[4] Estes Park is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.

When three elderly Arapahoes visited Estes Park in 1914, they pointed out sites they remembered from their younger days.

A photograph at the Estes Park Museum identified the touring party as Shep Husted, guide; Gun Griswold, a 73-year-old judge; Sherman Sage, a 63-year-old chief of police; Tom Crispin, 38-year-old reservation resident and interpreter; Oliver W. Toll, recorder; and David Robert Hawkins, a Princeton student.

[6] In the 1850s, the Arapaho had spent summers camped around Mary's Lake, where their rock fireplaces, tipi sites, and dance rings were still visible.

They also recalled building eagle traps atop Longs Peak to get the war feathers coveted by all tribes.

Their recollections included a battle with Apaches in the 1850s, and fights with Utes who came to the area to hunt bighorn sheep, so all three of those tribes used the valley's resources.

One of Estes' early visitors was William Byers, a newspaper editor who wrote of his attempted ascent of Longs Peak in 1864, publicizing the area as a pristine wilderness.

It became a dude ranch in Estes Park, with guides for hunting, fishing, and mountaineering;[11] when Isabella Bird arrived in 1873, Evans already had nine men and women as guests.

[12] The 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, a young Anglo-Irish peer, arrived in late December 1872 under the guidance of Texas Jack Omohundro, subsequently made numerous visits, and decided to take over the valley for his own private hunting preserve.

[13] Lord Dunraven's 'land grab' didn't work, but he controlled 6,000 acres before he changed tactics and opened the area's first resort, the Estes Park Hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 1911.

She wrote A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, a memoir of their travels, including the breathtaking ascent of Longs Peak, where she was literally hauled up the steep pitches "like a bale of goods.

Having had bitter history with each other, Nugent and Evans hated each other and were deep personal rivals when it came to tour guiding tourists.

The improved road brought more visitors into Estes Park; some of them became full-time residents and built new hotels to accommodate the growing number of travelers.

After some years as a college athletics coach, he and his wife returned to Estes Park and built a hotel called The Crags on the north side of Prospect Mountain, overlooking the village.

The Rocky Mountain West especially attracted those with pulmonary diseases, and in Estes Park some resorts catered to them, providing staff physicians for their care.

[20] In 1903, a new road was opened from Loveland through the Big Thompson River canyon to Estes Park, increasing access to the valley.

The following year, Mr. Stanley built nine-passenger steam busses and opened a bus line between Lyons and Estes Park.

[22] In 1949, Olympus Dam was finished, creating Lake Estes, giving the town its main source of drinking water.

[25] In 1992, members of the modern American militia movement attended the three-day Rocky Mountain Rendezvous in Estes Park, which focused on "guns, resisting the federal government, and white supremacy".

[26] The town suffered severe damage in July 1982 from flooding caused by the failure of Lawn Lake Dam, "after years of disrepair and neglect.

Summers are typically warm, sometimes hot, while winters are usually cold, with lows dropping into the teens and sometimes the single digits.

Built and operated by the Walker family the coaster demonstrates a diversification of outdoor adventures provided by the ranch whilst ensuring the protection of the natural landscape and is touted as the only mountain coaster located in relatively close proximity to the Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins area.