terminal Bar’s patio for frosty Milagro palomas and frosé, and savor Mercantile’s pop-up patio grill and bar, featuring burgers, brats, chips, Bloody Marys, mimosas, Guinnesses, and Montucky’s. Snap a photo with Rockies stilt walkers, have a ball with Jenga and cornhole, and groove to Tropical Waffle’s beats. A post shared by Denver Union Station up to the plate at Denver Union Station, celebrating the 2023 Rockies baseball season from 10 a.m.

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