We had the good fortune of connecting with Marriah Tarango-Higgins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marriah, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve only ever worked small retail jobs since college and I’ve never enjoyed working for other people. I’ve always been very ambitious and working towards someone else’s dream was never my goal. When I realized this, I started my own design and photography business and was able to employ myself full time in just under a year from starting. I’ve been self employed since about 2015, but I always wanted to start some kind of business with my husband, Riley, but we could never land on an idea that interested both of us or something that seemed like it could turn into an actual business. That was until 2019, when we first visited Estes Park, Colorado.

Since we lived in our travel trailer, we decided to try out “workamping” (working in exchange for a campsite) and we got seasonal jobs working at one of the campgrounds in Estes Park. We immediately fell in love with the area, and we quickly learned from working here that transportation is a huge issue in the area. That same year we got engaged in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and the next year, in 2020, we came back and got married here also in the National Park. This place holds a huge piece of our hearts so we were trying to figure out how to get us up here permanently. Then while we were on our honeymoon in Yellowstone National Park, Riley had the idea of maybe trying to start our own business of some kind of ride service in Estes Park since we knew it was extremely limited without Uber, or much of Lyft, and not even a taxi service.

We already knew it was a much needed service in the area talking to tourists and even locals during our time working at the campground, so we just decided to take the leap, move out of Texas to Colorado, and start up a whole new business without any kind of jobs lined up for us. Since I had previous experience starting up a business from the ground up, I had an idea of where to start which helped us a lot in the beginning.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
We never thought that we would own a tourism and transportation business in a huge tourist destination and become almost an essential business in the area. We had a very tough legal battle for our first year in business and we honestly wanted to give up with how much stress it was causing us mentally and financially. Thankfully, we had the support of our amazing lawyer who fought for us every step of the way, and of course our family, friends, and even those in our new community of Estes Park were there cheering us on and supporting us throughout the whole 8-month battle we had with another company in town.

After our legal battle, our small family owned business became one of the few businesses in Estes Park that is actually legally licensed by the State of Colorado to offer transportation services within Estes Park, and Explore Estes is proud to be the only private business within Estes Park that is licensed to provide private and small party ride services within Estes Park and to the Rocky Mountain National Park.

We are so proud of how far we’ve come as just two young adults from Texas who wanted to start a business to help people get around and explore a beautiful place like Estes Park. And not just help tourists get around, but we also help many locals get to work or even get to important doctors appointments down the mountain as well. We love this place so much and want to share that love with others, and I can’t believe that we’ve already helped a few thousand of people do so. We are so excited to see how our business continues to grow in the future so we can help even more people Explore Estes.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Being tour guides of Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park, we get asked this question often! Here’s our perfect day in Estes Park, Colorado, but note that this is focused on peak season and between the months of July through September:

– Start off by enjoying breakfast at Claire’s which is located in the heart of the downtown area in Estes Park. It’s a quaint little restaurant that has delicious food any time of day!
– After breakfast, drive through the Fall River Entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park.
– If you’re brave enough to do the trek, head up Old Fall River Road which is a one way dirt road without guardrails that goes all the way to the top of the mountain where the Alpine Visitor Center is. This is also the first road built in RMNP and has some beautiful views of waterfalls and you can often see fun wildlife like marmots hanging around!
– Have a quick lunch at the Alpine Visitor Center, which is the highest visitor center in all of the US National Parks! Here, you can see some beautiful views from the top of the mountain and do some souvenir shopping.
– After shopping around, you’ll drive down Trail Ridge Road which is the highest continuous paved road in the US back down to Estes Park. This road has many amazing pull off spots for beautiful photos and signs with history on the area.
– If you have time (and energy) head up to Bear Lake for a small leisurely walk around one of the most popular and beautiful lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park.
– Once you make it back to Estes Park, head to Smokin’ Daves for some deliciously filling BBQ after a long day in the National Park!
– Then end your day with some shopping in downtown Estes Park along the Big Thompson River, but don’t forget to grab some ice cream or taffy for dessert!

Old Fall River Road and Trail Ridge Road are the 2 iconic roads in Rocky Mountain National Park that should not be missed! But, driving them can be a little nerve racking. If you aren’t comfortable driving these roads yourself, you can always hop on a private driving tour with Explore Estes for this itinerary in RMNP with lots of history, story, and facts about the National Park and Estes Park!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We want to thank all of our families and friends for being extremely supportive during our startup process. We had a very rough start with legal battles in the beginning of our business’ journey and without the support of our family and friends, I’m not sure that we would have continued the fight. They’ve helped keep us afloat mentally and even financially during our startup and we’re extremely grateful for the love and support that we’ve received from them.

We also want to thank our KOA family at the Estes Park KOA Holiday. The Query Family hired us in 2019 and they are the reason why we originally made it up to Estes Park. From there, our whole journey of starting Explore Estes fell into place, it felt like it was meant to be. We don’t know where are paths would have lead us if we didn’t get that seasonal job at the KOA Campground. We are extremely grateful for the connection we’ve made with them and for their continued support.

Website: https://exploreestes.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/exploreestes

Facebook: https://facebook.com/exploreestes

Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60945-d23535313-Reviews-Explore_Estes-Estes_Park_Colorado.html

Image Credits
Photo in front of RMNP sign – Patricia Perez Mejia All other photos taken by Explore Estes

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