Colorado
Colorado wildflowers are blooming early, with some areas peaking now
Over the past two weeks, Maggie Gaddis has toured the state, with stops in Boulder, Estes Park, Gunnison, Durango and Chaffee County, to check on the status of wildflower blooms.
Her advice? It’s time to get out there and be amazed.
“My recommendation is that folks hurry up, go experience it now,” said Gaddis, executive director of the Colorado Native Plant Society. “The flowers are amazing. They’re just on this hyper-drive, super-track. I’ve got plants in my garden that have bloomed already that don’t typically bloom until August.”
In much of the state, where abundant spring moisture was followed by hot temperatures, wildflowers are blooming earlier than normal, Gaddis said. As for the high alpine environment where snowmelt continued into June, the peak should come in a couple of weeks.
“At higher elevations, we had a really strong snowpack, so the alpine plants are right on schedule,” Gaddis said. “I was on Pikes Peak a week ago and nothing was blooming. Last year on July 6, I went on the same field trip and everything was blooming. I think we’re right on schedule for alpine, high-elevation stuff, because the snow is just barely melting. So, mid-July is a great time for those alpine flowers.”
Her advice tracks with that of Nicola Ripley, director of the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, which are located at 8,200 feet. Ripley said they are in full bloom.
“We’ve had a lot of moisture up in the high country,” Ripley said. “It’s been monsoon season here. The gardens are definitely peaking, particularly the wildflowers in the garden. We’ve had warm weather as well as rainy weather. It would appear that everything is either right on time or a little early.”
Hikers venturing into the higher elevations are apt to encounter snow and mud.
“If you’re looking for alpine meadows, in the next week or so I think you’d be seeing the peaks there,” Ripley said. “But if you want to get up onto the alpine ridges, if you’re going through north-facing areas that still have snow on them, you’re talking closer to the end of July or the third week in July before the little alpines are in peak. What you would call the sub-alpine meadows, the paintbrush and lupines that people like to see, anytime in the next couple of weeks would be a good time to go.”
If you’re interested in visiting the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, admission is free but donations are encouraged. They’re open daily from dawn until dusk. The education center is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p,m.
In Front Range mountains, some wilderness passes are still snowed in, according to Whitney McCurry, a public affairs specialist for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. Those forests stretch along the Continental Divide from Mount Blue Sky to the Wyoming border.
“My understanding is that balsam root is blooming, columbine started popping off last week, larkspur and lupine already flowered out and are done,” McCurry said. “We’re seeing most blooms coming out around 10,000 feet now, 9,500, something like that.”
The Colorado Native Plant Society maintains a calendar of workshops, webinars, conferences, field trips and presentations about Colorado native plants, habitats and gardening on its website. The phenology, or seasonality, of flowers varies due to many factors including weather, location and elevation. For crowd-sourced information on the status of wildflowers, Gaddis recommends iNaturalist, which has an app and website that are to wildflower viewing what AllTrails is to hiking.
“If you are planning a trip to a place where you don’t live, the best way to prepare yourself is to look up the place you want to go on iNaturalist and see what observations are being made,” Gaddis said. “I go around the state. If I’m going to a place I don’t live in, I use the map function and look up the place. There’s all these dots on the map and you can look at all the things people have recently observed. That’s a great way to plan your trip, see what’s going on.”
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Former Colorado Buffaloes stars Sebastian Rancik and Bangot Dak announced their transfer portal decisions on Sunday with Rancik committing to Florida State and Dak committing to Vanderbilt, per On3’s Joe Tipton. They join former Buffs guard Isaiah Johnson (now at Texas) as the third former Colorado player to leave the Big 12 conference as Rancik opts for the ACC and Dak heads to the SEC.
The trio of Johnson, Rancik, and Dak make up three of Colorado’s four most productive players with rising senior guard Barrington Hargress, and the Buffs are now tasked with replacing such production with Hargress as the only returner.
Rancik’s season ended prematurely with an injury, but he averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for the Buffs. Dak was Colorado’s leading rebounder with 6.5 boards per game, scoring 11.5 points per contest as well.
While each player has his respective reasons for transferring, the most expected ones are for seeking better NIL deals or more development on a better team in a better league. The Buffs finished 12th in the Big 12, and the allure of the SEC was too strong for the program to hold onto key talent like Johnson and Dak.
Still, Colorado coach Tad Boyle proved his ability to recruit and build up a solid core, one that saw its headliners of Johnson, Dak, and Rancik all depart in the portal. Can he do it again?
Colorado Buffaloes Roster Outlook
Boyle and the Buffaloes did retain Hargress as well as three freshmen guards: Jalin Holland, Ian Inman, and Josiah Sanders.
As a freshman, Holland averaged 4.9 points and 2.7 rebounds per game as one of Colorado’s key pieces coming off of the bench. Meanwhile, Sanders appeared in 33 games as a constant presence in the Buffs backcourt, averaging 4.4 points and 1.7 assists per game.
Inman played the fewest minutes of the returning trio, but he flashed with a couple of double-digit scoring performances as a true freshman.
“When I think of those three together, I think of toughness. I think of the improvement they made over the course of the season and the togetherness they have. They’re great friends and have formed a bond during their freshman year. Their toughness, energy and work ethic, when you have those attributes to go along with talent, which they all have, you get a chance to have three really good sophomores next year that will take the next step,” Boyle said in a release announcing the return of the three freshmen.
With eight outgoing transfers to replace, the Buffaloes will certainly have a new look to them for the 2026-27 season.
Colorado has landed one transfer portal prospect so far in former North Dakota State foward Noah Feddersen. On the recruiting trail, Boyle and company are bringing in four-star forward Rider Portela as well as two prospects from the NBL in Australia: forward Goc Malual and guard Alex Dickeson.
The transfer portal for men’s college basketball closes on Tuesday, April 21, meaning players have to enter their names by then. Transfer athletes do not have to commit before the portal closes, though, so Colorado is expected to continue hosting prospects on visits while building out the roster.
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Colorado
Colorado faces LA in first round as Kings captain Anze Kopitar embarks on final Stanley Cup chase
DENVER — Anze Kopitar wrapped up the last regular season of his storied career. The Los Angeles Kings captain wants to prolong his final playoff run for as long as possible.
Kopitar, who announced in September his plans to retire, instantly becomes a postseason rallying point for the Kings. They have a tall task ahead of them against the Colorado Avalanche, the top team in the league, with the top goal scorer in Nathan MacKinnon and one of the best defensemen in the game in Cale Makar. Game 1 is Sunday at Ball Arena, where the Avalanche are 26-9-6.
“Playoffs,” said the 38-year-old Kopitar, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Kings. “I’m not going to say anything can happen, but we’ll go in and we’ll play hard and we’ll see where that takes us.”
This will be the third postseason series between the two teams and the first in 24 years. Colorado won in seven games during both the 2002 conference quarterfinals and the 2001 conference semifinals.
It’s been a record season for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche as they amassed the most points (121) in franchise history. That broke the mark set by the 2022 team, which went on to win the Stanley Cup title. MacKinnon had a career-best 53 goals.
Goaltenders Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood shared the net this season and surrendered a league low in goals. They earned the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is presented to the goalies who have played a minimum of 25 games — Wedgewood suited up in 45 and Blackwood 39 — for the team with the fewest goals allowed. The other goaltender to win that honor for Colorado was Hall of Famer Patrick Roy (2001-02).
“We’re in a good spot,” Colorado forward Brock Nelson said. “The mentality of this group throughout the year, right from the start of training camp, (was) set on a mission to be the best team.”
Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates the goal against Edmonton Oilers goalie Connor Ingram (39) during shoot-out NHL action, in Edmonton on Monday, April 13, 2026. Credit: AP/JASON FRANSON
Record against each other
The Kings went 0-3 against Colorado this season and were outscored by a 13-5 margin.
“You hear the hype. They have good players,” Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “We’re a scrappy team. We keep it close with everybody. That can really frustrate them.”
Leading after two
The Avalanche were 41-0-0 when leading after two periods. They’re the first squad to have a lead after two periods on 40 or more instances and capture each one, according to team research.
“Even though we’ve been smart, we’ve been committed, we’ve been relentless at times, it’s going to have to go to a whole new level now,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I have faith in our guys.”
Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar, who is retiring after this season, acknowledges the crowd after being recognized after losing to the Vancouver Canucks during overtime NHL hockey action in Vancouver, on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Credit: AP/DARRYL DYCK
Remember the season opener?
Six grueling months ago, the Avalanche and Kings opened the season against each other. The Avalanche won 4-1 in Los Angeles behind a pair of goals from Martin Necas, who would go on to register his first 100-point season (38 goals, 62 assists).
The two teams join an exclusive club by becoming the fifth pair since 2015-16 to open the regular season and the playoffs against each other, according to NHL Stats. The other pairs to do so were Montreal and Toronto (2020-21); Colorado and St. Louis (2020-21); St. Louis and Winnipeg (2018-19); and Los Angeles and San Jose (2015-16).
Of those teams that won the season opener only San Jose went on to win the series. It’s a trend Kopitar and the Kings wouldn’t mind joining.
Kopitar and the playoffs
Kopitar helped the Kings to the Stanley Cup title in 2011-12 and 2013-14 along with goaltender Jonathan Quick, who now is with the New York Rangers and recently said he’s retiring. Kopitar has played in 103 postseason games with 27 goals and 62 assists.
“The intensity ramps up, everything ramps up,” Kopitar said of the postseason. “Every mistake, every little play, magnifies now.”
Familiar faces
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper was in net for the Avalanche when they won the Stanley Cup in 2022. In addition, Kuemper and Drew Doughty were teammates with MacKinnon, Makar and Devon Toews when Canada won silver at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
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