By Seth Boster From The Gazette Colorado Springs—Bret Tennis started working around Garden of the Gods 17 years ago. “We used to say 1.2 million visitors a year when I started here,” said the park operations administrator. “Now we say over 4.5 million.” The annual numbers are reportedly similar at Rocky Mountain National Park, where…

Summer weather invites exploration of local, state, and national parks. The vast majority of park visitors spend only a few hours happily traipsing around before returning to their vehicles and safely returning home. However, as the TV series “Gilligan’s Island” taught us, plans can go awry, making it a good idea to be prepared, just…

By Seth Boster From The Gazette Colorado Springs—The effort to build a new trail to the top of Pikes Peak is entering a fifth summer—what figures to be “a big year,” according to the project leader. Since 2020, Rocky Mountain Field Institute’s Carl Woody has overseen progress on a rerouted Devils Playground Trail hampered by…

On our European holiday, we focused on three exceptional destinations designated in the renowned “Best of the Alps” collection: Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian Alps, the Kitzbuhel Alps in Austria and Cortina in the Italian Alps. The local villages and towns in the collection are slightly off the beaten path, but we quickly learned that they…

Imagine you and your favorite travel partner dangling in your own private little gondola, gliding silently for 40 minutes as you cross the Mer de Glace (“sea of ice”). You just left the last stop in France. On your right is the pillowy summit of Mont Blanc – Western Europe’s tallest mountain. On your left…

Some people love to climb soaring mountains, pedal an off-road bicycle over challenging terrain, or venture into ocean caves that have lured divers to their deaths. More, however, prefer a gentle stroll through inviting scenery, steering a bike along flat paths, or snorkeling to watch fish swimming below the surface. Soft adventuring is one of…

By Patrick Connolly From South Florida Sun Sentinel It was a quiet morning as dawn was breaking over the horizon, sunlight just barely peeking through the clouds when I pulled up to one of my favorite sights: an empty trailhead. Granted, it was a Wednesday, but on a busy weekend, this was a far cry…

It had been a long hike for little legs. We were in Glacier National Park and had hiked one of the park’s famous hikes to a glacial lake—nearly five miles. My son, Matt, was eight; his sister, Reggie, six, and our baby, Melanie, a toddler. She complained after so long in a backpack on her…

By Seth Boster From The Gazette Colorado Springs—In the summer of 2020, India Wood was hiking the countryside somewhere off Interstate 70 between Edwards and Wolcott. “I really had to pee,” she recalls. “And it was all private land, and I’m like, What am I gonna do?” Up ahead, she saw what appeared to be…

The family of Julian Sands, the British actor who went missing 11 days ago, issued a brief statement to thank Southern California law enforcement officials for their continued efforts. “Our heartfelt thanks to the compassionate members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department who are coordinating the search for our beloved Julian, not least the…