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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. — Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park was temporarily closed because of winter weather on Friday — the first day of summer. Snow is falling at higher elevations in the park. The road was closed just before 10 a.m. at Rainbow Curve on the east side about eight miles into the park, and at Milner Pass on the west side about 16 miles from the Grand Lake entrance. It reopened about 90 minutes later. Park officials said to expect wet conditions and possible poor visibility on Friday. The Alpine Visitor Center was closed...

ESTES PARK — Bipartisan political leaders strolled through Rocky Mountain National Park this morning studying beetle-kill trees and changing vegetation patterns — and agreed that nuclear power must be part of any comprehensive climate-change legislation.Sen. Mark Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat, and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona are holding a formal hearing in Estes Park later today concerning global warming and its impact on national parks. McCain called on President Barack Obama to come forward with a climate-change proposal to get the discussion started in Congress.

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Elk roaming throughout Rocky Mountain National Park are being taken down one-by-one as a federal program to reduce the size of the herd gets under way. A group of six to 10 volunteers arrived Wednesday in the park, about 70 miles northwest of Denver, to thin the herd because overgrazing by elk has nearly wiped out aspens and willows, prime habitat for beavers and birds. The National Park Service approved a 20-year plan in 2007 to reduce the elk herd. The number of elk killed each year will depend on the herd's size.

Two days ago I made the drive along Peak to Peak Hwy (Colorado state Hwy 72) from Boulder Country, into Larimer County, to Rocky Mountain National park and back home. Here are some of the photos from the high country, or as I know it 'my backyard'. This is from Peak to Peak Hwy near Allenspark in Boulder County. The 'highest peak' from this perspective is 13,900+ ft. Mt Meeker and just to the left 14,000+ ft. Longs Peak.--- Getting closer.--- More Apsens in full 'bloom'.--- Hillside from the Wild Basin recreation area just inside Rocky Mountain National Park. (Far...

LARIMER COUNTY - A search continued Sunday for a park ranger who went missing Friday. More than 50 people helped scour drainages in the Mummy Range in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday for Jeff Christensen, 31, of Fraser, who was last seen by his co-workers at 11 a.m. Friday at the Chapin Pass Trailhead off Old Fall River Road. Volunteers were called off the search at nightfall and were expected to return to continue the search this morning. Christensen, an experienced mountaineer and EMT, was planning to do a backcountry patrol to the Lawn Lake...

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK (AP) - Park rangers and staff, aided by area search and rescue teams, searched for a second day Sunday for a missing park ranger. Ranger Jeff Christensen was last seen by his co-workers at 11 a.m. at the Chapin Pass Trailhead off Old Fall River Road on Friday at 11 a.m. Christensen told them he was planning a backcountry patrol to the Lawn Lake Trailhead. He did not contact park staff that evening, although he was carrying a radio, and did not arrive for his shift Saturday. A search began early Saturday with more than 25...