{"id":22892,"date":"2020-05-14T13:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T19:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/grand-lake-business-bracing-for-summer-rocky-reopening-amid-health-concerns\/"},"modified":"2020-05-14T13:05:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T19:05:00","slug":"grand-lake-business-bracing-for-summer-rocky-reopening-amid-health-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/grand-lake-business-bracing-for-summer-rocky-reopening-amid-health-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Lake business bracing for summer, Rocky reopening amid health concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/RockyReopening-shn-051520-1024x681.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/RockyReopening-shn-051520-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/RockyReopening-shn-051520-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/RockyReopening-shn-051520-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/RockyReopening-shn-051520-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/RockyReopening-shn-051520-2048x1362.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Bob Scott and his business partner Lou Lybrand work the desk at Bob Scott&#8217;s Authentic Indian Jewelry in October. Scott said he&#8217;s glad that Rocky Mountain National Park is opening for the summer, but hopes its done with caution.<\/strong><br \/><em>Amy Golden \/ agolden@skyhinews.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Bob Scott is entering his 52nd season in Grand Lake, but this summer will be unlike any other he\u2019s experienced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The tourism-based businesses in Grand County have taken quite a shaking from the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bob Scott\u2019s Authentic Indian Jewelry store will be no exception. As summer approaches, questions linger about what tourism will look like.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In Grand Lake, one of the biggest question marks has been Rocky Mountain National Park. Rocky closed to the public March 20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the park announced this week that it will begin a phased reopening May 27.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Scott said he\u2019s eager to see the park open, but hopes that authorities have detailed plans in place to navigate the challenges this summer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row shn-donation shn-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOf course we want the national park to be open, but I feel that we should proceed with caution,\u201d Scott said. \u201cOnce the park is open to traffic, we will have people from all over the country coming into our town.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Park officials outlined general plans for a phased reopening working with state, county and local officials as Colorado increases recreational access and services, but left many details to be determined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">One thing was certain: Park operations and services will be much different this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Portions of Moraine Park and Glacier Basin Campgrounds will open June 4 with half the campsites available, but Aspenglen, Timber Creek and Longs Peak Campgrounds will remain closed. Wilderness camping permits will be issued beginning May 27, as will operations for the Bear Lake Road shuttle bus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Park staff are still determining the feasibility and timing of other services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Businesses like Scott\u2019s rely almost entirely on those few summer months when crowds flock to Rocky, but those crowds could also bring the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cPark traffic is very important to our economy here, but keeping our population safe from COVID-19 is also very important,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Scott mentioned he\u2019s a senior citizen, making the coronavirus more of a threat to his health. More visitors means more risk, and Rocky brings a lot of tourists to Grand Lake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Rocky saw a record year in 2019 with 4.6 million visitors, up 1.7% from the previous 2018 record and a 44% increase since 2012. At the Grand Lake entrance, the park logged more than half a million visitors last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Before the COVID-19 closure, Rocky was well on its way to another record-breaking year. As of January and February of this year, the park had already seen more than 255,000 visits, up 17% from the same time last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">With those numbers, no one contests that Rocky and the iconic Trail Ridge Road that runs through it is the lifeblood of tourism in Grand Lake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOur summer business is contingent on that road being open,\u201d Scott said. \u201cThe road being closed would be detrimental to our summer season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Scott added that he\u2019s going into the summer with no expectations, good or bad. He and his business partner are preparing the store to open like normal, but he\u2019s also been wearing a facemask to get used to having one on all the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI want our customers to feel safe,\u201d Scott said. \u201cWe are doing everything we can to be proactive and to help the circumstances we\u2019re in seem more like normal. But I know it\u2019s going to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As a longtime fixture in Grand Lake, he remains optimistic. After 51 seasons overcoming all kinds of obstacles, Scott sees the coronavirus as just another challenge.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/grand-lake-business-bracing-for-summer-rocky-reopening-amid-health-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bob Scott and his business partner Lou Lybrand work the desk at Bob Scott&#8217;s Authentic Indian Jewelry in October. Scott said he&#8217;s glad that Rocky Mountain National Park is opening for the summer, but hopes its done with caution.Amy Golden \/ agolden@skyhinews.com Bob Scott is entering his 52nd season in Grand Lake, but this summer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 04:01:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}