With summer coming in hot, many Coloradans will soon be out and about exploring remote parts of the state's mountainous terrain. In a big change compared to last year, outdoor recreators will now be sharing that space with wolves that were reintroduced by the state. Given this reality, it's important to prepare for a potential – though unlikely – encounter, and part of that preparation involves knowing where wolves may be roaming.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has been creating a map each month that shows where wolves have been detected in recent weeks, and as wolves have been on the move, they've visited the areas around several popular mountain towns and cities.
Here's a list of noteworthy cities and towns that are located in watersheds where wolves have been detected between March 26 and April 23:
- Eagle
- Avon
- Granby
- Grand Lake
- Steamboat Springs
- Walden
- Kremmling
- Red Feather Lakes
- Silverthorne
- Craig
- Hot Sulphur Springs
- Winter Park
Wolves have been detected close to:
- Vail
- Breckenridge
- Estes Park
- Georgetown
- Nederland
Watersheds where wolves were detected during the period of March 26 to April 23. Map: Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Perhaps most notably, reintroduced wolves were detected on the eastern side of the Continental Divide and on the Colorado Front Range.
Those exploring these areas may need to mentally prepare for a potential wolf sighting. While wolves tend to avoid human interaction, a human-wolf encounter is bound to happen in Colorado at some point. When planning a trip into the backcountry, it's probably not a bad idea to check the most recent report of where wolves have been, but know that this data lags behind and doesn't show location in real time.
Find tips on what to do in a wolf encounter here.
Explore more wolf data here.
STAY INFORMED: Get free Colorado news with our daily newsletter (Click here)
(2) comments
Wolves were found near mountain town areas where they would naturally be found???... No way.
First of all thank you Colorado for helping protect the wolves and wildlife. If only Wyoming, Idaho and Montana would get on board. The wyoming hatred spreads as they comment about hoping the Colorado wolves cross into their state. The comments can be read here; https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/04/25/colorado-wolves-expand-range-may-already-be-crossing-into-wyoming/
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.