PARK COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Eleven Mile State Park is known for its incredible ice fishing and now for its ranger with a unique mode of transportation: ice skates.
“This is a pretty new development,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife ranger Kelli Lewis said.
Lewis has been at the park about a year. She has been skating for much longer.
“I’ve been skating since I could walk honestly,” she said.
She started on figure skates then transitioned to hockey skates a few years later. Lewis said she played ice hockey through her childhood and college career. She wears the very same skates now as she patrols Eleven Mile Reservoir.
“My dad’s pretty happy about it. Finally, the hockey comes to something,” she said.
Lewis uses her skates to navigate the park, sometimes dodging ripples, ridges and snow piles. She needs to get around the reservoir to check up on ice anglers dotted across its frozen surface.
She said she got the idea to patrol on skates on a busy day when she needed to make sure the anglers were within their quotas.
“I put on my skates and had probably over a hundred contacts that day and it went well. People were not expecting to see a park ranger on skates and I saw a lot of fish,” Lewis said.
“I think it’s really cool because it’s also eco-friendly,” angler Annie Kier said.
According to Lewis, the skates are also much more efficient than the micro-spikes and truck she would otherwise use.
“So it actually takes almost half an hour to drive all the way around to the other side of the lake. I could probably skate there in 10 minutes on a clear day,” she said.
She said those are precious minutes in an emergency.
“So somebody asked a question about response times and I thought about it for a while, and I think that it’s faster response time if you’re on skates because not only are you able to get more coverage and talk to more people in less amount of time, but maybe a minute it takes to put them on and off in an emergency and switch into a pair of boots versus whatever the minutes are that you’re walking across the ice trying not to fall to get back to your vehicle,” she said.
Aside from the efficiency and environmental benefits, Lewis said skating her way through her day is also just plain fun.
“Why not enjoy your job?” she said. “You might walk out into some of the clearest ice you’ve ever seen that a Zamboni can’t simulate…. There’s no shortage of being able to play as a park ranger out here.”
Visitors to the park are allowed to skate on the reservoir as well. Skaters should be familiar with outdoor ice safety before going out on the ice and need to be respectful of others recreating at the park.