This field guide dedicated to the wildlife of Rocky Mountain National Park is an information-packed, pocket-sized book that introduces park visitors to animals, plants, insects and more that reside at Rocky Mountain National Park in a colorful and portable package. Includes more than 200 species, including elk, bighorn sheep, moose, ptrarmigan, pika, American dipper, greenback cutthroat trout, aspen, fairy slipper, Colorado columbine, mountain pine beetle, and more.
Following the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915, promotional campaigns generated by the railroads lured wealthy travelers to the park with images of the great outdoors and the many luxuries offered by the finest hotels. Postcards were circulated proclaiming the park as the "Playground of the World." The gateway communities of Estes Park and Grand Lake became vibrant hospitality centers, and in 1920, when the two towns were connected with the opening of Fall River Road, a new era of tourism was introduced that continues today. More than 200 postcards are used in this book to provide a chronology of the early hotels, ranches, and other settings that have shaped the park's history for more than a century.
Finally, the total experience of hiking Rocky Mountain National Park has been captured in one comprehensive volume, which covers literally every named destination in RMNP and many exciting hikes in adjacent public lands. This book is a must-have for any beginning hiker or avid outdoor enthusiast. It will take you anywhere you want to go in RMNP and its surrounding areas. From fun family hikes to hearty mountaineering adventures, Rocky Mountain National Park: The Complete Hiking Guide has something for everyone. It includes details about every trail within RMNP, as well as at-your-fingertips info highlighting trailheads, elevation gain, distance, and the difficulty of each hike. By far the most extensive and accurate hiking resource available for RMNP, this guide provides the information you need for an enjoyable experience in one of the nation's most popular parks. Book jacket.
Are you planning a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park? Do you want to take stunning photos of this incredible landscape? Then you will want this book written by a professional photographer who has spent the last 15 years exploring and photographing Rocky.
The most comprehensive field guide available to the Rocky Mountain region--a portable, essential companion for visitors and residents alike--from the go-to reference source for over 18 million nature lovers. This compact volume contains: An easy-to-use field guide for identifying 1,000 of the state's wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mosses, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, mammals, and much more; A complete overview of the Rocky Mountain region's natural history, covering geology, wildlife habitats, ecology, fossils, rocks and minerals, clouds and weather patterns, and the night sky; An extensive sampling of the area's best parks, preserves, mountains, forests, and wildlife sanctuaries, with detailed descriptions and visitor information for 50 sites and notes on dozens of others. The guide is packed with visual information -- the 1,500 full-color images include more than 1,300 photographs, 11 maps, and 16 night-sky charts, as well as more than 100 drawings explaining everything from geological processes to the basic features of different plants and animals. For everyone who lives or spends time in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming, there can be no finer guide to the area's natural surroundings than the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Rocky Mountain States.
Rocky Mountain National Park: A History is more than just the story of Rocky Mountain in its brief tenure as a national park. Its scope includes the earliest traces of human activity in the region and outlines the major events of exploration, settlement, and exploitation. Origins of the national park ideas are followed into the recent decades of the Park's overwhelming popularity. It is a story of change, of mountains reflecting the tenor of the times. From being a hunting ground to becoming ranchland, from being a region of resorts to becoming a national park, this small segment of the Rocky Mountains displays a record of human activities that helps explain the present and may guide us toward the future.
From flora and fauna to the geology and history of Rocky Mountain National Park, author Jerome Malitz takes the dayhiker through incredible hikes of breathtaking Colorado backcountry. The succinct trail descriptions and colorful photographs are a welcomed companion to any hiker. All hikes described (except Longs Peak) require less than 4,000 feet elevation gain and a total round trip distance of no more than ten miles. For this revised edition, the book has been redesigned for easier use, including all new maps from the National Geographic Trails Illustrated park map. The descriptions of each hike have been updated and enhanced, including trailhead location changes. There are also updates to parking and shuttle bus availability. In words and color photographs, this guide emphasizes not only the destination of the hike, but also the remarkable features along the way. Book jacket.
