Remember the Infamous Cavewoman Stunt at Colorado’s RMNP?

From light-hearted trail tales and stories of epic wildlife sightings to tragic falls and dark murders, all kinds of detailed accounts come from Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park.

One of the strangest stories to ever spawn from inside the park involved a college student known as "modern Eve," who pulled off a legendary stunt like no one had ever seen before.

In the summer of 1917, a 20-year-old woman from Michigan named Agnes Lowe planned to spend a week alone in the backcountry of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. Her goal was to “escape for a time from the shams and artificialities of modern city life” and attempt to survive for a week on her own in a remote area of the park.

On that August day, hoards of people gathered to snap a photo and cheer for Lowe as she set out on her seven-day adventure into the wilderness. Instead of sporting traditional hiking gear, Lowe was barefoot and wore only a simple leopard-skin tunic — cavewoman style. Furthermore, she purposely did not bring any food, weapons, matches, or tools along for the escapade.

Lowe had previously attempted a similar excursion in the park the month prior, however, thunderstorms and cold temperatures resulted in an early departure. This time, she promised the public to make good on her mission.

A couple of days into her stay, Lowe used a piece of charcoal to write cryptic messages on pieces of bark that she left for rangers to pick up. These short messages included “nearly froze last night” and “tempted to give up but didn’t.”

Throughout that week, several park-goers witnessed "modern Eve" drinking from streams and picking berries. She also relayed stories to park visitors about her brief encounters with bears while staying in RMNP. One day, a deranged resident from Greeley showed up at the park in an attempt to locate and join Lowe. She allegedly spent much of that afternoon running and swimming to get away from him, and after putting up a fight, the man was escorted out of the park by rangers.

The rest of Lowe's week-long adventure was less eventful, and she returned healthy, safely, and in one piece. A massive crowd awaited Lowe as she made her way out of the park and back to a nearby inn. She was even met with a mail sack containing more than 60 marriage proposals. Strangely, she had gained, not lost, weight over the course of the week.

Upon returning to civilization, Lowe gave a few talks in Denver about her experience and penned her adventurous account in the local newspaper. After that, she disappeared from the public eye altogether.

Several years later, the park’s former superintendent L. Claude Way shared some shocking information regarding Agnes Lowe and her time in Rocky Mountain National Park. Way confessed that during Lowe’s week in the wilderness, one of his rangers met her regularly to provide street clothes. Rather than actually roughing it, Lowe was taken to a cabin to relax for a couple of days.

As it turns out, the entire story was just a stunt to promote the newly-opened RMNP. Way believed the story would give the park national attention, which it sure did. Some sources say that Lowe’s actual name was Hazel Eighmy and that she was a receptionist at a Denver photography studio. No one knows what became of her after the elaborate hoax.

Visitation to Rocky Mountain did more than double in 1917, and it's now the third most frequented national park in the country. However, there's no telling how much "the Eve of Estes" really had an impact on pushing the park's popularity in the 20th century.