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Free day coming up at Colorado’s national parks and beyond

For one day coming up at Colorado’s national parks and monuments, no need to take out your wallet.

The National Park Service is waiving admission for one of its “fee-free days” on the calendar: June 19. That’s in recognition of Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

Juneteenth was added to the fee-free list this year, joining five other dates. After Juneteenth, the next are Aug. 4 (Great American Outdoors Day), Sept. 28 (National Public Lands Day) and Nov. 11 (Veterans Day).

Visitors on the days save between $10-$35 across the 400-plus sites under the National Park Service. That includes four national parks in Colorado: Rocky Mountain, Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Mesa Verde.

If Rocky Mountain National Park is the plan, $2 reservations are still required under the timed entry system through Recreation.gov.

Admission will also be waived at the state’s national monuments, including the red rock wonderland of Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction and the northwest, fossil-rich canyonlands of Dinosaur. Closer to the Front Range is Florissant Fossil Beds, home to massive, petrified redwood tree stumps.

The free day might be the occasion to visit Bent’s Old Fort, the national historic site that reimagines the adobe trading post on the southeast plains. Farther south, just across the New Mexico state line, is Capulin Volcano National Monument, where one can walk along the high rim and into the crater of an extinct cinder cone.

Capulin tells the story of George McJunkin, a born slave who became a self-trained cowboy and naturalist. He is remembered for his caretaking of the volcano and for his discovery in the area: the legendary Folsom point.

Park ranger Geoff Goins walks the 1-mile loop of the Carter Rim Trail on the top of Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeastern New Mexico. Sierra Grande, in the background, is the largest volcano in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field. (Christian Murdock, The Courier)
Park ranger Geoff Goins walks the 1-mile loop of the Carter Rim Trail on the top of Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeastern New Mexico. Sierra Grande, in the background, is the largest volcano in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field. (Christian Murdock, The Courier)


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