Four Guys. One River.

Thirty-Seven Years.

 The Duck Race Is Saturday.

The origin story of the Great Estes Park Rotary Duck Race, RMNP reservations open tomorrow, and

everything else worth knowing this week.

BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD

May starts tomorrow. The wildflowers are coming up on the south-facing slopes. The park reservations open tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. on Recreation.gov for anyone planning a visit between May 22 and June 30. Trail Ridge Road is still closed but the snowpack is thin enough that the crews might surprise us.

And Saturday, thousands of rubber ducks are going to race down the Big Thompson River through downtown Estes Park while several hundred people stand on the Riverwalk and cheer for a piece of yellow plastic they paid $25 to adopt.

This is the 38th year they have done it.

Moe stopped by Tuesday and asked how something like that gets started.

I told him the way most good things in this town get started. Four guys having coffee with a decent idea and nowhere particular to be.

SIT DOWN. THIS ONE'S GOOD.

The River Runs Yellow

How four men having coffee in 1989 accidentally built one of the most beloved traditions in Estes Park history

What Were Four Guys Doing Having Coffee in 1989?

Solving two problems at once, as it turned out.

Estes Park in 1989 had a gap nobody had figured out how to fill. There was no United Way. No organized way to collect and distribute money to the nonprofits and community groups that needed it. Local organizations were running their own fundraisers and competing for the same limited goodwill. The town also had a shoulder season problem. Early May was quiet in the way that quietly kills a merchant's bottom line before summer arrives and fixes everything.

Stan Pratt, Nick Kane, Mike McDonald, and Steve Nagl were sitting over coffee talking about both problems. Stan mentioned he had recently seen a duck race up in Oregon. It looked like fun. Good way to raise money. Good way to bring people to town in a slow month.

Mike looked up and said the thing everyone in the room already knew. Estes Park had a river running right through the center of town.

Nick said the race could start at his restaurant on the water.

Steve said his place downstream could be the finish line.

Nobody formed a subcommittee. Nobody hired a consultant. Nobody scheduled a follow-up meeting to assess the feasibility of the duck race concept relative to other charitable fundraising mechanisms in the mountain resort context.

They finished their coffee and started a duck race.

What Happened Next?

The Great Estes Park Rotary Duck Race started in 1989 and

is now the second oldest continuing duck race in the United States. Four local businessmen started it over coffee.

Name any two of the four men and the role each played in getting the first race off the ground.

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What Does Race Day Actually Look Like?

The Duck Waddle 5K kicks off at 8 a.m. Every finisher automatically adopts a duck. If you are going to cheer for rubber all afternoon you might as well earn it first.

The Duck Duck Jeep Show runs from 10:30 a.m. at the Visitor Center. If you have ever wondered where all those rubber ducks on Estes Park Jeeps actually come from, this is your chance to see the source material.

At 11 a.m., Grand Marshal Mayor Gary Hall releases the first flock at Performance Park. Thousands of rubber ducks hit the Big Thompson River. To be clear, this is an organized event. The Jeep owners in the crowd would like everyone to know they had nothing to do with it this time.

The river goes yellow. Wall to wall, bank to bank yellow. The ducks run 0.6 miles downstream to the finish line at the Estes Park Visitor Center around 11:30 a.m.

At 12:30 p.m. comes Duck Squat #1. The schedule describes it as "how picky is a duck when nature calls for #2." Buck is not going to elaborate. Go find out for yourself.

The Second Flight drops at 1 p.m. Another 5,000 ducks hit the river. Duck Squat #2 follows at 2:30 p.m. Same premise. Presumably higher stakes.

At 3 p.m. the Championship Drop sends the 500 fastest ducks from the first two flights back for the final. First across wins $10,000. Second wins $6,000. Third wins $4,000. More than 300 merchant prizes follow. Prize announcements at 4 p.m.

Live music runs all day from 10:30 a.m. through the afternoon. Full lineup at epduckrace.org.

It is a full day. Dress in layers. May in Estes Park has never once made promises about the weather.

How Do You Adopt a Duck?

Adopt at epduckrace.org for $25. You pick a local nonprofit and $23 of your $25 goes directly to them. The Rotary runs everything with volunteers which is how that return ratio stays so high. More than 70 local nonprofits are participating in 2026. You can still adopt on race day through the second flight at 1 p.m.

You do not need to be present to win. Winners are notified by email. Showing up is optional but strongly recommended because watching a river turn yellow with rubber ducks on a cold May morning in the Rockies is not something that translates well to a description.

Moe said he would take that bet. He has been wrong before.

DID YOU KNOW? 

According to the Rotary Club of Estes Park, the Great Estes Park Rotary Duck Race has returned more than $3 million to local Estes Valley charities and nonprofits since 1989. The Rotary runs the entire operation with volunteers, returning $23 of every $25 adoption directly to the charity the adopter designates. More than 70 local nonprofits are participating in 2026.

The Championship Flight at 3 p.m. Saturday features the 500 fastest ducks from the first two qualifying flights racing for $10,000 first place, $6,000 second, and $4,000 third place cash prizes, plus more than 300 merchant prizes for the ducks that follow them in. Prize announcements are at 4 p.m. at Performance Park and the Visitor Center.

Rocky Mountain National Park timed entry reservations for May 22 through June 30 open tomorrow, Friday May 1, at 8 a.m. MDT on Recreation.gov. No reservation is needed for any visit between now and May 21. Forty percent of reservations are held back and released at 7 p.m. MDT the night before each entry date for last-minute planners.

The Colorado blue columbine, the state flower, blooms in Rocky Mountain National Park from late spring through midsummer depending on elevation. With the thin snowpack this season, lower elevation south-facing slopes are showing color ahead of their usual schedule. Get out before the summer crowds find it first.

Buck's Joke Of The Day

Four men in Estes Park sat down for coffee in 1989.

One had seen a duck race in Oregon. One had a restaurant on the river. One pointed out there was a river. One had a building at the other end.

Thirty-seven years later they have raised over $3 million for local charities and become the second oldest continuing duck race in the United States.

The duck race in Oregon that inspired the whole thing is not in that sentence.

(Some ideas travel better than others.)

LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

Buck and Moe were among the lucky few invited to the Club House Fairway Tavern soft opening earlier this week. The food and drinks were on the house, which is the kind of invitation you do not turn down in this town or any other.

Michelin-trained Chef Caleb Gafner is running the kitchen and it shows. The coconut shrimp arrived and did not last long. The ribeye cheesesteak was the kind of thing you think about on the drive home. Moe had the chicken bacon guac sandwich and did not say a word until it was gone, which is the best review a sandwich can get. Buck had a spicy margarita. Moe had an Old Fashioned. Neither complaint was filed.

The staff was genuinely friendly in the way that is hard to fake when a place is still finding its footing. Club House Fairway Tavern opens officially tomorrow, May 1. Go before word gets fully out.

National Wildflower Week runs through the first week of May and with the thin snowpack this season the lower slopes are running ahead of schedule. South-facing trails below 9,500 feet are showing pasque flowers, chiming bells, and early Colorado blue columbine in spots that are usually still frozen at the end of April. Go early. Go low.

The Kentucky Derby runs Saturday May 2 at approximately 4:34 p.m. MDT. Same day as the Duck Race Final Flight. If you time it right you can watch rubber ducks race down the Big Thompson and then watch horses race around a track in Louisville in the same afternoon without leaving Estes Park. Buck is not sure this is the ideal double feature but it is available and it is free to watch from the right barstool.

RMNP UPDATE

Two important pieces of news from the park this week and both involve your calendar.

Tomorrow, Friday May 1, at 8 a.m. MDT, reservations open on Recreation.gov for timed entry into Rocky Mountain National Park between May 22 and June 30. Two permit types are available. The Bear Lake Road Corridor permit covers entry from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Rest of Park permit covers 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. A separate park entrance fee or pass is required regardless of which permit you hold.

If you miss tomorrow morning's release, do not panic. Forty percent of reservations are held back and released at 7 p.m. MDT the night before your desired entry date. There is always a second chance if you are flexible and watching the clock.

Between now and May 21 you need no reservation at all. Just show up with your pass and go.

Trail Ridge Road remains closed at Many Parks Curve. No official opening date for 2026 has been announced. The snowpack this season has been historically thin and crews may be able to open earlier than the typical late May window. Call 970-586-1222 anytime for current road status or check nps.gov/romo.

The four men who started the Great Estes Park Rotary Duck Race over coffee in 1989 were Stan Pratt, who had seen a duck race in Oregon and proposed the idea; Mike McDonald, who pointed out that Estes Park had a river running right through the middle of town; Nick Kane, who offered his restaurant as the starting line; and Steve Nagl, who offered his location as the finish line. The race launched that same year and has run every first Saturday of May since, returning more than $3 million to local charities according to the Rotary Club of Estes Park.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

Moe put his jacket on at the door and said he was going to walk the Riverwalk Saturday morning and find a good spot before the ducks hit the water.

I asked him which charity he was adopting for.

He said he had not decided yet. He was going to think about it on the walk over.

That is the right approach. Four men thought about it over coffee in 1989 and built something this town has been leaning on ever since. You have until Saturday morning to make up your mind about a rubber duck. You have plenty of time.

Stay smart, stay safe, and leave the river a little more yellow than you found it.

- Buck Timber The Mountain Thread themountainthread.com/signup

This account draws from the Rotary Club of Estes Park, epduckrace.org, and the documented history of the Great Estes Park Rotary Duck Race. The facts are solid. The Duck Squat sections were not embellished. They are exactly what they sound like.

 - Buck

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