Meet Colorado's ice skating park ranger at Eleven Mile Reservoir

There's probably not a job in the state that is more "Colorado" than this one.

What's happening: State park ranger Kelli Lewis patrols Eleven Mile Reservoir on hockey skates.

• She glides across the 3,405-acre frozen reservoir — a source of Denver's drinking water located 40 miles southeast of Fairplay — to check fishing licenses at the popular ice fishing destination.

• Lewis traverses an obstacle course of snow piles and cracks, skating the shorelines, coves and around the rocky islands visiting the dozens of tents that dot the surface and passing along intel from other fishermen.
• It's far less obtrusive — and often safer — than patrolling by snowmobile, she says.

What they're saying: "She covers a lot of ground, way more than we ever could walking," Darcy Mount, manager of Eleven Mile State Park, told the Gazette. "It's definitely a unique strategy."

The back story: Lewis grew up in the Vail Valley and played competitive ice hockey, which explains the scuffed skates and natural form.

• She attended Fort Lewis College in Durango and found her calling when she saw an employment ad seeking park rangers.
• Her assignment to Eleven Mile offered her a chance to put her skills to work in a unique way.

The bottom line: "There's nothing as free as skating miles on ice," she says.