Nine Colorful Characters Who Made History in Estes Park, Colorado

Sitting at the edge of Colorado’s No. 1 attraction – Rocky Mountain National Park – the little resort village of Estes Park lies in one of the world’s most beautiful locations, and as such, it has been attracting visitors for more than 150 years. In addition to the millions of tourists who have passed through, here are some other colorful characters who made history in Estes Park.

Longs Peak rising above the clouds

JULES VERNE
In 1865, nearly twenty years before his classic “Around the World in 80 Days,” Jules Verne wrote a science fiction novel “From the Earth to the Moon” about the first spacecraft to the moon, which was fired from a gigantic cannon. To follow the space ship’s progress, he imagined a fictional 80-foot-long telescope on top of Estes Park’s most famous mountain, the 14,259-foot-high Longs Peak. This was somewhat remarkable, since at this point in history, no known person had ever climbed Longs Peak. Verne mistakenly thought this was the highest mountain in the United States. He wrote: “All the necessary apparatus was consequently sent on to the summit of Long's Peak…  Neither pen nor language can describe the difficulties of all kinds which the American engineers had to surmount…. They had to raise enormous stones, massive pieces of wrought iron, heavy corner-clamps and huge portions of cylinder, with an object-glass weighing nearly 30,000 pounds, above the line of perpetual snow for more than 10,000 feet in height.” Quite an accomplishment in 1865 when in reality, there was only one family living at the base of Longs Peak – that of Joel Estes.
Experience: It’s not quite as big as Verne imagined it all those years ago, but the Estes Park Memorial Observatory’s Ritchey-Chretien telescope is your gateway into deep space.

Lake Estes bears the name of Joel Estes, first known resident of the area.

JOEL ESTES
Joel was a restless man. He and his wife Patsey raised 13 children. Joel crossed the Oregon Trail, went prospecting in California and ended up in Denver in 1859 as a cattle rancher.  The Gold Rush crowds in Denver forced him farther and farther up into the hills, where he finally discovered an incredibly beautiful secret valley at the base of Longs Peak. When William Byers, the editor of the Rocky Mountain News, tried to climb Longs Peak, he stayed with the Estes family. Though unsuccessful, he rewarded the Estes’ hospitality by naming the valley “Estes Park.” By 1866, Joel was restless again and sold all of Estes Park for a pair of oxen and moved back to Missouri. But the memory of the place that still bears their name lingered on. Patsey later said her time there “was like living on the front doorstep of heaven.” 
Experience: The Estes Park Museum provides a window into the town’s past, with artifacts and exhibits stretching back to Joel Estes’ time.

Today there are hundreds of miles of hiking trails in Rocky Mountain National Park

JOHN WESLEY POWELL
Even though he lost his right arm fighting for the Union at the Battle of Shiloh, John Wesley Powell became one of the most well known explorers in history. In 1869, he led the first expedition to ever sail down the Grand Canyon in boats. A year earlier, he and William Byers made several attempts to climb Longs Peak, but were turned back each time. Finally, they found a route to the top and became the first white men known to do reach the summit (though they found evidence that Native Americans had beaten them to the top). It is estimated that 200,000 people have climbed Longs Peak since then, about 7,500 a year – although 60 have died trying.
Experience: Get to the top of the iconic Longs Peak in a safe and responsible way with a guide from Estes Park Mountain Shop – 14,255 feet above sea level.

MacDonald's Bookshop in Estes Park

ISABELLA BIRD
The fourth woman in history to climb Longs Peak was destined to become one of the most famous travel writers of all time. Growing up in England, Isabella Bird was frail and suffered from nervous headaches and insomnia. Her doctors recommended an outdoor life, and in 1873 she moved to Colorado, where the air was said to be good for your health. Settling in Estes Park, she eventually traveled 800 miles around the Rocky Mountains with her guide (some people said he was more than a guide) a one-eyed desperado named “Rocky Mountain Jim” Nugent (see below). Writing about him in her book, “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains,” she said he was a "man any woman might love but no sane woman would marry." (In Victorian England, that line was censored.) Isabella went on to travel and write about all corners of the world and became the first woman to be elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Experience: Isabella’s book about Colorado is still a great read and available in the national park gift shops and around town. Drop in to MacDonald’s Bookshop, Estes Park’s original bookstore, family owned since 1928, and browse their extensive history section.

Rangers give guided tours around Sprauge Lake.

“ROCKY MOUNTAIN JIM” NUGENT
Jim told so many tall tales that it’s difficult to separate truth from fiction. He may have been a trapper for the Hudson Bay Company, a British army officer or a defrocked priest. But we know for sure that he arrived in what would become Rocky Mountain National Park in the late 1860s. There, a close encounter with a bear left him with a scarred face and one less eye. Undeterred, he became one of the first guides in Estes Park and helped Isabella Bird and many others climb Longs Peak. But he had a falling out with another rival guide, Griff Evans. A year after Isabella returned to England, Evans shot “Rocky Mountain Jim” in cold blood with a double barrel shotgun. Incredibly, Jim lived long enough to write a statement accusing Evans, but without witnesses, Evans never stood trial.
Experience: The Fall RiverVisitor Center offers a variety of ranger-led educational opportunities, as well as exhibits on wildlife survival – just so you don’t end up looking like “Rocky Mountain Jim.”

The village of Estes Park sits right at the base of the national park lands, which, ironically, Lord Dunraven helped save.

LORD DUNRAVEN
 A good friend and drinking buddy of the murderer Griff Evans was Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, the fourth Earl of Dunraven of Ireland. Lord Dunraven came to Estes Park on a hunting trip in 1872 and fell in love with it. In what has been called one of the greatest land thefts in Colorado history, Dunraven acquired (mostly through unscrupulous means) 15,000 acres of land around Estes Park to create his own private hunting reserve. 
But the locals disliked his heavy-handed ways, and he became disenchanted with the large number of tourists visiting his private property (as many as 200 a summer!). So eventually Dunraven packed up and moved back to England, never returning. 
Experience: Lord Dunraven came from Ireland – but the Dunraven Innhttp://www.visitestespark.com/listings/dunraven-inn/1807/, the classic Estes Park restaurant that bares his name specializes in Italian food. But certainly he’d approve of the Lord Dunraven, a center-cut sirloin steak charbroiled to perfection.  

Lord Dunraven's private hunting estate is now the national park.

ALBERT BIERSTADT
Before leaving, Lord Dunraven hired Albert Bierstadt, one of the most famous artists of the day, to create masterpieces of Estes Park. Dunraven paid him $15,000 – a deal in today’s terms. These days, Bierstadt is considered one of the great artists of the American West and his paintings, which hang in a dozen museums including the Smithsonian, can sell for $7 million or more. His paintings of Estes Park and the Rocky Mountains (now in the Denver Art Museum) helped popularize the area around the world. When Lord Dunraven decided to build a hotel, legend has it that artist Albert Bierstadt selected the site that would offer the best views and artistic light. That hotel burned down, but the next landlord would replace it.
Experience: Estes Park’s gorgeous sights continue to inspire, and the Art Center of Estes Park’s gallery brings together an array of masterpieces from local artists.

The skies and clouds above Estes Park have inspired countless artists.

FREELAN OSCAR (F.O.) STANLEY
In 1903, F.O. Stanley, the wealthy inventor and producer of one of the first automobiles, the Stanley Steamer, was stricken with tuberculosis. Seeking a cure, he did what many did at the time and sought out the fresh air of Estes Park. In one season, his health improved dramatically and he resolved to turn the area into a world-class summer resort. He purchased 160 acres from Lord Dunraven and in 1907 constructed a grand hotel in the Colonial Revival style of New England, complete with electric lights, telephones, and en suite bathrooms. It was the first resort in the world where guests arrived by car rather than by train. Stanley helped Estes Park grow into a real resort village, and with his friend, naturalist Enos Mills, worked tirelessly to create Rocky Mountain National Park, which opened in 1915. The Stanlely Hotel offered every modern service, except heat — a factor that helped determine its future fame.
Experience: Take a step back in time and learn more about The Stanley Hotel's rich history during a daily guided tour that takes you all over the property.

The Stanley Hotel

STEPHEN KING
In late fall 1974, a fledgling writer named Stephen King wanted to cross Trail Ridge Road, but it was already closed due to snow. He sought refuge in the Stanley Hotel. At this time, lacking heat, the Stanley was in the process of closing for the winter and King was the only guest. He sat up late with Grady, the one remaining bartender, walked the empty corridors of the hotel, and finally checked into room 217 … where he had one of the worst nightmares of his life. But by morning, he also had the outline of The Shining, his first best-selling hardback book. Both Grady and room 217 make important appearances in the book. The Stanley Kubrick/Jack Nicholson film of The Shining was shot in Oregon, but King disliked it so much, he supported a 1997 television movie remake, filmed entirely on site at the Stanley Hotel. Today, the Stanley is regarded as one of the most haunted hotels in the world and is studied by paranormal experts. Ghost Tours of the hotel are a popular excursion in Estes Park, and the film The Shining plays on cable in every room in the Stanley, 24-7. But don’t watch it there alone. 
Experience: Want to discover the Stanley’s “spiritual” side? Night GhostTours at the hotel take you to a few darkened spaces, telling the tales behind the "active" phenomena and spirit folklore that have been causing bumps in the night for decades.

Rocky Mountain Turns 100

Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

The Rocky Mountains of North America are the second longest mountain range in the world, running in a ragged line for 3,000 miles from British Columbia in Canada all the way southeast to the north of Mexico. 

So if you’re going to have the nerve to give just a small section of this long range the grand name of “Rocky Mountain National Park,” well, that better be one special section.

On the trail to Mills Lake

And it is.  The 412 square miles of Rocky Mountain National Park have preserved some of America’s most pristine natural beauty.  America’s fifth most popular national park has 147 lakes, 50 miles of streams, 360 miles of trails and more than 100 peaks that soar 11,000 feet or higher into the Colorado blue sky – many of them with snow year-round.  

There are a thousand elk, as well as moose, bears, beavers and big\horn sheep.  There are waterfalls and wildflowers, and more than a third of the park is tundra – that strange and harsh land above the trees where it is almost always winter.

But as beautiful and tranquil as Rocky Mountain National Park can be, it can also be one of the most congested spots in Colorado.  With limited roads and parking, the popular park has to accommodate more than a million people in just six summer weeks.  That’s more than the population of nearby Denver.  Over the course of a year, 3.2 million people visit the park, sometimes “loving” it a little too much.  On a recent Saturday in August, a mile-long traffic jam was caused by one sleeping bear, who chose to take his afternoon nap within sight of the road.

Elk along Trail Ridge Road

Some 35 invasive plants have moved into the park.  Global warming is causing the glaciers to melt, and although the lakes and streams are crystal clear, the water is not safe to drink because of Giardia.

And yet, arrive early in the day or in off-season, or get out of the car and hike for a bit, and you can have the place to yourself.  Even if you stay in the car, a drive through the park can take you over the highest continuous highway in the world, cruising over the tops of mountains with hundred-mile views in every direction.  Just don’t concentrate on the views too much – there are sheer cliffs with no guardrails on every turn.

In 2015, the park is celebrating its 100^th anniversary of being protected forever.  As you picnic by an idyllic stream or hike through a firework display of wildflowers and you want to know who to thank for preserving all this, start with an eccentric Englishwoman named Isabella Bird.

Preserving the Park

There weren’t many globetrotting women explorers in the 1870s, but that didn’t stop Isabella Bird, who became the first woman accepted into the Royal Geographic Society of Great Britain. From early childhood, she suffered from insomnia and nervous headaches.  Her doctor recommended an “outdoor life,” so she set off on a series of adventures that ultimately took her to China, Japan, Vietnam, and India.  Colorado’s dry weather was said to be healthy, so she moved there in 1873. 

Isabella roamed 803 miles across Colorado, climbing mountains and riding a horse like a man (though she threatened to sue a newspaper that said she dressed like one).  Her descriptive letters home about her explorations in Colorado were eventually published into a book that became one of the classics of travel literature:  “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains.” 

Dream Lake with Hallet's Peak

One of her favorite areas was northwest of Denver near a valley that had come to be called Estes Park, after local cattle rancher Joel Estes.  “Park” came from the French “parc,” meaning “open space.”

Isabella explored the area around Estes Park with the aid of a colorful local guide, Jim Nugent, also known as “Mountain Man Jim.”  He was a one-eyed desperado who would be shot dead a year later, but he was a good-looking character, and there were rumors that he was more than a guide to Isabella.  She wrote that Jim was the type of man “any woman might love but no sane woman would marry." 

Isabella’s descriptions of climbing Longs Peak, the highest mountain looming above Estes Park, and the beauty of the area captivated the world.  Even in Colorado, which had a mountainous area five times the size of Switzerland, the splendor of Estes Park became world famous. 

Another visitor who settled here was Enos Mills, who became a local guide, climbing Longs Peak more than 300 times.  Enos lobbied that the mountains, lakes and streams here should be preserved for future generations.  He got his wish in 1915, when Rocky Mountain became America’s 10^th national park.

Touring the Park Today

With so many experiences (and so many people loving the park) here are some tips on how to enjoy its beauty.

Trail Ridge Road

Drive over the 48-mile-long Trail Ridge Road (the highest continuous highway in the world) and stop at the visitor center two miles above sea level.  Bring a jacket because it can be 30 degrees colder up here than down in Estes Park.  Hike to the top of the ridge to take in a 360-degree view of this moon-like landscape above the trees.  Because of heavy snow, Trail Ridge Road is usually open only from late May until mid-September.  Snow plows start cutting through the 30-foot high piles of snow in April and it can take six weeks to clear the road.

Hike around Sprague Lake.  This is a short, level path around one of the most beautiful lakes in the park.

Sprague Lake

As you get used to the altitude (at 10,000 feet elevation, there’s about 30 percent less oxygen absorbed in your body with each breath) hike to one of the more remote lakes.  The farther you go from the parking lot, the less people you will encounter.  The most popular hike is to climb from Bear Lake to Nymph, Emerald and Dream lakes.  It’s about 4 miles roundtrip, with spectacular views.  This a very popular section of the park, and relatively crowded.  To get away even more, hike a little farther.  Two of the most beautiful lakes are Mills Lake (named after Enos Mills) and the Loch – both about six mile hikes.  Bluebird Lake is known for its wildflowers and is about a 12 mile hike.

The ultimate park experience is to be like Isabella Bird and climb Longs Peak. Climbing a fourteener is serious business and requires being in good shape, having a lot of determination, a high tolerance for crowds, and lots of luck with the weather.  Every year, some 15,000 people attempt to summit the 14,255-foot Longs Peak; since the 1884, 60 have died in that attempt.  

Bear Lake with Longs Peak in background

The first person known to have reached the top was the one-armed explorer John Wesley Powell, who later became the first man to sail a boat through the Grand Canyon.  For the average person, it’s a strenuous, all-day, 16-mile climb that requires starting at 4 a.m. or earlier. As a general rule, you always want to be off the summit and coming down by noon to avoid lightning.  Although Longs doesn’t require any special mountaineering skills or equipment, there’s some bad exposure on the Narrows and the Homestretch parts of the climb, and a fall here could be fatal.  Many people wear helmets to protect against rock falls from above.  Bring four quarts of water as there is no water on the trail. It’s a “long” day, but there’s few better feelings than catching a glimpse of Longs Peak in the distance and knowing you have summited it.

The 1909 Stanley Hotel

Take the Night Ghost Tour at the Stanley Hotel.  In 1903, F.O. Stanley, inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile, moved to Estes Park for his health, and finding the amenities lacking, built a huge summer home in a magnificent setting overlooking the mountains.  In 1909, it became the Stanley Hotel.  Horror writer Stephen King spent one night in the hotel in 1974, staying in room 217.  Because the hotel was closing for the winter (it didn’t have heat until 1979), King was the only guest.  He wandered the halls alone, and that night had a horrible nightmare about a haunted hotel that quickly turned into the classic horror novel, The Shining.  The Stanley makes a lot of this, continuously looping Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining in every room on closed circuit TV.  On the Night Ghost Tour you will learn that many of the rooms are haunted and the hotel has long been known for ghosts and paranormal activity.  Perhaps.  One thing is for certain, grab a drink and sit on the wicker work rocking chairs on the front porch.  The view over the resort village of Estes Park and the surrounding Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the grandest in the world.

Estes Park from the ruins of an old hotel overlooking the town

If you go:   Estes Park has an assortment of riverside cabins and motels, a delightful downtown with riverside cafes, and is located just a few miles from the entrance to the national park. Of course, the top place to stay is the Stanley, but even if you don’t sleep here, stop by the gift shop to pick up a brass key ring for room 217.