Rocky Mountain National Park |
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Hello Everyone,
Happy New Year and I hope you're keeping safe and finding fun and interesting things to do.
Travel Update: Over the next year, international travel will slowly return. In the meantime, I am expanding my tours within the United States; no need to stop traveling when some of the most beautiful birds and landscapes in the world are in our very own National Parks.
Rocky Mountain National Park: As many of you already know, I was a guide in Rocky Mountain National Park for 16-years before I moved to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. I have resumed my tours in Rocky Mountain National Park and for the rest of the winter I will be offering Snowshoeing, Cross-country Skiing, and Winter Birding Tours on the Grand Lake side. This coming summer and fall, I will be offering birding, hiking, and overnight backpacking trips in Rocky Mountain National Park on both the Grand Lake and Estes Park sides. In Rocky Mountain National Park, overnight back-country permits begin on March 1st and summer reservations book up fast, so plan ahead. All my tours in Rocky Mountain National Park are private due to the high elevation. (And if you were planning on visiting Olympic National Park, don't worry, I will still be offering tours there in the spring, summer, and fall.)
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Rocky Mountain National Park is a high elevation area. Established in 1915, the park covers 267 acres (416 square miles), and has 359 miles of hiking trails. The lowest point in the park is about 8,100 feet and most trailheads are located from 8,200 - 10,500. For this reason, we only offer Private Trips, so your entire group will be similarly acclimated to the altitude. We recommend that you arrive a few days early and stay on Grand Lake (8,300 feet) for our winter tours or either Grand Lake or Estes Park (7,800 feet) for our summer and fall tours to help you acclimate. Altitude sickness and fatigue will ruin your trip, so please Plan Ahead and Prepare (Leave No Trace principle #1). Elk, Moose and Coyotes can be seen openly roaming the meadows, while Bears, Mountain Lions and Bobcats are some of the more elusive predators we find in the forested areas. Little critters like Marmots, Chipmunks and Ground Squirrels are abundant. During the summer, the colorful wildflowers and tundra plants are stunning. Longs Peak, the highest mountain in the park, rises up to 14,255 feet. Trail Ridge Road crosses over the tundra and the continental divide and summits at 12,200 feet! A visit to Rocky Mountain National Park will be an experience you will not forget!
Birding, Wildlife, and Hiking Tours: Over 300 different species of birds have been identified in Rocky Mountain National Park and the park has 359 miles of hiking trails for single day or multi day tours. If you will be in the national park area for an extended period of time, we highly recommend spending time in all five life zones in the area. Starting in Rocky Mountain National Park, you will find different species of birds in the four major zones in the park: Alpine, Sub-alpine, Montane, and Riparian. At the edge of the park, you will find the foothills, plains and high mountain parks. We can arrange an extended birding tours of the different areas for you.
Alpine Tours: Trail Ridge Road crosses Rocky Mountain National Park and the continental divide and the high point on the road reaches 12,200 feet. The Alpine Visitor Center is along Trail Ridge Road at 11,800 feet. We will take you on several short nature walks and teach you about the plants, animals and geology of the Alpine Tundra.
Stargazing and Night Sounds: We don’t have a telescope, but we love to go into the National Park at night and look for shooting stars, falling meteorites, the Milky-way and orbiting satellites. We will teach you about the constellations of the sky. The mountain sky is truly clear and on a moonless night, you will be amazed about the number of stars in the sky. Nighttime is also a great time for night sounds.
Overnight Backpacking: There is nothing more wonderful than waking up in the backcountry. Mountain mornings are cool and calm, night skies are brilliant with stars and the air is quiet; to awake next to a high mountain crystal clear lake or stream is an incredible experience. Rocky Mountain National Park is a high elevation area and most backcountry campsites are located from 9,500 - 10,500 and some sites are located over 11,000 feet. For this reason, we only offer private trips, so your entire group will be similarly acclimated. We advise you to arrive a few days early to better acclimate to the altitude.
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Colorado: Besides tours in Rocky Mountain National Park, I will also be offering multi-day tours throughout Colorado. These locations will include Great Sand Dunes National Park, the Pawnee National Grasslands, the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, and Colorado State Parks. There is a lot to see in Colorado due to the extreme changes in elevation. All my tours in Colorado are private due to the high elevation.
Olympic National Park: Birding, Hiking, and Overnight Backpacking tours will continue on the Olympic Peninsula. Reservations for back-country permits for overnight backpacking begin 6-months in advance and summer reservations book up fast, so if you are interested in camping in a quota area, it is best to plan at least 6-months early.
Washington State: The biodiversity and landscape of Washington is impressive. From the Pacific Ocean, to the Cascade Range of Volcanoes and the eastern habitats of desert, It is hard to see everything in a short visit. These tours includes Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest, the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and Washington State Parks. I offer 5-day tours, 10-day tours, and private custom tours as well. Come see the amazing Pacific Northwest.
Santa Fe: Every year in mid August we visit Santa Fe for Opera and Birding. If you are interested in Opera, this is a fantastic tour. If you do not like opera, you can sign up for the "Birding Only" part of the trip. Either way, this is a fun and interesting trip to Santa Fe, which includes Bandelier National Monument, the Randall Davey Audubon Center Sanctuary, and the Abiquiu Ghost Ranch.
New Mexico: Besides my opera tour, I also will be offering a 7-day tour in southern New Mexico which will include locations such as the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife, Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Petroglyph National Monument, the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, White Sands National Park, and private custom tours as well.
Montana: This tour starts in Missoula and slowly travels a 550-mile loop through southwestern Montana over the course of 7-days. From Missoula, we will travel through areas near Helena, Bozeman, Butte, Dillon, and Deer Lodge: Big Sky country, every bit of it. Come and see the beautiful landscapes and beautiful birds of Montana.
Chicago: My home town! So much to see and do and also a great place for urban birding. This is both a bird tour and also a culture tour which includes The Second City Comedy Club, the Chicago Symphony, Opera, Architecture, and great food.
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International Travel Update
No Deposit needed, we can "Pencil you in": If you dreaming of future international travel and don't want to make a firm commitment until things settle down, we can write you on the list and when it is safe to travel again, we will already have you on the trip list and you can make the deposit at that time.
International Tours for 2021
Japan Birding Kyoto (10 days) Oct 18 – 27, $5,850
Taiwan Birding and Culture Tour (10 days) Nov 1 – 10, 2021, $3,650
Taiwan Taroko Gorge Birding (4 day add-on) Nov 10 – 13, 2021, $1,050
Colombia Andes Birding the High Mountains (10 days) Dec 1 - 10, 2021 $3,850
Stockholm Christmas, Winter Birding and Glögg (8 days) Dec 20 – 27, 2021, $3,650
Estonia New Year's Eve in Tallinn and Seabirds (8 days) Dec 30, 2021 – Jan 6, $3,650
International Tours for 2022
Nicaragua Cloud Forest Birding (10 days) Jan 12 – 21, 2022, $3,450
El Salvador Birding and Culture Tour (6 days) Jan 23 – 28, 2022, $2,350
Panama Birding the Darien (10 days) February 1 - 10, 2022, $3,850
Nepal Birding and Easy Mountain Walks (10 days) February 17 - 26, 2022, $3,750
Sri Lanka Birding and Easy Walks (10 days) March 1 - 10, 2022, $3,750
India Birding and Wildlife Viewing (10 days) March 14 – 23, 2022, $3,850
Iceland Southwest Birds, Waterfalls and Volcanoes (10 days) May 1 - 10, 2022 $4,150
Iceland Westfjords Puffins and Arctic Foxes (10 days) May 11 - 20, 2022 $4,150
Iceland Northeast Birds, Birds, Birds (11 days) May 21 - 31, 2022 $4,250
Mongolia Birding, Wildlife Viewing and Culture (10 days) Sept 19 – 28, 2022, $4,150
Sarawak, Borneo: Birding and Trekking (10 days) October 3 – 12, 2022, $3,650
Taiwan Birding and Culture Tour (10 days) Nov 1 – 10, 2021, $3,650
Taiwan Taroko Gorge Birding (4 day add-on) Nov 10 – 13, 2022, $1,050
Colombian Amazon (8 days) November 23 - 30, 2022, $3,450
Colombia Andes Birding the High Mountains (10 days) Dec 1 - 10, 2022 $3,850
Stockholm Christmas, Winter Birding and Glögg (8 days) Dec 20 – 27, 2022, $3,650
Estonia New Year's Eve in Tallinn and Seabirds (8 days) Dec 30, 2022 – Jan 6, $3,650
Would you liked to be added to a trip? No deposit needed until life gets back to normal.
Reviews: We would love more reviews for our tours from you. Having great Google reviews really helps our website to get on the first page for internet searches and it is good for business too!. If you don't have a Google account, you can email me a review and I will post it on my website. If you have Gmail, you can easily leave a review by searching for "Kaiyote Tours" or there is a link on the "Reviews" page of my website.
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Kaiyote and Ed: We are doing great and we are keeping busy with various local projects and looking towards the future. We can't wait to get out again and travel and go adventuring around the world where ever the birds might lead us.
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