Longs Peak reaches 14,000 feet above sea level in Rocky Mountain National Park, Co. (uhlman / flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhlman/ / CC BY 2.0
A toast of the Compass Points cup in honor of Rocky.
Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado marks its 95th birthday today (Jan. 26), and it doesn’t look a day older than 135 million years, when the peaks first jutted out of the ancient ocean.
President Woodrow Wilson created Rocky, preserving what would become the 265,873 acre park with its memorable alpine meadows and sky scratching peaks, 78 of which reach above 12,000 feet.
I couldn’t embed this video, but check out what the folks at Travel Film Archive have on display. It’s a 1920s film by a guy named Burton Holmes, showcasing in black and white the park in its younger days. Get’cha all nostalgic for when road trips were a relatively new thing.
The LovelandConnection.com said the officials at Rocky are keeping things low key as there’s a bigger celebration on the horizon:
The creation of the park was the vision of Enos Mills, who first climbed Longs Peak in 1887 at age 15. A lifelong advocate for the park, he led the effort to encourage Congress to declare a national park that would preserve a portion of the Rocky Mountains for both recreation and natural resource protection.
Rocky Mountain National Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker said there will be little celebrating today, only an announcement of the anniversary.
“The significance of the 95th is just a good reminder that the centennial is coming up,” Baker said. “The centennial in parks is usually a big deal.”
