Outdoors https://www.durangoherald.com/feeds/outdoors/ 2026-05-28 06:35:28 -0700 en-us https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/at-least-13-people-died-on-colorado-ski-slopes-in-2025-26/ At least 13 men died on Colorado’s ski slopes in the 2025-26 season, about the same as recent seasons despite a snow-starved winter that reduced annual skier traffic by a few million visits. The Color... 2026-05-11 07:35:16 -0700 f5067a59-9d56-4fc5-bf88-43c56e232738 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/colorado-lost-more-public-lands-jobs-than-any-other-state-in-2025/ As the worst snowpack in half a century kindles potential for a devastating wildfire season on Colorado’s 24 million federal acres, Colorado has lost more federal land management workers than any othe... 2026-05-01 04:24:42 -0700 5fe6fff5-686e-47a4-965e-e9936dce66d1 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/trump-plans-to-move-forest-service-headquarters-to-utah-and-shutter-research-sites-2/ SALT LAKE CITY – President Donald Trump’s administration will move the U.S. Forest Service headquarters out of the nation’s capital to Salt Lake City as part of an organizational overhaul that involve... 2026-04-02 03:43:35 -0700 22f47798-09fc-4dc7-ab79-e6aaf8acee54 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/beginnings/ Sometimes beginnings come from endings. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Don Oliver, who has entertained us, educated us and befriended us over these many years. Even though we may have never wetted... 2026-01-04 08:00:00 -0700 29ae4c18-f0e3-4eab-bf99-845e86b7e44f https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/sipapu-kicks-off-new-mexicos-ski-season/ Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort started spinning its lifts Nov. 21, once again becoming the first ski area in New Mexico to open for the season. The ski area only fired up its Big Magic Carpet for the op... 2025-11-26 12:52:22 -0700 62b5e4e0-88ca-4d69-b02a-15d9656a701c https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/worms-and-grandchildren-the-future-of-fly-fishing/ Recently, I had the pleasure of having my two youngest grandchildren, ages 4 and 7, visit me. When they arrived, they informed me they wanted to catch fish, not cast for fish, but catch. I was remind... 2025-11-02 08:00:00 -0700 db57f789-6d7d-4b7e-acc9-fd7db78b841e https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/purgatory-resort-welcomes-nearly-5000-visitors-for-total-archery-challenge/ Purgatory Resort is preparing to host the Total Archery Challenge, the nation’s premier 3D archery event, on Friday-Sunday. With nearly 5,000 unique visitors expected, the event is anticipated to del... 2025-07-08 04:27:02 -0700 0c372b7b-0eaf-4a26-8766-86cac894e8cb https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/catching-a-gar-on-a-hookless-rope-fly/ I have fly fished for various warm-water fish. I have cast flies for bass, catfish, panfish, and carp. The one species I had not cast my fly toward, until now, was a gar. I had heard about it. But unt... 2025-07-06 08:30:00 -0700 12928076-c2ce-4629-af7c-1d28b3ad1531 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/men-hit-by-lightning-plucked-from-mountain-in-record-high-colorado-helicopter-rescues/ Rescuers fetched two men struck by lightning from a Colorado peak in what they believe were the highest helicopter hoist rescues on record in this mountainous state. One man remained hospitalized in f... 2025-06-16 10:29:20 -0700 4939ebd6-814b-4e8c-acb1-df4dd56698ce https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/colorado-ski-areas-report-13-8-million-visits-in-2024-25-marking-the-third-busiest-season-ever/ Colorado Ski Country on Thursday announced the state’s ski areas hosted 13.8 million skier visits for the 2024-25 ski season, marking the third-busiest season ever. The nation’s ski areas counted 61.5... 2025-06-06 10:35:48 -0700 1d2eff6d-985f-46a4-8ea9-a70a5b135fe9 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/colorado-counties-towns-step-up-to-fund-outdoor-workers-amid-federal-budget-cuts/ As the Forest Service contracts with slashed staff and funding, local communities are stepping up with funding for backcountry trail crews, visitor education campaigns, and management of campsites and... 2025-06-04 11:42:28 -0700 ce2ab5dc-aeba-4bd2-92de-f744d6c5d3f8 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/u-s-ski-resorts-report-second-highest-showing-on-record-in-2024-25/ The nation’s ski areas logged 61.5 million visits in 2024-25, the second highest showing for American resorts and a sign that the pandemic bump may be permanent. Since 2021, the U.S. resort industry h... 2025-05-12 05:33:19 -0700 fde158c1-a61a-42ab-b3f4-42e846f6abc8 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/my-mom-jeans-are-wranglers-whats-your-superpower/ Today, on Mother’s Day, I’d like to take a moment to honor all the rodeo moms out there; the horse Uber driver moms, the multitasking moms who are hauling kids and loading horses like western switchbo... 2025-05-11 08:00:00 -0700 a889437a-2bcd-4c21-865b-48515c6f35a3 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/white-house-to-reverse-rule-promoting-conservation-on-blm-land/ Public lands protection took another hit last week when the White House Office of Management and Budget posted the administration’s intent to roll back a Biden-era ruling that put conservation on equa... 2025-04-21 12:20:41 -0700 52b1bf39-4302-4edf-a6ac-a9e4102ff6a0 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/colorados-outdoor-businesses-buckling-in-trump-trade-war/ Since 2012, Lane Willson’s bikepacking business in Salida has handcrafted some of the best bike bags in cycling. Last week she had 16 workers – she calls them “stitch witches” working 20 machines – in... 2025-04-21 11:58:43 -0700 2f002eaf-62f1-45f8-9895-8125f0b85631 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/forest-service-changes-to-rabbit-ears-pass-mountain-bike-project-have-advocates-hopping-mad/ It’s been 12 years since Steamboat Springs voters directed local lodging taxes toward trail construction and half that many years since the Forest Service proposed additional singletrack around the Co... 2025-04-18 01:23:58 -0700 44be6fb7-ad7b-4484-a263-e555c125de2b https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/a-silverton-backcountry-skiing-phenom-has-climbed-millions-of-vertical-feet-hes-only-13/ SILVERTON – When the pandemic shut down the world in 2020, Griff Pinto was 8 and made a big decision: It was time to go all-in on skiing. Five years later, the 13-year-old from Silverton is a backcoun... 2025-04-10 05:00:00 -0700 1603db17-ebf4-4dd7-8a2e-de5c3ed24d12 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/nervous-water-sign-of-fish/ If you fly fish in saltwater, you are aware of what the words “nervous water” mean. If you only fly fish in freshwater, you may also be aware of the term. However, if you don’t fly fish you are probab... 2025-04-06 08:00:00 -0700 c777e641-b788-42d4-baf8-d19d1d52d309 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/new-mexico-to-allow-cyclists-to-roll-through-stop-signs/ Starting on July 1, people riding bicycles in New Mexico will be able to ride through stop signs without coming to a full stop, and stop at red traffic lights and continue even if the light hasn’t tur... 2025-03-27 09:31:29 -0700 acbd484f-543e-402c-9831-b66d40440cde https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/purgatory-celebrating-season-with-pond-skim-on-sunday/ Purgatory Resort will hold its annual pond skimming event on Sunday, giving skiers, snowboarders and spectators a chance to celebrate the ski season. The event is set to take place on from 12:30-3 p.m... 2025-03-26 04:10:52 -0700 bb84bc21-e1f9-4b69-bce3-a93e3272962d https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/horsehair-everywhere/ The days are getting longer, bits of green are appearing across the landscape and there is horsehair, everywhere! Nothing signifies springtime like the woolly mammoths awaiting me in the barn. Sprin... 2025-03-23 08:00:00 -0700 f7f99554-ee0b-4f46-81bc-5e261e1129e8 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/trump-administration-doesnt-want-you-to-know-a-record-number-of-people-visited-national-parks-last/ The National Park Service logged a record 331.9 million visits in 2024, besting a visitation high set in 2016. But don’t expect to hear about that from the agency as it endures layoffs and facility cl... 2025-03-14 02:05:33 -0700 32f76282-166d-4a9e-b5be-dcc787d5225b https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/new-year-same-ol-me/ It’s that time of year when everyone is all about “New year, new me.” Everywhere you look, someone is giving up this or that, out with the old and in with the new, giving up gluten and buying new yoga... 2025-01-19 11:00:00 -0700 f1e63843-9d7f-43d6-bcf6-f40631045b21 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/things-i-have-forgotten/ Recently Terri and I, along with our friends John and Kim, booked a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. The trip was to include three days of fly fishing for redfish for John and me, three days of sho... 2025-01-05 08:00:00 -0700 c3a38adb-326a-4449-affc-1f15c1a099bf https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/its-bald-eagle-season-here-are-tips-to-see-the-birds-in-colorado/ Look up – it’s bald eagle season in Colorado. Several thousand of the majestic birds have migrated here for the winter and about 300 pairs who live in the state year-round are busy fixing up their nes... 2024-12-26 10:58:46 -0700 63db518f-a378-484e-b2d2-ed20f241a637 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/national-park-service-kills-controversial-plan-to-ban-climbing-bolts-in-wilderness-areas/ The National Park Service is killing a controversial plan that would have allowed local land managers to ban climbing anchors in wilderness areas. The agency on Wednesday said it was ending a nearly t... 2024-12-19 12:06:20 -0700 6b3c4782-5ea6-4deb-960c-f7e7e02a3d70 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/vallecito-nordic-ski-club-upgrading-grooming-efforts/ The Vallecito Nordic Ski Club is preparing to upgrade its grooming efforts this winter thanks to a new snowcat machine. But, the club still could use some help paying for the machine. For almost 30 y... 2024-12-08 05:30:00 -0700 74b914ce-4f19-4db2-8180-decdfa4089e4 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/thankful-for-the-lessons-learned-from-wild-horses-and-cowboys/ It’s that time of year again, leaves are falling, snow is in the forecast and Yellowstone is back on TV. Before we know it, there will be a run on black Stetsons, mirrored sunglasses and toothpicks. ... 2024-11-17 08:00:00 -0700 f75f209c-b910-40ae-97a2-4cc6f072046a https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/new-rules-for-canyons-of-the-ancients-national-monument/ The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has finalized a supplementary rule to regulate activities on public lands within the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, impacting Dolores County and Montezu... 2024-11-14 10:01:45 -0700 c1a390a3-e6c9-44cb-a0ac-f7e4d4912bc9 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/photos-purgatory-bonus-days/ ... 2024-11-09 02:00:00 -0700 7699f0f4-41c9-441f-b96b-9eee8a6158bc