Located near Ridgway and Telluride, the Blue Lakes are among the most popular places to hike in the San Juan Mountains thanks to their alluring turquoise waters, robust wildflowers and access to the roughly 14,150-foot Mount Sneffels. The three lakes are so popular, in fact, that the U.S. Forest Service is now implementing a plan to reduce foot traffic to the area in hopes of restoring the natural environment, which has suffered over the years.

In addition to requiring permits in the future, that plan included last summer’s closure, which enabled the agency to upgrade some of the visitor amenities and lay the foundation for future restoration projects in the area, said Dana Gardunio, Ouray District Ranger for the USFS. Crews focused on remediating and re-seeding human-made campsites that eroded the soils, ripping up user-made trails, clearing dead trees, and cleaning up human waste.

“We found a lot of piles of human feces and toilet paper behind almost every tree that was up there,” Gardunio said.

Reducing traffic to the area for one summer may have an impact on the wildlife there, too. Gardunio said crews saw moose at Lower Blue Lake, as well as bears, deer and elk.

As hikers and campers prepare to return this summer, there are new guidelines they should be aware of to avoid overcrowding and to enable more restoration to be done. The forest service and its partners, like the San Juan Mountains Association, will have personnel at the trailhead, along the trail and at the Lower Blue Lake to help ensure compliance, Gardunio said, “because we don’t really want to lose the investment we’ve made in the work if it’s not being respected.”

Here are five things you should know before making the trip to the Blue Lakes in the summer of 2026.

Crowds and conditions

In the past, the Blue Lakes saw about 35,000 visitors per year. Gardunio expects traffic to reach those levels in 2026, though it’s possible there may be an increase as people seek to visit prior to the permit system launch next year.

Peak hiking season runs June 1 through Sept. 30, with the most foot traffic coming through on weekends and holidays. Given the warm and dry conditions Colorado experienced this winter, it’s possible the trail may be accessible earlier than normal. However, Gardunio advised anyone who plans to visit in the spring to monitor the weather and be prepared for evolving conditions in the alpine terrain.

Parking capacity limits

In 2025, forest service crews reconstructed the trailhead parking lot to delineate specific spots for cars and added an overflow lot for oversized vehicles or those with trailers. In total, there are 45 first-come, first-served parking spots, and if they are full, visitors should be prepared to change their plan.

“Right now, the rule is that you should be parking in designated spots only, and if there aren’t spots, then you would leave,” Gardunio said.

Parking is prohibited along County Road 7 leading up to the trailhead, and agency personnel planted trees along the road’s edge to deter drivers from stationing their cars there. “We’re going to be working on trying to watch that and see where we may need to put some more signage or build some little fences, if needed, to try and discourage that use,” Gardunio added.

When nature calls, pack it out

Speaking of the trailhead, hikers will find a new bathroom with more stalls than previously available. The rest of the wilderness, however, is no longer a toilet. Visitors now must pack out their human waste. This requirement comes after unsustainable use and improper burying on the part of innumerable people. That was probably the top issue the environment faced, Gardunio said, as she and her crew found the landscape littered with “little white toilet paper flowers.”

“Typically, you’re supposed to dig a cathole at least six inches deep and bury it,” she said. “The soils up there are really challenging, there’s so many roots and rocks. I was up there trying to plant some of the trees, and it’s really hard to dig in that soil, which is why we decided to do the pack out waste. The environment’s just really not conducive for that.”

Gardunio recommends bringing a WAG Bag or some comparable product to carry and dispose of excrement. And remember, it is also poor form to pee near lakes, which can cause contamination. Leave No Trace principles advise urinating at least 200 feet away from trails, campsites, high-use areas, and water sources.

Camping changes

As people prepare to camp overnight near the Blue Lakes, there are both new and existing rules to consider.

Dispersed camping will still be available near the Lower Blue Lake this year, and while there will not be a cap on the total number of people who stay overnight, the forest service is limiting groups to a maximum of six people. Also new this year, campers are required to carry bear-resistant food storage containers, which must be approved by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.

Camping has long been prohibited at the middle and upper Blue Lakes, and that restriction remains in place. Additionally, camp spots must be at least 100 feet away from both water and trails, and avoid natural areas that are being restored. Those who cannot find a compliant spot should have a secondary plan in mind, Gardunio said.

“There is still a possibility, depending on numbers, that you could get up there and find yourself without a campsite,” she said. “So visitors should still be prepared that is the case and if they don’t have anywhere to camp, they’ll need to have another plan — either not camp up there, go back down the trail or find another spot somewhere else along the trail, which I know there’s not a lot because of how steep it is.”

Another existing rule worth repeating: Campfires are prohibited in the wilderness area. Forest Service personnel dismantled numerous man-made fire rings when they remediated the area, Gardunio said.

No permit required to hike to Colorado’s Blue Lakes in 2026

What’s next on permits

The forest service is now building a digital permit system and continues to discuss proposed fees. Gardunio said to expect to hear more about the agency’s proposal around June 1, and that there will be a 60-day window to solicit public feedback. The agency’s proposal will likely include a fee that goes back to the local office that is intended to support the management of Mount Sneffels Wilderness and Blue Lakes recreation area, Gardunio said.

In response to criticism about implementing a fee for visitation, Gardunio said she believes this is a necessary strategy to protect the wilderness for future hikers and campers. She also believes it will lead to a better experience in 2027 and thereafter.

“Although it may feel restrictive, the hope is that when you are able to visit those areas, whether it’s with a permit or outside of permitted season, that your experience is a much higher quality without it and that you also have an area to enjoy that doesn’t feel like it’s overrun or degraded to the extent that we've seen at Blue Lakes,” she said.

CORRECTION 11:24 a.m. on April 2: A previous version of this story erroneously stated the Forest Service planned to build fire rings at the designated campsites it has identified for future years at Lower Blue Lakes. No fires are allowed in that part of the wilderness.

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Since then, state and federal agencies have joined them to discuss ways to reduce dead trees and other potential wildfire fuels in the forest nearby, not only for the threat they pose to Frisco, but also to the Dillon Reservoir bordering town to the east. Wildfire runoff could contaminate the reservoir, which represents about 40% of Denver Water’s supply to the metro area.

Earlier this month, Frisco — which measures less than two square miles and has a population of about 3,000 — and those agencies worked out a plan for wildfire fuel reduction on national forest land. But in doing so, they also took that opportunity to expand recreation opportunities in a 3,000-acre area south and east of town, colloquially known as Frisco’s “Backyard.”

That part of the plan includes improving 40 miles of summer trails and 10 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails and redesigning two trailheads that will encourage more people to recreate in the White River National Forest. To do so, the forest service will issue a special use permit — similar to what the agency does for ski areas — that will allow Frisco to help manage the Backyard.

The Backyard gets more than 250,000 visitors per year across all four seasons, and many of them are coming “directly from town,” said White River’s acting Dillon district ranger, Sam Massman. “That huge number of visitors makes it really important to the local outdoor recreation tourism economy. It’s a way of life for [them]. A lot of people can leave right from their house and be into the woods. They spend a ton of time back there.”

For years, the town has had a separate special use permit to manage recreation in the Peninsula Recreation Area, which is also situated on forest service land and includes an extensive trail network for both winter and summer recreation. That area includes the popular Frisco Nordic Center and extends down to the reservoir itself.

“We’ve kind of built out those trails,” said town spokeswoman Vanessa Agee. “Now we want to move over to the Backyard and build there, and it’s all going to be connected at some point. The most amazing thing is that you could be staying at a hotel or an Airbnb, right off of Main Street or on Main Street, you could walk three blocks and you’re headed onto the Frisco Backyard.”

Tying it all together

The work will begin this summer, when Frisco begins construction of a 1.3-mile summer hiking trail and a 1.4-mile Nordic ski trail connecting the Peninsula Recreation Area, which is north of Colorado Highway 9, with the Backyard on the other side of the highway. In late summer, the town plans to begin rebuilding, improving or re-routing an additional 12.3 miles of trails.

It also hopes to begin construction of 4.7 miles of new trails and adopt 14.3 miles of “social trails” — unofficial pathways that have been created by human traffic — for addition to the existing forest service trail network.

“We’re looking at them together, trying to make a logical system where we’re not duplicating routes and where we’re considering how the trails and the recreation experience interact with the proposed fuels treatments,” Massman explained.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit Summit Huts Association plans to build an overnight hut at the Peninsula Recreation Area in partnership with the town. Summit Huts already operates five backcountry huts in Summit County and will fundraise to build the Frisco hut.

“We kind of have this model of working with the forest service,” said Pete Swenson, Frisco’s Nordic Center and trails manager. “Once you get out of the town of Frisco, you’re pretty much on forest service land, so it’s a logical partnership.”

Wildfires are a “legit concern”

But it was the fire mitigation plan that paved the way for the recreation improvements.

While Frisco is small, it acts as a sort of gateway town for the Breckenridge and Copper Mountain ski areas, and to some degree for people heading over Vail Pass to the ski resorts further along I-70. As a result, it boasts an assortment of stores, restaurants and other businesses that generate sales tax revenue, enabling the town to pursue ambitious projects despite its small size.

That includes more than $780,000 the town spent on the National Environmental Policy resource management study (approved this month) regarding the wildfire risk they face and ways to mitigate it. It was a direct reaction to those fires in 2005 and 2017.

“We were all like, ‘It’s a legit concern, we actually need to do more around fire mitigation, we have a real problem,'” said Agee, the town spokeswoman. “It’s not that we were dumb and didn’t think that fire danger was legit, but that really made us think harder.”

Fuels treatment means reducing materials that could readily burn and spread wildfire. The Backyard has a lot of lodgepole pine trees that were killed by the mountain pine beetle. Fuel reduction work will focus on removing dead and live lodgepole pines.

“The aspen trees, the spruce trees and the fir trees, those will all stay,” said Massman, adding that they are immune to the pine beetle. “The area is steep, there is no real road access, so most of the treatments will occur with hand crews cutting with chainsaws and then hand-piling logs for future pile burning. It’s not like a prescribed burn. We’d make these piles and then we’d burn them in the winter when snow is on the ground.”

Concerning the reservoir, Denver Water spokesman Todd Hartman said the agency is “heavily engaged” in forest management projects like what’s planned for Frisco’s Backyard to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires that have damaged other reservoirs.

“The size of the reservoir does insulate it against some impacts that would be more damaging to some of our smaller reservoirs,” Hartman said in an email. “A reservoir as large and as deep as Dillon would naturally be more resilient to this kind of event than a smaller one. Even so, a large fire that resulted in the need for debris cleanup (burned trees and the like) in Dillon could prove costly and disrupt operations there.”

In addition to the USFS and Denver Water, the town is also working with Summit County, the Colorado State Forest Service and the National Forest Foundation on the overall plan.

The Backyard was incorporated into the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument when it was created by presidential proclamation in 2022. The national monument is located on two parcels of national forest land, one in the historic Camp Hale area west of Copper Mountain and south of Vail Pass, the other on either side of the Tenmile Range east of Copper Mountain. That includes the Backyard, which contains historical sites from Summit County’s 19th-century mining days.

“It includes what’s left of the Masontown, which was a mining town on the side of Mount Royal for decades around the turn of the 20th century,” Massman said. “A lot of the historic objects back there are wood cabin remains. We designed the project also to make those objects more protected from fire and hopefully better managed with regard to the high levels of visitation.”

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I’ve only been snowshoeing a few times in my life, and to be honest, it was one of those activities that sounds a lot more fun than it is — despite the sincere recommendations of friends and fellow writers over the years.

Here’s what I’ve encountered so far: a lot of ice and dirt and crusty layers of snow. I’ve been on trails where those layers required a lot of stomping, or falling through the snow — or what outdoorsy types call “postholing.” The trails have sometimes been difficult to find, and the carved-out tracks don’t always fit the width of the snowshoes. Pictures I’ve seen of people snowshoeing make it look so pretty — with people tramping through powder under blue skies. I haven’t really found that to be the case.

Last year, my wife and I snowshoed to a hut near Tennessee Pass. On our way back down the next morning, we took another path, walking with just our boots and some microspikes to help us keep our footing. And, honestly, it was a lot more fun.

That wasn’t the first time I’d used microspikes (there are many brands of these slip-on traction devices, including MICROspikes). Because, let’s face it, I am no longer young. And I am occasionally grumpy.

A few years earlier, after complaining about how difficult it was getting for me to walk on the ice, especially in the mountain towns we visit, my wife got me a pair. I loved them. Not only did they make it easier for me to walk in parks and open spaces, but I could go for hikes in the winter and the shoulder seasons without worrying about slipping and falling or, you know, just looking to others like a white-tailed deer fawn trying to take its first steps on a frozen-over pond.

I now own two pairs of spiked traction devices — my son got me the second pair, so I guess the complaining paid off — and a set of Yaktrax, which are more for walking on mixed terrain since their metal traction pieces are flatter than spikes. And I’ve done more walking in the winter than ever before, as well as in the shoulder seasons, when mud can turn into ice overnight.

I haven’t needed them as much this year since 2025-26 has turned into the winter-that-wasn’t, but I love keeping them in my hiking backpack just in case. Some outdoors enthusiasts don’t like these kinds of spikes because they feel like they can tear up the ground or give ice-climbing mountaineers a false sense of security. Since I am in no danger of trying to scale Longs Peak in the middle of winter, though (or ever, frankly), I think they provide a real sense of security.

Sorry, snowshoes.

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Earlier this month, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it anticipates requiring advanced-purchased permits to hike the famed lakes beginning in 2027. However, there are new rules that adventurers need to be aware of this summer if they plan to enter the Mount Sneffels Wilderness, near Ridgway and Telluride, where the Blue Lakes reside.

Starting on May 31, visitors will be required to pack out human waste and carry bear-resistant food storage containers, which must be approved by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. Additionally, camping is prohibited at the middle and upper Blue Lakes and overnight groups are limited to six people. In its announcement, the Forest Service reiterated that campfires are not allowed anywhere in the wilderness area.

The Blue Lakes are an international destination for hikers and mountaineers seeking to enjoy the Instagram-worthy alpine lakes and scale Mount Sneffels’ 14,150-foot summit. Years of overpopulation, however, have had severe effects on the local environment.

According to a 2023 environmental impact report, the most common issues are improper disposal of human and animal waste; overrun vegetation and threatened wildlife habitats due to the proliferation of dispersed campsites and user-created trails; campers building fires illegally; and frustration among visitors caused by crowding at the trailhead.

That’s why, several years ago, the Forest Service decided it would limit the number of visitors each year by implementing a permitting system.

“Anyone who has visited Blue Lakes, or even seen photos, understands why we need to protect this area,” said Dana Gardunio, Ouray District ranger, in the recent announcement.

Permits will be required during the peak season, from June 1 through Sept. 30, likely starting next year. In the meantime, the Forest Service has been restoring parts of the area, such as the trailhead, which now has a new bathroom and reconstructed parking lot.

Those looking to hike the Blue Lakes this year should be prepared for heavy crowds. The trail was closed during summer of 2025 due to the aforementioned restoration projects, and there may be people hoping to see the iconic lakes before competing for a permit to do so.

The Forest Service estimates about 35,000 people recreate in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness annually, the vast majority of whom come from June to October. A permit system would slash the number of visitors to about 8,000 people per summer, Gardunio previously told The Denver Post.

In the coming year, the agency will be discussing fees for permits and soliciting feedback from the public.

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The trail in Clear Creek Canyon Park, located just west of Golden, is part of the Jefferson County Open Space system. The trail now extends 3.25 miles up the canyon, following the opening of a 1.5-mile extension in November that includes four new bridges, 1,200 feet of trail on a viaduct similar to the elevated highway decks in Glenwood Canyon, multiple creek access points and a new trailhead with a 42-space parking lot and restrooms accessed by U.S. 6.

The first 1.75-mile segment, which opened in 2021, begins at the Gateway Trailhead, located at the entrance to the canyon at the foot of Mount Zion. A third segment, adding another 1.5 miles upstream from where the trail now ends, is expected to open in late summer. That will bring the length of the trail in the canyon to 4.75 miles, with still more extensions coming in future years.

The trail also connects with the long-established Clear Creek Trail east of the Gateway Trailhead, which passes through downtown Golden and extends all the way to the South Platte River in Adams County.

The section that opened in November is called the CCR segment, a nod to the narrow-gauge Colorado Central Railroad, which operated in the canyon from 1872 to 1941 to serve the needs of mining operations in Central City and Blackhawk. After the rails were removed, the railroad grade was raised for flood mitigation and construction of U.S. 6. The highway opened in 1952.

The trail surface, composed of rust-tinted concrete to harmonize with its surroundings, is 10 feet wide and ADA compliant, meaning the maximum grade is 5%. Bridges on the trail include porches so visitors can pause and admire views without impeding others passing through.

Last Friday, 4 to 6 inches of fresh snow blanketed the trail. Jeffco Open Space was quick to plow the trail Saturday morning in time for weekend crowds, “as it will do every time it snows,” according to spokesman Matt Robbins.

Fed by runoff from that snowstorm, the creek ran heavy, creating rushing rapids beneath rock walls that soar 1,000 feet. Where the trail now ends, a sign describes what is coming this summer: The Huntsman’s Rancho segment will include four bridges, creek access points and a parking area with more than 70 spaces. Like the segment that opened in November, the trail’s next segment will include a viaduct set on concrete pillars.

Because of those engineering challenges, the segment that opened in November and the one coming later this year cost $80 million to build. Primary funding came from Jeffco Open Space, along with support from Great Outdoors Colorado and the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

The Clear Creek Trail as a whole also is known as the Peaks to Plains Trail, capturing its entirety from Adams County through Jefferson County. The ultimate vision for P2P, as it is nicknamed, is for a 65-mile trail that follows Clear Creek from the South Platte through Denver, Wheat Ridge, Golden, Idaho Springs and Georgetown, terminating at the headwaters on Loveland Pass.

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Timed-entry reservations with two-hour windows will be required to enter the Bear Lake Road corridor from 5 a.m. until 6 p.m., and from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. for the rest of the park. Reservations are available for purchase through recreation.gov. Reservations are free but recreation.gov charges a $2 processing fee.

Reservations for the Bear Lake corridor will be required until Oct. 19. Reservations for the rest of the park will end on Oct. 13.

Reservations for the Memorial Day weekend through June 30 will go on sale May 1 at 8 a.m. Reservations for July go on sale June 1. Reservations for the rest of the season go on sale the first day of the preceding month.

Park officials imposed timed-entry reservation requirements in 2020 during the COVID pandemic and brought them back as a “pilot” program in 2021-23 as a strategy to prevent overcrowding, avoid traffic congestion and reduce impacts on park resources. They were made permanent in 2024.

The National Park Service has not yet announced visitation numbers for 2025. Rocky was the nation’s fifth-busiest national park in 2024 with 4.15 million visitors, behind Great Smoky Mountains, Zion, Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.

Moraine Park, Rocky’s largest campground, reopened last July after a two-year construction project and will be fully operational this summer. Camping reservations are required beginning May 21 and are available six months in advance through recreation.gov.

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Maloy has long criticized this southern Utah national monument that was halved by President Trump during his first term, then restored under President Biden. One million awestruck visitors come here every year and spend money in the two Utah counties surrounding the monument, whose towns total less than 14,000 residents. Yet Maloy discounts data showing the economic value of preserved public lands. She neglects the world-class scientific value of these 1.9 million acres, detailed in Biden’s proclamation.

Rep. Maloy’s attack is wily. She and the rest of the congressional delegation know there’s too much public support to ask President Trump to again chop down the monument’s size. Nearly 3 out of 4 Utah voters are on record as wanting to keep Grand Staircase-Escalante protected as a national monument.

So Utah politicians are betting the public won’t pay as much attention to management retrenchment as they would to downsizing. They’re using a controversial tactic to force the Bureau of Land Management to abandon the current Resource Management Plan–a blueprint for how the BLM puts the presidential proclamation into effect on the ground.

But monument supporters are paying attention because management plans matter.

After President Biden restored the boundaries of Grand Staircase in 2021, the BLM worked with the public for two years to create the 2025 Resource Management Plan, listening to every conceivable collaborative partner. Such plans guide decision-making for years, and this true compromise keeps ranchers’ grazing permits in place while also factoring in a warming planet, persistent drought, the need for biodiversity, and a sustainable future.

Now, Rep. Maloy has obtained an opinion from the Government Accountability Office to treat the 2025 plan merely as a “rule” that Congress can overturn. This unprecedented allowance can’t be challenged in court and permits the Utah delegation to use the Congressional Review Act to kill the conservation-based plan and bar the agency from issuing any “substantially the same” plan in the future. The Trump-era plan that would take its place leaves much of the monument unprotected from extractive industry and off-road vehicles.

Maloy says that emphasizing conservation “undercuts rural economic development.” From 2001 to 2022, however, real per capita income grew by 41 percent in the monument’s counties.

She says that local residents and “trail users” oppose the Biden plan. This is cherry-picking. Motorized trail users always want greater access, even though the Biden-era plan left more than 800 miles of dirt roads and trails open for motorized vehicles.

When Maloy talks about “deep cultural traditions” being disrupted by the current management plan, she isn’t listening to Indigenous people who have made this place their home since time immemorial. The six Native Nations of the Grand-Staircase Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition oppose her move, noting that without the “clear roadmap for protection and conservation” provided by the current management plan, “our ancestral lands and … cultural sites within the monument would be at greater risk of looting, vandalism, graffiti, and degradation.”

To support their attacks, Utah’s politicians use their timeworn template to argue exclusively for “the needs and voices of the people who live and work on this land.” These politicians, however, listen only to county commissioners and legacy ranchers, not to a much broader constituency.

This is Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, not Grand Staircase County Park. The environmental, scientific, interpretive, and Indigenous values and potential of these public lands have national and international importance.

This new attack on Grand Staircase-Escalante from Congress–along with a parallel attack on Minnesota’s Boundary Waters—would set a national precedent with no public input that could upend public lands protection for years. Even the deeply conservative Mountain States Legal Foundation said it fears a “Wild West” for land-use planning if Congress acts on Maloy’s radical approach.

The exhausting years-long battle to protect the resources and restorative magic of Grand Staircase-Escalante can wear out supporters. But this place gives us no choice but to speak up once again. Staying silent puts federal agencies in an impossible position and places all of our public lands at risk. Let your members of Congress know that preservation of the monument requires leaving the current resource management plan in place.

Stephen Trimble is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He’s been hiking in Grand Staircase and writing about Colorado Plateau conservation for 50 years.

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Conditions never reached the consistency needed to safely prepare and manage the loops this winter due to the late freeze, the town stated on its website.

The Lake Loops trail is a multi-use winter track that offer recreation including walking, cross-country skiing, skate skiing, snowshoeing and fat biking.

According to the town’s website, the town takes weekly ice measurements to judge the thickness of the ice around the track during winters in which the loops are open. The town recommended visitors and residents use caution around the reservoir and enjoy Dillon’s other winter activities.

Read more from our partner at summitdaily.com.

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The sign sits where the Coalton Trail approaches Colo. 128 and was installed in late December, according to an email from county spokesperson Gloria Handyside. The trailway is one of multiple that lead into the Rocky Flats refuge area.

“Visiting Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge May Expose You to Radioactive Materials,” the text reads, according to a sample sign image. It adds: “Hikers, Bikers, and Equestrians are encouraged to make informed decisions before entering the refuge.”

Westminster is also planning to install a similar sign, according to Andy Le, a city spokesperson. The sign was being made and will be installed “in the coming weeks,” he said. The sign would be located near an Indiana Street bridge, according to Westminster City Council information.

“The sign is for educational purposes and empowers trail users to make a decision for themselves,” he said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was not consulted about the language used in the signage, according to an email from Branden Ingersoll, a spokesperson for CDPHE’s Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division.

“While local governments have the authority to post signage on local property, we want to clarify that the wording does not match the scientific findings from CDPHE or the Environmental Protection Agency,” Ingersoll said.

Former nuclear plant area

The land in the area was once home to the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, established in the early 1950s, according to a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment document. The plant, which produced nuclear weapon components for national defense, involved the use of radioactive materials such as plutonium and uranium as well as “other hazardous materials associated with manufacturing,” according to the document. While in operation, the plant released contaminants into the environment through “routine air emissions and accidents, such as fire and spills,” the document says.

The plant’s production mission was terminated in the early 1990s, and the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency supervised an investigation and remediation of environmental contamination at the site, the document says. Remediation of the Rocky Flats site was completed in 2005, and jurisdiction of most of the site was turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be operated as a wildlife refuge shortly after, the document says. The Fish and Wildlife Service could not be reached Thursday for comment about the new sign.

Boulder County Parks and Open Space staff were given direction by county commissioners to install the sign “in response to requests from members of the public for additional signage,” Handyside said.

A group called Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center and an organization called Physicians for Social Responsibility Colorado co-led a campaign for warning signage around Rocky Flats, according to Chris Allred with the peace and justice center group.

The wildlife refuge opened to the public in 2018, but the signage installed by Fish and Wildlife is “inadequate and misleading about the full history and current risks of recreation at Rocky Flats,” Allred said.

“While the refuge is now open to visitors year-round, radioactive and hazardous materials remain in the soil and ground water and may be present in airborne dust particles,” the provided sample text of the sign says. “Nearby communities and industry professionals continue to express concern about the area’s safety and its risks to human health.”

(For Westminster, city staff was set to make an adjustment to the sign, including to add the word “some” before “industry professionals,” according to a City Council meeting document.)

“After decades of advocacy from the state to the municipal and county levels, we finally will have strong warnings posted around Rocky Flats,” Allred said in a news release. “We appreciate these important steps by the Boulder County Commission and Westminster City Council to bring more transparency and public health (protection) to the region. It is time for other communities bordering Rocky Flats to follow suit.”

State public health department on risk

CDPHE continues to consider the refuge safe for public use under “federal health protection standards,” Ingersoll said.

“CDPHE and EPA conducted years of investigation and risk assessment at Rocky Flats using … thousands of environmental samples,” he said. “Based on that work, regulators determined that the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is suitable for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, meaning no special public health precautions are required for the refuge acreage.”

Trails within the refuge do not enter the former industrial production area, which continues to be separately managed and regulated, according to Ingersoll.

“We understand people may view risk differently. Our role is to share the scientific and regulatory findings that guide our decisions,” Ingersoll said. “Based on decades of investigation and oversight, CDPHE and EPA continue to consider the refuge safe for public use under federal health protection standards.”

Truth be told, these dinners stand alone as delicious, but are that much better with a side of adventure.

Tennessee Pass Cookhouse

Backcountry dinners: nightly, all winter

One of Colorado’s unsung gems, this backcountry dining experience happens every evening all winter (along with lunch on Saturdays and Sundays) through mid-April on Tennessee Pass near Leadville. The Cookhouse is situated in a cozy yurt in San Isabel Forest, overlooking the majestic Sawatch Mountain Range. Reaching the multicourse dinner involves snowshoeing, hiking, cross-country skiing or fat biking on the mile-long route through the woods.

“The coolest thing with the experience is you feel so remote and off-grid,” says Shauna Bocksch, who has treated her kids to a Cookhouse dinner every winter for the last several years, also staying overnight in one of the property’s Sleep Yurts. “You’re in a warm yurt with the fire crackling and enjoying this amazing five-course dinner. You have the good feeling of having worked up an appetite getting in, enjoying the stars on the way and warming up with a bonfire outside on the deck when you get there. It’s a true, self-propelled, backcountry experience.

“The best is when you get there before sunset and have a cocktail or hot chocolate before dinner. Looking out at the Collegiate Peaks is just breathtaking.”

Bonus: The property’s Nordic Center is open every day through mid-April and features almost 17 miles of groomed trails for classic and skate skiing, snowshoeing and fat biking, along with lessons and gear rentals. There’s even a free sledding hill with complimentary tubes. Dinner, lunch and Sleep Yurts (each solar-powered with wood-burning stoves, accommodating up to six guests) must be booked in advance. tennesseepass.com/cookhouse

Arapahoe Basin

Moonlight Dinners: March 7, April 4

Unsurprisingly, A-Basin offers numerous ways to arrive at a good meal by way of lung and leg power. These events have become so popular that they fill up quickly once registration is available. The Basin’s Moonlight Dinners offer a chance to skin (or take the chairlift) up to Black Mountain Lodge at mid-mountain for a massive, multicourse buffet dinner (with a theme) and a live musician.

Uphill N’ Chill breakfast: Jan. 30, Feb. 28

Begin your day in a similar fashion with Uphill N’ Chill, an early-morning skin up to Black Mountain Lodge, rewarded with a hearty (chicken and waffles, anyone?) chef-prepared buffet breakfast.

Progressive Skinner’s Dinner: April 24

Launched last season, the crown jewel of the Basin’s adventure dining offerings is the Progressive Skinner’s Dinner, each of its four courses requiring some traveling. The hardest haul is right from the get-go; from then on, gravity is on your side. You start by slapping your skins to your skis or board at the base of the mountain and shuffling about 1,800 vertical feet to il Rifugio, North America’s highest restaurant at 12,456 feet. There, you are offered a spritz toast and scrumptious Italian-themed first course. Then ski or snowboard down to Steilhang, the German/Austrian themed hut, to sit down for your next course while catching the amazing view of the setting sun on the East Wall cliffs outside the window. The main course (last year it featured fresh seafood paella) and gastronomy buffet happens at mid-mountain’s Black Mountain Lodge. Save a little room, though, because the evening finishes with a final ski down to the 6th Alley in the base area A-Frame for dessert and live music. arapahoebasin.com

Buttermilk Full Moon Dinners

Monthly, every full moon through April

Aspen’s uphillers are just as passionate as its downhill enthusiasts, which is why each time there’s a full moon, between 300 and 500 people don headlamps, slap skins on their skis or boards and slog to the top of Buttermilk Mountain to The Cliffhouse Restaurant. Here, a festive bonfire, live music and á la carte access to the restaurant’s full food and bar menu (including the Mongolian BBQ) await.

“I love how dedicated our community is to uphilling,” says Aspen Snowmass’ Hannah Dixon, who regularly participates in the Full Moon Dinners. “The Cliffhouse is packed every time, even on nights when it’s dumping snow. The Full Moon uphills are such a unique way to gather with the community. There is truly nothing like the feeling of skiing fresh corduroy, or sometimes powder, under the moonlight after a warming bowl of noodles.”

An Aspen Snowmass Uphill Pass ($74 for the season) is required, but otherwise the Full Moon Dinners are free to attend (the cost of the meal food is based on a la carte pricing). The Cliffhouse is open from 5 to 8 p.m. for the Full Moon Dinners. Alpine touring or telemark skis, boots and skins are available to rent at Ute Mountaineer in Aspen. aspensnowmass.com

Beaver Creek

On-mountain cabin dinners, nightly

Tucking under a blanket in the back of a Snowcat-drawn, open-air sleigh to get to your gourmet dinner brings an instant chill of excitement (as well as an actual chill) as you make your way amid snow-flocked trees up the slopes to one of three luxury log cabins. The fare at Beano’s Cabin favors Colorado-sourced meats, cheeses and  veggies, while Allie’s Cabin leans toward the rich flavors of northern Italy. Zach’s Cabin, meanwhile, casts a vast European-inspired net, from schnitzel to fondue. Sleighs to Beano’s (closed Sunday and Monday except during holidays) and Allie’s (closed Monday and Tuesday except during holidays) pick up at the base of the slopes in Beaver Creek Village. Zach’s (closed Tuesday and Wednesday except during holidays) sleigh picks up outside of the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch. beavercreek.com

Copper Mountain

Aerie Sunset Ski dinners, March 15, March 21

Cutting out the uphill element and ideal for skiers and riders who love open slopes and never feel like they get in enough runs during the day, Copper Mountain welcomes the arrival of longer spring days with the opportunity to experience the lift-served slopes exclusively with only a few dozen others, in late afternoon. After the chairlifts close to the general public at 4 p.m., sunset skiers and riders will be able to access the Excelerator and American Eagle lifts from 4 to 7 p.m., skiing to their heart’s content while also dipping into The Aerie lodge at mid-mountain to indulge in a variety of gourmet food stations.

The culinary spread is bountiful, ranging from tacos to pasta, seafood, salads, chili and upscale desserts (oh, the desserts!).  Aerie’s bar is also open throughout the event, with live bands and DJs providing the soundtrack. At the end of the evening, you’ll have the option to ski back down to the base or download on the gondola as the sun makes its final dip below the peaks. coppercolorado.com

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