The Rocky Mountain Wonderland

Enos A. Mills was known as "the father of Rocky Mountain National Park." After spending years as a guide in the Estes Park area, making hundreds of ascents of Longs Peak, and then purchasing and operating the famous Longs Peak Inn, he became an advocate for various conservation and nature appreciation causes, most notably with the National Forest Service. Mills criss-crossed the country giving speeches (actually basically the same speech countless times), outlining the history of the Forest Service and relating his own personal experiences in the wild. A controversial figure (he seemed to have an uncanny ability to make enemies wherever he went), he eventually broke with Gifford Pinchot's Forest Service and began campaigning to make the Estes Park region a national park. Tireless in all things he put his mind to, Mills wrote hundreds of articles and a half-dozen books about (especially) the natural wonders of the Rocky Mountain region. In 1915 Rocky Mountain National Park became a reality. This book collects a number of nature articles Mills wrote and had published in various magazines (The Saturday Evening Post was a favorite publication). Subjects include wild sheep, mountain lakes, the grizzly bear, beavers, reforestation, the Chinook wind, and some personal adventures (one involving a trip over the San Juans between Ouray and Silverton on a "mountain pony"). Mills makes his presence felt in all the articles, and he has the ability to make the reader feel privileged to be in his company. Unconcerned with bookish information, he would much rather relate what he's seen and learned with his own eyes. Some of the articles are a bit self-serving in their unwavering praise for the Rocky Mountain NP region, but he can be excused pushing his pet project so diligently. Mills's mountain adventures in all seasons and conditions are legendary, and anyone with a hankering for first-hand mountain experiences from a master naturalist will find this book a pleasure to read.