The Grand Mesa Plateau looms as a transitional landscape between canyons and mountains. While called a mesa, the top of the plateau features aspen and other mountain vegetation covering undulating terrain, dotted with lakes. The lakes we encountered transitioned between the pond like “lakes” found in the mountains of central Utah and the pure alpine lakes of the Rockies. This transitional landscape was good enough to make us feel right at home, with the added bonus that we were full packing across the plateau, just like the good ol’ days.
We camped one of the nights with three bow hunters we first encountered earlier in the day. You might think that hiking during bow season poses a risk, but I trust the bow hunter’s dedication to their sport. I have no apprehension I will be shot by a yahoo bow hunter, given their expertise and the range of their arrows. Besides, every bow hunter we met between Grand Junction and Crested Butte provided us snacks and other forms of hospitality.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of yahoos in possession of rifles, with the numbers increasing over the decades. A rancher shared his story with me of hunters from Denver paying him to hunt on his land. They came back at the end of the day to pay him for the horse they shot, with deep apologies. The rancher later discovered they really shot a cow elk instead, giving him in total two payoffs and a large cache of delicious elk meat.
We walked on both hiking and ATV trails across the Grand Mesa. Blowdowns often littered the hiking trails due to neglected trail maintenance, though not as much as we encountered in Utah, where recent avalanches caused the blowdowns instead. In contrast to the trails, the ATV roads on the mesa were well-maintained. A Forest Service ranger in the area for a field conference provided us the reason why. ATVers invest more in their gear and recreation than hikers. As part of that investment they put greater pressure on the Forest Service to respond to their needs; a squeaky wheel thing.
We encountered almost no litter on ATV roads in Colorado, in stark contrast to ATV roads in Utah. A group of motorbikers provided us the reason for this as well. More locals recreate on the Colorado trails than the Utah trails; pride of ownership leads them to take care of their trails.
We descended off the Grand Mesa plateau to the town of Redstone, then ascended along Marble Creek into the mountains again along. The ascent brought us all the way back to the mountain hiking we love, following a winding ribbon of pure water rushing through towering cathedrals on either side. We capped off this heavenly hiking by camping on a small rise, overlooking an alpine lake, close by the mountain pass we just crossed.
The next morning we broke camp while witnessing in the distance a tow truck using a winch to pull a 4wd vehicle off a snow plug blocking the dirt road heading up towards the lake. California in June featured 15’ minimum snowpacks; Nevada in July featured flooded open deserts; Utah in August featured massive blowdowns from avalanches and bloated creeks that could not be crossed with a Jeep; now Colorado in September featured a lingering snow plug from the previous season which likely existed until the new snow season began.
At least this anomaly posed no problem for us. We easily made our way over the snow plug while the sheep-faced driver watched his quite literal “off road” vehicle being rescued. From there we descended steadily down into the town of Crested Butte.
As we approached a crosswalk in town, a driver also approaching the sidewalk stopped in advance to let us pass. After we crossed she drove beyond the crosswalk, turned her car around, parked her car near us and jumped out.
“I told myself never to pass up an interesting story! You two look like you are doing something interesting.”
Before Delreena was done chatting with us she invited us to her house to stay, with Ky joining us. This was a great start to what would be another terrific town stop for our public mission about kindness and community. The community radio station interviewed us, as did the local paper, for whom I also provided both the scoop and photos of the vehicle conquered by a snow plug.
I interviewed Kevin McGruther, the organizer of an initiative that tied together a farmer’s market with a food pantry. Crested Butte lies high up in the Rockies and far from where most farmers grow their crops. Rather than having to bring excess food back home from Crested Butte, the farmers participate in a “food for fees” program. They give their excess food in lieu of a fee for participating in the market. That healthy food is then provided to a food pantry.
Redstone also provided us inspiration in regards to the mission. As an unincorporated town, the inhabitants of Redstone fulfill all the necessary functions of an incorporated town without compensation, with a vibrant result. When we did our grocery shopping for our next stretch in a nearby town we met Joan, who bicycled around Colorado with her late husband to raise money for causes such as Alzheimer’s. She was moved to tears by what we were doing, which in turn moved us to tears as well.
Grand Junction, Redstone and Crested Butte foreshadowed what to expect from the rest of our journey: people extending kindness to us; people extending kindness to each other; and communities taking care of their own. I chose the American Discovery Trail for our journey, instead of a beloved wilderness trail, because the length would extend Cindy’s rejuvenation and because all the towns along the way provided a platform to speak. I had no idea at the start how much the journey would further boost my belief in humanity.
