Rocky Mountain National Park
National park in ColoradoWikipedia
176
MENTIONS
107
EPISODES
73
PODCASTS
Search complete. 176 mentions across 107 episodes found for "Rocky Mountain National Park".
Nov 2, 2026
Aidan MattisHOST
Glacier does.
Aidan MattisHOST
Rocky Mountain does.
Aiden ThornburyHOST
1915 and Hawaii volcanoes.
Aiden ThornburyHOST
That one does not.
Steve StocktonHOST
Sadly, Eric Lewis has never been found.
Steve StocktonHOST
Next, Joe Halpern, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
Steve StocktonHOST
Joe Halpern, a 22-year-old graduate student from Chicago, along with his best friend's brother, Sam Garrick, reached the summit of Flat Top Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park on August 15, 1933, as Aaron Udell of the Coloradoan reported.
Steve StocktonHOST
The pair were on a western road trip with Halpern's parents, Solomon and Fanny.
Steve StocktonHOST
Udell said they traveled up through South Dakota before ending their trip with camping and hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Steve StocktonHOST
Udell writes that after Joe and Sam summited Flat Top Mountain, Joe wanted to continue hiking toward Taylor Peak.
Steve StocktonHOST
Sam decided to head back, so they went their separate ways around 2.30 p.m. and planned to meet back at the Bear Lake Trailhead, Udell said.
Steve StocktonHOST
Days went by without any sign of Joe.
Steve StocktonHOST
It's been nearly 50 years, and Douglas has never been found.
Steve StocktonHOST
Alfred Billharts Five-year-old Alfred Billharts is the first recorded drowning in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, though whether Alfred actually drowned is controversial.
Steve StocktonHOST
On July 2nd, 1938, Alfred had gone on a fishing trip with his parents and 10 older siblings for the Independence Day weekend.
Steve StocktonHOST
Alfred was with his family on a trail near Fall River when he fell behind the rest of them and vanished.
Steve StocktonHOST
It's been nearly 50 years and Douglas has never been found.
Steve StocktonHOST
Alfred Billharts Five-year-old Alfred Billharts is the first recorded drowning in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park.
Steve StocktonHOST
Though whether Alfred actually drowned is controversial.
Steve StocktonHOST
On July 2, 1938, Alfred had gone on a fishing trip with his parents and 10 older siblings for the Independence Day weekend.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
9.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
JAMES PRUITT Seventy-year-old James Pruitt went missing on February 28, 2019, from the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
He's described as a white male, standing 5'6'' tall and weighed 150 pounds.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
James had blue eyes and brown-slash-gray hair.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
On Tuesday, March 5, a multi-mission aircraft from Colorado assisted the search and rescue with fixed-wing aerial observation, but nothing was found.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
Due to lack of evidence to go on, coupled with extreme winter conditions, with more than two feet of snow having fallen in recent days, the search entered limited continuous operations on March 11.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
Additional searches were conducted on multiple occasions during the summer and fall of 2019, On Wednesday, October 9, around 50 Rocky Mountain National Park search and rescue team members were involved in an area search which concentrated on off-the-trail areas in the Prospect Canyon drainage and the Glacier Gorge drainage, which are above Jewel Lake.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
Five separate teams conducted grid searches in areas populated with thick timber, downed trees, shrubbery, tall grasses, and many streams.
MikeHOST
And this applies to 11 of the nation's 63 national parks.
MikeHOST
So it's Grand Canyon, Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Teton, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion.
MikeHOST
So the most popular ones, basically.
MikeHOST
Yeah.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
He had indeed packed all those things except for the helmet.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
After recovering Matthew's body, Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue Rangers investigated the fatal accident, piecing together what clues they had at their disposal.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
They found photos of Matthew smiling on the summit.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
After two previous unsuccessful attempts, he had reached Rocky Mountain National Park's highest point and the 14th most difficult 14er among the 54 in Colorado as rated by 14ers.com.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
Despite the calendars showing the month of June, Long's Peak still exhibited winter conditions.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
On the evening of June 8th, just hours before Matthew left Fort Collins for the trailhead, Rocky Mountain National Park closed the high elevation Trail Ridge Road due to it being covered in a new sheet of ice.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
About a foot of snow covered the trough, the narrows and the ledges section of the keyhole route.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
And the home stretch, a steep slab of granite near the summit, had many sections slick with ice.
KyleHOST
Later on in the evening, Ranger Christensen failed to check in on his radio and then the next morning, he didn't arrive for his scheduled shift.
KyleHOST
His fellow rangers in Rocky Mountain National Park knew that something was wrong and so they launched a search.
KyleHOST
They did not half-ass this search either.
KyleHOST
Over 200 people began combing the backcountry, searching along Ranger Christensen's planned route for that day.
KyleHOST
They're allowed to leave their routes.
KyleHOST
His fall was also so severe that even if he had been found quickly on his planned route, it's still unlikely that he would have survived, unfortunately.
KyleHOST
Rocky Mountain National Park's chief ranger at the time said, So, Leave a comment and let me know what you think of this story.
KyleHOST
And if you have any more questions about what happened, some unanswered questions.
Aaron CooneyGUEST
It's funny enough, that's when I got the call that I was getting the job.
Aaron CooneyGUEST
I was in Rocky Mountain National Park when I got the call.
Aaron CooneyGUEST
You
Alexis DownieHOST
had service.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
49-year-old hiker Chad Palanche.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
of Fort Collins, Colorado, was last heard from around noon on September 27, 2023, while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
A text message was received at that time indicating he was almost to the summit of Mount Alice and roughly miles from the Bear Lake area.
Steve StocktonNARRATOR
Park rangers confirmed his vehicle was still parked at the north inlet trailhead on the park's west side.
53 MINS LATER
Steve StocktonHOST
Many people are wondering how a professional outdoorsman could capsize and drown.
Steve StocktonHOST
And what about this so-called strange high wind event? Why does there always seem to be a sudden change in the weather during one of these missing persons encounters? these are the things many of us in this community wonder about after seeing case after case after case the same thing over and over again but never with any definitive or even sensical answers number four ranger jeff christensen In July 2005, another seasonal park ranger died under mysterious circumstances in the same county Brendan Unit passed away in as well.
Steve StocktonHOST
Jeff Christensen was conducting a routine backcountry patrol of the Lake Lawn Trailhead when he allegedly lost his footing and fell from Mummy's Range in Rocky Mountain National Park in Larimer County, Colorado.
Steve StocktonHOST
The search for the initially missing ranger lasted a little over a week and he was found on August 6, 2005 by a hiker.
97 more episodes mention Rocky Mountain National Park.
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