Rocky Happenings And Updates

Winter so far in Rocky Mountain National Park may have been on the mild side, but as always the case RMNP has some of the most spectacular sunrises anywhere. Horseshoe Park maybe on the dry side but looking back towards Deer Mountain during this beautiful January sunrise makes photographing Rocky Mountain National Park worthwhile regardless of snow. Technical Details: Nikon D850, Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 AF FL ED lens
It’s been a little quiet around here on the blog the past few months. While I’ve been busy posting to my social media feeds on Facebook and Twitter most days I’ve somewhat neglected updating my blog for which I apologize. Having recently moved into a new house it’s taken more effort than I’d care to admit just to be able to get time out in the field in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Good news is that I’m finally settled in and I’m quickly getting myself back on track and back into my routine which some would say borders on obsessive compulsive.

Overall, conditions along the Front Range of Colorado this winter have been fairly bland. In fact we’ve not had much weather to speak of since October and this winter so far has been mild and dry. Rocky Mountain National Park has had some snow, but i’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather pattern shifts as we head towards spring and we get a good run of storms and moisture to not only make for dramatic conditions for us photographers, but also to increase the snowpack and keep the park from drying out.

Besides the mild winter we have been experiencing so far, a few other notable items have been happening in Rocky. We’ve already had one government shut down this year in which contrary to past years funding shut downs did not close Rocky completely. Many services were limited for the few days the federal government shut down but Rocky was able to operate on a limited basis with the exception of being able to plow snow which lead to the park being closed one day due to dangerous road conditions.

Another hot button issue has been the proposed increased entry fee for 2018. While the final decision has not yet been made, daily entrance fee’s at Rocky Mountain National Park along with over a dozen other popular National Park’s look to be increasing dramatically. Rocky’s proposed daily entrance fee would increase from $20 a day to $70 a day. While the overall trend in visitation to Rocky Mountain National Park continues to increase (with a less than 2% decrease in 2017) these newly proposed increase in daily fee’s are striking most as excessive.

These increase in fee’s are likely to have an impact on my guiding and photography tour services in Rocky Mountain National Park as well. Not only will participants in my tour services have to pay additional fee’s to enter the park, there is another proposed fee to holders of Commercial Use Agreement guide passes or CUA’s of $170 a tour. This proposal is also still being discussed but if you combine the cost of my photography tour services, a $70 entry fee along with another $170 fee for guiding each client or group in the park, the cost of my services my become prohibitive to many of my participants.

Currently, I’m keeping an eye on how these shakes out and at this point are still booking photography tours for 2018. I’ve renewed my CUA pass for 2018 but if these fee’s do come into effect and greatly affect my photography tour services and guiding, I may no longer be able to offer those services in 2019.

Lastly, I plan on doing a better job in 2018 keeping my blog updated. Keeping my social media feeds updated on Twitter and Facebook while effective, take away time from posting on my blog. I only have time to update so many feeds and blog posts and currently my social media feeds have been winning that battle. With Facebook’s new policy changes regarding business accounts being more or less hidden unless one pays to advertise on the site, I’d like to continue to shift my content and energy back to keeping this site updated. I’ll still be updating Twitter and Facebook as often as I have in the past, but I’m going to prioritize keeping my site updated with my content.

So while its been a quiet season in Rocky so far, there have been many a beautiful winter sunrises (Rocky has some of the best). I’ll be out and about in the field as often as I can get out and I’ll keep all of you updated on the new fee proposals and what the final outcome is along with how it will impact my photography tour services in RMNP.