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By Bruce Becker It was a perfect summer day in Colorado, with a sunny blue sky. My friend and I were saddled up by sunrise and rode off from where we had camped for a couple days at Jasper Lake, which is just at timberline on the Continental Divide in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. We rode by Devil’s Thumb Lake on the endless tundra, seeing the rock formation that gave it its name. We made our way down the western slope and camped before eventually reaching the Grand Valley, where we made our way up and over Stillwater Pass to...

By Gussie Fauntleroy When Daniel Johnson was in Alamosa attending Adams State College in the mid-1970s, he and some friends saw smoke from a wildfire near Zapata Ranch, south of the Great Sand Dunes. So they drove over to see if they could help put it out. They had no firefighting experience, no plan and no equipment. The crew boss handed them hard hats anyway and told them what to do. “The fire was 600 acres but that was huge to me at the time,” Daniel recalled. “I caught the fire bug.” Fifty years later he’s still fighting wildfires, traveling to...

By Tegan Welsch-Rainek. Starting on the outskirts of Del Norte, I embark on a journey that transcends time, tracing parts of the historic Old Spanish Trail from when this land was a Spanish territory.  The Old Spanish Trail is a historic 2,700-mile wagon route used by Anglo, Mormon and Spanish travelers. Stretching from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, it traverses six Southwestern states. This trade route was primarily used to transport wool, handmade items and other goods in exchange for California-bred horses and necessities. There are many rumors of lost gold along the trail and tales of the slave trade. As I...

By Thomas Cleary, Crestone Charter School director CCS is growing, literally and figuratively. Below you will find introductions from the new staff who are coming on board for the 2024/25 school year. Some are new positions, like the instructional support role to help teachers and students in the classroom, the greenhouse coordinator for the new Growing Spaces Dome, and the experiential education coordinator to support field trips and travel learning.  Others are re-boots, like the in-house special education to replace our former virtual SpEd, and the return of a music teacher. As of press time we are on the verge of...

By Amy Garoutte, Northern Saguache County Library District We are excited to announce the addition of a Library of Things to our collection in 2024.  To better meet the needs of our community, we invite you to share your ideas with us. Please complete the survey at www.bit.ly/NSCLD-Things or visit either branch to drop off your suggestions in our Library of Things suggestion box. The Library of Things will be rolled out gradually. Starting in August, we will offer items including a pickleball set, appliance dolly, 100-foot extension cord, electric pressure canner, 6-foot step ladder, metal detector, tennis racket and ball set and...

By Gussie Fauntleroy. “I’ve planted a lot of seeds and now, I love seeing the sprouts of rebirth,” Whitney Strong mused, sitting in her small, comfortable, hogan-shaped home near the entrance to the Baca, one of the first houses built here in the 1970s. Whitney has been in Crestone-Baca almost as long, and the seeds she’s referring to are projects and organizations she either began or helped start, and led, many years ago. Among them: A couple of years after moving here in 1980, she created the community’s first artists’ collective, arranging for exhibitions by artists from around the Valley at...

By Bruce Becker. Anyone can do the things I’ve done if they’re willing to live the life I’ve led. ~ Fool’s Crow Summer in the high country. It’s a short season, two and a half months long, three and a half if you’re lucky. After a long hike up, I always hate to come down. So one summer, I didn’t. I’d planned to stay out this time before I left Aspen, where I lived. I knew I’d never pack enough food for the whole summer, so I brought only a little that I would ration out for a while.  My old standbys: rice,...