BRAINARD LAKE, MOUNT EVANS WILL NEED RESERVATION
Timed-entry reservation systems will be implemented soon for access to Brainard Lake and the road to the summit of Mount Evans, two of the Front Range’s most scenic recreation destinations.
Officials of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests who manage those destinations are still working out final details, but the decision to require passes in advance of visiting has already been made. Plans are to have the systems in place when the two areas open in early June, weather permitting. Reservations will only be available in advance through Recreation.gov.
“We’re expecting passes to be available for purchase beginning in late May,” said Reid Armstrong, public affairs specialist for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. “We will have another announcement just before they go live.”
Brainard Lake is scheduled to open on June 4 and Mount Evans on June 11, although both dates are weather dependent. The Mount Evans pass applies to the road from Echo Lake to the summit, a popular drive just 60 miles from Denver.
Last year, Brainard Lake was restricted to 80% of its parking capacity and Mount Evans was closed to vehicular traffic due to the pandemic, although cyclists were allowed to ride the road from Echo Lake to the summit of Evans. While COVID-19 remains a consideration, the measures coming this summer are also intended to better manage the huge growth in visitation numbers that took place across both forests in recent years and exploded last summer.
“We do hope the system is going to reduce potential COVID exposures at the entrance stations, parking lots, bathrooms, parking lots and trailheads by dispersing arrival times,” Armstrong said. “We’re hoping the system is going to improve customer experience by allowing visitors to better plan their visits and have a safer, less crowded experience while they are at Brainard or Mount Evans. It will also work toward our long term goal of reducing crowding in these recreation areas and traffic congestion on the road near the welcome stations. Hopefully we will be able to accomplish all of those things with this.”
Those aren’t the only changes that are coming. Some areas of those forests where “dispersed” camping was allowed — meaning areas that are not developed for camping — will be converted this year to day use only. The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests stretch along the Front Range from Jefferson County to the Wyoming border but do not include Rocky Mountain National Park.
“We have about five areas identified across the Front Range that we are looking into converting to day use only to allow them to heal and for us to come up with a better management plan for them,” Armstrong said. “These are places that were heavily trampled last year by dispersed camping. That has an impact on municipal water supplies because people are pooping — there are no facilities — there are tents and cars and campers compacting vegetation.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean all of them will be day use only forever, but we need to take a pause while we look at these areas and figure out a better way to manage them so it’s not wall to wall to wall tents and campers along an entire road,” Armstrong said. “It may be that next year an area reopens and another needs a break.”
Armstrong said bear-proof containers will be required this year for campers across almost all of the Arapaho and Roosevelt forests.