Volunteers Make a Difference in Chicago Basin
Those of us who cherish the San Juan Mountains are familiar with the term “loved to death”. We’ve seen photos and stories of beautiful places around the world being carelessly degraded by throngs of tourists. We don’t want this to happen here, and it doesn’t have to.
Yes, more people are learning about our little slice of heaven, and the number of hikers, backpackers, and peak baggers has skyrocketed in the last few years. But the impacts on the land don’t have to increase so long as we educate visitors about how to visit with respect.
Educating trail users is the main goal of San Juan Mountains Association’s (SJMA) Forest Ambassadors and San Juan Volunteers. The vast majority of visitors who disrespect our favorite places do so because they honestly don’t know any better. Yes, they could have done more research preceding their trip, but they didn’t. Instead of berateing these people, we have genuine conversations with them which leads to positive interactions and grateful people who will help spread the word.
An important thing to remember when visiting any wild place is that we don’t live there. As the Wilderness Act of 1964 states, true wilderness is “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain”. The plants live there. The animals live there. The rivers and springs flow freely. Humans are not a natural part of this ecosystem; therefore, it is important that we do our best not to impact it.
Recently, in a partnership with the San Juan National Forest (SJNF), SJMA, and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNGRR), an old educational program has been resurrected – the Chicago Basin volunteer basecamp. The goal is to reach more visitors and provide them with tips on how to respect this incredible place. Volunteers take the train to Needleton and then hike up to the camp with a lighter pack than usual since the camp already contains some necessities and luxuries.
The basecamp has a long history – so long that even the original mastermind of the camp, Kathe Hayes, can’t remember what year it started. I first helped set up the camp in 2011, after it was already well established, and participated in several set-ups and break-downs. We typically used llamas to pack the gear up there in mid-June. Then, in early September, would use horses to haul the gear out. All of this is made easier with cooperation from the railroad.
The volunteers in Chicago Basin focus on the 4 W’S – wildlife, water, waste, weather, and snags. For a boatload of details about how to respectfully visit Chicago Basin, go to sjma.org or do an internet search for the Chicago Basin Trip Planning Guide. Here are the 4 W’S in a nutshell:
- Wildlife: Mountain goats and marmots in the area are habituated to humans and will approach campers. They love salt. Marmots will chew on anything salty – trekking poles, boots, backpack straps, etc. Mountain goats love salt and other minerals in human urine. Seriously. It’s important to pee in flat rocks or rotting logs. If humans pee on vegetation, the goats will tear up the plants in an attempt to get the salt.
- Water: The land and plants that surround water sources make up less than 1% of the landscape and vegetation. It is important to camp, eat, and “go to the bathroom” at least 100 feet away from water in order to protect the ecosystem that lives there all year-round.
- Waste: Human waste should be packed but can also be buried 6 to 8 inches underground. All trash and toilet paper must be packed out. This includes all food scraps – even sunflower seed shells, fruit peels, and anything accidentally dropped on the ground. This can attract ant colonies or make wild animals sick.
- Weather: Afternoon thunderstorms are common from late June until mid-September. Plan accordingly to be in a safe place and prepare for a drop in temperature.
- Snags: There are many dead trees due to a previous spruce beetle infestation. Be sure to camp where dead trees are not going to fall on you.
No matter where you recreate outdoors, you are always a visitor. These guidelines apply to everyone. No one wants to love a place to death. Many people just haven’t been educated. Don’t be afraid to have a conversation with people. This is how we can all begin to take care of these magical places. And if you think you want to volunteer for the basecamp in Chicago Basin, email Erica Tucker, etucker@sjma.org or go to sjma.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/
MK Thompson has been with SJMA since 2009 and currently serves as a Forest Ambassador. Contact her at artofmisadventure@gmail.com
- Published in Backpacking, Hiking, Stewardship, volunteers
The bright sides to the problem of beetle-killed trees
by MK Gunn
Deep in the Weminuche Wilderness there is a trail that dead ends at the head of a verdant valley crowned by majestic mountains. My two dogs and I wandered up there in August of 2016. After seven miles on a major trail, we turned onto a faint trail. We tromped up a sunny meadow to the edge of the woods. The forest was thick there. Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir tangled amongst the occasional southwestern white pine. These skyscrapers formed the canopy. Down below, deciduous bushes mingled with tall summer wildflowers. Larkspur, monkshood, and cow parsnip were over my head. Ragwort, columbine, and bittercress filled in below. There is a reason why this area was so laden with wildflowers. Almost all the towering spruce trees were dead.
These trees were eaten from the inside out, suffocated and dehydrated by tiny spruce beetles, and had been dead for ten years. The dead trees had begun to fall, opening up the canopy to allow more sunlight and awaken the long dormant wildflower seeds.
The fallen trees complicated travel. After the meadow, the trail was hard to see among the fresh deadfall. I danced under, over, and around three fallen trees within the first ten feet. They rested at varying heights and their mischievous branches grabbed at me. My overnight pack made the choreography harder. My dogs wondered why I was always so slow.
One large tree had fallen higher than my head but its branches insisted that I continue my awkward dance while tiptoeing on stepping stones in a small stream. Other places offered no view of my footing. I stepped blindly as I parted wildflowers. Some might wish for a machete but I was mesmerized by the density of the foliage. No humans had been up that way in weeks or maybe even longer.
Not only had the beetle-killed trees assisted the proliferation of pretty petals, but the first two miles of difficult trail hemmed in another six miles of vast valley meadows intermingled with flowing streams. This prime and protected habitat supports a myriad of wildlife. In one meadow, I encountered a massive herd of cow elk with their spotted calves and startled a young mountain lion that was stalking them. The dead trees created an island where wild creatures carried on their lives as nature intended.
Spruce beetles and other tree-eating bugs are part of nature. In an ecosystem with fewer beetles and healthier trees, trees can actually push the beetles out with sap – known as “pitching out”. But nature is out of sync right now and the current beetle infestations in the western US are exasperated by drought and warmer temperatures. Longer summers allow local spruce beetles to complete two reproductive cycles each year instead of just one and winter temperatures haven’t been cold enough to kill the beetles. On top of that, drought provides less water to the trees so they can’t pitch out the beetles.
Perhaps you are wondering what you can do to help. We can all start by being patient. The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the number of trail crews and delayed start dates. This means that some of your favorite trails might not be cleared this year making it difficult to recreate. Some trails may be impassable to stock. Fortunately, in a collaboration with the San Juan National Forest, San Juan Mountains Association will help manage a new backcountry ranger crew made possible by generous donations from the local community. (See the April 2020 “Stewards of the Land Column”.)
Another way that you can help is simply by spreading the word. The space beetles aren’t going away. They are munching their way west through the San Juan National Forest. Yes, it can be depressing to see these huge trees die and drastically change some of our favorite places. Yes, it will mean more blocked trails. But it also means more wildflowers and secluded wildlife habitat. Now more than ever, we need to see the bright side of things.
MK Gunn works for the San Juan Mountains Association. In her free time, she seeks out remote places that may or may not contain trails. Email her at MK@sjma.org.
Wilderness Efforts in time of Covid
by David Taft, Conservation Director, San Juan Mountains Association
As one of Durango’s longest running public lands education and stewardship organizations, San Juan Mountains Association has plenty of experience connecting folks with the outdoors and confronting challenges in the backcountry. However, just like everyone else, we are caught in the midst of the ongoing public health situation. We’re currently observing how it relates to our local public lands and the San Juans community, as well as figuring out how we will approach this season. We have been in close communications with our agency partners, fellow conservation organizations, and healthcare specialists to ensure that we can continue pursuing our mission of caring for our local public lands, while protecting the health of our staff and supporters.
This season we have planned on upping our efforts in the Weminuche Wilderness, and we continue working hard to ensure that these plans can go forward. This is especially important as people continue to retreat to the local mountains for their social distance, a trend likely to continue as weather warms and trails dry. In a collaborative effort with the San Juan National Forest, we will help manage a new San Juan Ranger crew thanks to generous donations from the local community. This crew will be backpacking through heavy use areas, documenting and maintaining trail conditions, restoring heavily impacted areas, engaging with the public (according to CDC guidelines), and ensuring that the SJNF has the information they need to make informed management decisions. We will be providing reports from the field over the course of the season so that we can all keep an eye on their progress.
While in-person volunteer events are off the table in the near term, there are still ways to get involved. Sign up for a webinar (we are hosting a Colorado Public Lands Day crosscut saw Zoom course!), stay informed about future volunteer outings through our E-News at sjma.org, and share your stories and photos to stay positive. We encourage everyone looking to stay excited about our magnificent local public lands by sending in a short write up along with photos of a memorable trip to the San Juans. You can send these to us at our instagram @sjma_co, Facebook, or info@sjma.org.
As always, we will continue to offer visitor information for local public lands, and our staff will do their best to provide the clearest up to date guidance on trails, access, facilities, and regulations.
Thank you, be safe, be healthy, stay close to home.
- Published in Education, Hiking, volunteers
Where the Wild Things Are
By MK Gunn
As I laced up my hiking shoes at my sister’s house in the East Bay area of California, my five-year old niece came running up to me. “MK!” she exclaimed, her dark eyes sparkling and curly hair bouncing. “If you see any animal tracks, will you take a picture for me?!”
I was elated by her interest in nature and told her that I certainly would! Yet I doubted there would be any animal tracks. Then I set off for the trails of Joaquin Miller Park. It was Sunday and, as expected, any critter tracks from the night before had already been covered by tracks from hikers, runners, and mountain bikers. The wild animals around here certainly knew to steer clear of the barrage of weekend recreationists. I barely even heard a few birds on my two hour jaunt.
The interaction with my niece got me thinking about just how different the lives of wild animals are in Colorado compared to areas heavily populated by humans. Since wild animals aren’t often seen, it can be easy to forget about their roles in nature and that their ancestors were here long before most of ours.
Spying wild animal tracks is a daily occurrence in Durango. Many wild animals make their homes on the edge of town and then wander past my house a mere mile from downtown. These include deer, raccoons, skunks, bears, coyotes, gray foxes, kit foxes, squirrels, and the occasional mountain lion. Many birds live right in town such as crows, finches, sparrows, juncos, magpies, and owls.
We are very fortunate in Southwest Colorado to have the state’s largest Wilderness area. (See my column from November 2019 for more about designated Wilderness). The Weminuche Wilderness contains 499,771 acres of roadless area. Joaquin Miller Park and adjacent Redwood Regional Park might seem big when I am on the trails, but their combined area is only 2,330 acres and there are occasional roads running through. Overall, East Bay parks cover a patchwork totaling just 120,000 acres that serves 2.5 million residents! The population in the counties surrounding the Weminuche Wilderness adds up to just 72,490 people – a mere 3% of the East Bay population.
Wild animals do live in areas heavily populated by humans but these animals spend much of their lives sneaking around to avoid humans. Redwood Regional Park is home to surreptitious deer, coyotes, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels and even the rare golden eagle and Alameda striped racer (a type of snake). As humans have encroached further and further on their natural habitats, they have had to adapt in order to survive. Undoubtedly there are far fewer wild animals in these places than there were 100 years ago. Not only have populations dwindled, but diversity of species has also greatly declined.
But there are many places in Colorado where humans are so rare that wild animals don’t even know to be afraid of us. A few years ago, I was on a newly cut section of the Continental Divide Trail. The trail was so new that the pikas were barely cautious when they saw me. As I stood there, they would run up within inches to get a better look at me and then run away. But they didn’t hide. They were so curious and cute! I’ve had similar experiences with pikas in remote corners of the Wind River mountain range in Wyoming. Once, a pika even licked my salty leg while I was taking a rest on a mountainside. Then it tried to nibble on me! There are wild animals living in Colorado that have never even seen a human. They live their entire lives deep in the wilderness.
So, the next time you see a wild animal – even if it’s a common mouse, deer, or magpie – remember how fortunate we are to have such a diversity of wildlife here in Southwest Colorado. But we are all responsible to make sure that wild animals are here for future generations. Please, help us all by doing your part:
- Properly store your trash and toxic chemicals – these can kill wildlife.
- Don’t feed wild animals – they will become habituated to humans and may become subject to starvation or poaching.
- Keep dogs on leash or within sight and under voice control. Don’t let them chase animals.
- Don’t taunt or scare wildlife unless they are clearly threatening you.
- Educate those around you as to what is best for wild animals.
- Remember, the wild is their home. We humans are just visiting!
MK Gunn enjoys sneaking quietly around the nearly 3 million acres of public land in southwest Colorado hoping that only pikas try to nibble on her. Contact her at MK@sjma.org.
Community partnerships paramount for our public lands
By MK Gunn
’Tis the season where most of us take time for year-end reflection and are getting excited about the upcoming year.
For me, this exercise reminds me of how grateful I am for this community and how we all work together to care for our public lands. Even though I have been known to disappear for days with no one else but me, I understand the importance of community and having so many people working toward the same conservation goals as me. Even the most introverted of introverts can’t get much accomplished without occasionally enlisting help from other people.
Think about it: What would you be able to accomplish without your community members? If you live on a farm, maybe you can produce your own food, but where did you get that tractor? You can claim self-sufficiency and commute everywhere by bike swearing that you don’t need the local gas stations, but you still need bike tires, chain lube and brake pads. You can collect all the firewood you need to heat your house, but what’s fueling your water heater? And what if you just need someone to listen and give you a hug? I’m sure every one of you has an arsenal of local supporters that help make your life easier and more enjoyable.
Our local public lands also have a huge family of support. In 2019, the San Juan Mountains Association collaborated with a number of local partners. Some have been with us since the beginning (like the San Juan National Forest), and others are new (Durango Outdoor Exchange), but every one brings something important to the table as we work toward a common goal – empowering the public to explore, learn about and protect our local wilderness areas and public lands.
I wish I could list all of our community partners, but then this article would take up pages. Our supporters at The Durango Herald and Cortez Journal graciously offer us a column each month, not pages. Here are just a few highlights of SJMA’s collaborations with local partners in 2019:
- Encouraged more than 4,000 trail users to “Leave No Trace” at the Ice Lakes trailhead thanks to the Outdoor Research Tiny Home, Backcountry Experience and our tireless volunteers
- Co-hosted the seventh annual Forests to Faucets teacher workshop with Mountain Studies Institute, Water Information Program and the Fort Lewis College teacher education department. Sponsors also included the Southwest Water Conservation District, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Durango Education Foundation, Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education and Trout Unlimited 5 Rivers Chapter
- Co-hosted the Hermosa Resilience Project with Trails 2000, Durango Nature Studies, MSI and the San Juan National Forest
- Educated more than 300 locals and tourists about the flora, fauna and geology of the San Juan National Forest thanks to Purgatory Resort
- Raised money for the Weminuche Wilderness and conservation education at our Christmas tree lot thanks to Alpine Bank, San Juan National Forest, Southwest Ag and a long list of individual volunteers. Special thanks to Alpine Bank for its longstanding support of SJMA programming and for being our 2019-2020 corporate partner
- Assisted locals and tourists with selecting a wild Christmas tree as part of the Christmas tree train – a collaboration with Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Wildfire Adapted Partnership and San Juan National Forest
- Provided hunter information to more than 100 hunters at our hunting booth at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Durango office
- Hosted a “Share the Trails” poker run with stellar assistance from the BLM Tres Rios Field Office, Creeper Jeepers, Mesa Verde Backcountry Horsemen, Mancos Trails Group and Hoofbeats 4H
- Raised money for the Weminuche Wilderness with a 10k trail run and a chili cook-off thanks to Backcountry Experience, Ska Brewing, Durango Running Club, the city of Durango and a variety of local chili cooks from local nonprofit and for-profit businesses
- Provided visitor information to thousands of locals and tourists at our 14 bookstore locations thanks to support from district and supervisors’ offices throughout the San Juan National Forest and Rio Grande National Forest as well as the Mancos and Silverton visitor centers
- Created a greater awareness of recreation and conservation opportunities on public lands by connecting with young people in Montezuma County thanks to the Montezuma Inspire Coalition and Great Outdoors Colorado
- Raised a glass to wilderness and supporting local businesses on Noel Night at Pine Needle Mountaineering
To find a more complete list and contact information for these wonderful supporters, visit shorturl.at/btvGU.
Last but certainly not least is the community of individuals and families who support public land stewardship through memberships, donations and copious volunteer hours! Thousands of people from all over the country devote their time to caring for the public lands of Southwest Colorado. Best wishes to all of you this holiday season and on through 2020. What an amazing community we have.
MK Gunn is volunteer and education specialist for San Juan Mountains Association. She will be joyously celebrating the season thanks to her favorite community members. Contact her at MK@sjma.org.
Stewardship in Action: Announcing the Weminuche Wilderness Stewardship Fund
By MK Gunn
Those of you in the community who know me can easily understand that I would not be who I am without Wilderness. Wilderness – with a capital W – has allowed me days upon days of reinvigorating solitude. Here, the only sounds are those of Mother Nature. They are the wind blowing the leaves and grasses and howling through rock corridors. They are the wild animals such as the pikas squeaking, elk bugling, and coyotes howling. They are the flowing water – anything from the tiniest trickle to the roar of whitewater rapids and waterfalls. And sometimes the sound is that of nothing at all. These sounds are grounding, calming, inspiring, magical, invigorating, wild, and can bolster even the most destitute of spirits. And that’s just the sounds. There’s also the sights, smells, feelings, and tastes of the wilderness.
These experiences are more likely to be had in congressionally designated Wilderness areas where nothing mechanized or motorized is allowed. Sure, planes still fly overhead but outside of that, the sounds, sights, smells, feelings, and tastes are all natural.
Edward Abbey wrote that “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit” and “We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope”. I agree wholeheartedly yet not everyone understands these sentiments. Microsoft spell check defines wilderness as “wasteland; desert”. However, you don’t always have to understand someone in order to support their needs.
Wilderness visitation is on the rise and many of those who venture into Wilderness areas don’t know how to responsibly visit the backcountry. Not everyone has read the Wilderness Act or Edward Abbey. While some of these Wilderness newbies may find a new appreciation for land stewardship, unfortunately, irresponsible trail users often leave behind litter, braided trails, fire
scars, marred trees, and trampled vegetation. But please, don’t lose hope.
The San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) is pleased to announce the Weminuche Wilderness Stewardship Fund. Those of you who read my July column may recall that one definition of “stewardship” is “the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.” Since 1988, SJMA has been committed to promoting “responsible care of natural and cultural resources through education and hands-on involvement that inspires respect and reverence for our lands”. As visitor use increases, we want to make sure that these visitors understand how much care and support our lands need in this day and age.
The Weminuche Wilderness is Colorado’s largest wilderness area with almost 500,000 acres of conifer forests, wild trout streams, and jagged peaks. As the headwaters of the Rio Grande and San Juan Rivers, the Weminuche provides drinking water to millions of downstream residents on both sides of the Continental Divide. The Weminuche Wilderness Stewardship Fund will provide crucial funding to help mitigate the following challenges:
- Beetle infestations and severe avalanches have led to countless fallen trees that affect
the ecosystem and limit trail access - Growing crowds are leaving human waste, contaminating key watersheds, and causing
resource damage - There are currently no full-time rangers working in the Weminuche Wilderness on the
San Juan National Forest due to budget cuts
The fund directly supports SJMA’s efforts to implement on-the-ground stewardship projects, improve trail access, coordinate and equip volunteer rangers that will engage in stewardship projects and educate visitors on proper backcountry practices and educate the public on Leave No Trace ethics.
Are you wondering how you can help? Well, the easiest way would be to attend the San Juan Mountain Jam and silent auction on October 17. Enjoy local bluegrass bands while investing in new goodies to treat yourself or your loved ones. You can also become a volunteer or sign up to make monthly donations. Visit sjma.org for more information.
The work completed as a result of the fund will be just a portion of what SJMA does to steward public lands, but it is all of equal importance in the overall goal of protecting public lands and educating people on how to do their part to make sure our spectacular public lands can be equally enjoyed by future generations. There’s a lot of work to be done but if we lose hope or energy, we can always recharge our batteries by escaping into the Wilderness and then come back to keep on working. In the words of Ed Abbey, I leave you with this: “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”
MK Gunn is the Volunteer and Education Specialist for SJMA. She frequently loses herself in Wilderness in order to find herself. Reach her at MK@sjma.org.
- Published in Backpacking, Hiking, Nature
Wild at Heart
By Kent Rector
I’ve always been drawn to “wild” places. As a child I spent hours in my family’s yard playing in the bushes, digging in the dirt, and climbing trees. I guess I wouldn’t recognize our yard as “wild” these days but to the mind of a six-year-old living in Waverly, Iowa, my yard seemed huge and full of mystery. As I grew older, I started venturing further out. I started exploring the dry-runs and wooded areas around town. Eventually I found myself along the Cedar River on an isolated sandbar camping with friends nearly every weekend. I can now boast that I’ve spent countless days and nights on trails, in National Parks and Forests throughout the nation, and I still search for “wild” places today.
This last month I had the privilege of sharing my search with six high school students and a coworker. A large part of my job with Des Moines County Conservation is to develop programs that promote outdoor recreation and environmental education. In fact, the mission of my division is to “develop an environmentally responsible community.” So, I decided to put together a Wilderness program for students living in Des Moines County and after about ten months of planning, training, scheduling, and fundraising, everything came together. But why wilderness?
Did you know that there are zero acres of congressionally designated Wilderness in Iowa? The Wilderness Act was passed in 1964 by Congress, creating the strictest form of protection for wild areas in the United States. The Act defines wilderness as:
“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
Pretty cool, right? In fact, studies have shown that people feel better knowing that there are vast stretches of wild untrammeled lands out there. Even if they never plan to visit them, just knowing they could gives them peace of mind and a since of connection to the land. Data from the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment indicate that protecting air quality, water quality, wildlife habitat, unique wild plant and animal species, and bequest to future generations are all consistently rated as the top five most important benefits of wilderness. Wilderness Connect, a conglomerate of wilderness study groups including the Wilderness Institute, the Arthur Carhart Training Center, and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research institute, states that Americans, whether urban or rural, also attributed a high importance to six additional benefits including the scenic beauty of wild landscapes, the knowledge that wilderness is being protected (existence value), the choice to visit wilderness at some future time (option value), the opportunity for wilderness recreation experiences, preserving nature for scientific study, and spiritual inspiration. Research is also finding a slew of personal and community health benefits, but that’s another story. The benefits are numerous, but in its most basic form Wilderness provides us a baseline to how nature functions without human meddling.
The concept of, or the connection to wilderness can be somewhat elusive for most Iowans. Probably because Iowa’s landscape is currently the most altered in the nation. Historically, prairie covered 75 to 80 percent of Iowa. Today, less than 0.1 percent of that original prairie remains, scattered across the state. Nationally, there are 767 areas totaling over 110 million acres of land declared and protected as Wilderness in the US. However, none of these areas are within Iowa. So, we needed a van.
With some help from our friends at Deery Brothers we loaded our steel horse on July 9th, 2019 and set out to explore the South San Juan Wilderness of Colorado. Six students, all of which had submitted applications that included essays describing their personal definition of wilderness, one coworker, and myself set out on an adventure together that would take 11 days, span three states, and required us to carry everything we needed for six days on our backs into the wilds. The trek focused on four pillars of learning: Environmental Science, Outdoor Skills, Stewardship, and the Study of Wilderness.
I can easily say that leading this trek has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career so far. It’s hard to describe or put into words all the emotions you go through on a long wilderness trek. There are times you feel like you’re on top of the world, other times you feel exhausted and done. It’s also hard to express how proud I am of these kids: Med-kit, Dangler, Chief, Bookworm, Goat, and Sasquatch. We all truly found ourselves through each other over the course of the trek. We laughed, smiled, and cried together. We struggled, climbed, and found strength together. We discovered and named a lake. We celebrated a birthday. We watched the stars and howled at the moon.
Each night, as part of our wilderness study, we did a reading from a collection of essays that I had packed with us. Each student took turns reading an article to the group which we then discussed. My favorite was titled “The Backcast,” an entry taken out of the book, “Paddle Whispers” by Douglas Wood.
The Backcast:
“So why… why go through it? Why even be here?
The second answer is easy. Because “here” is where the beauty is. Here is where the sunsets are. Here is where the campsites and campfires are, and the clear, deep waters, and the loons, and the pines, and the islands. And yes, the storms and the big winds and the rapids. Here is where the journey is.
But why go through it? Why do I… why do I go through it? I think because no one else can go through it for me. And because the modern city world system uses people to get work done. Important work, supposedly. That’s the whole idea. That’s why we get paid. But here – here I’m using work… to get myself done. What better work is there than that?
Or maybe… maybe it’s enough to say that I am here, as another voyageur once put it, “to iron out the wrinkles in my soul.”
And maybe it is only on the trail to nowhere-in-particular that you find the most important thing of all. Yourself.”
We packed out of the wilderness on July 17th, 2019. We had hiked an average of seven miles a day. Immersed ourselves in study of wilderness, learned valuable outdoor skills including leave no trace, and worked a total of 64 hours on the trails as part of our service learning. As we loaded our gear into the van, sprits were high. Everyone was ready for a shower and some fresh food. But as we descended the long gravel road back towards Pagosa Springs, the van grew quiet. There were several tears shed along that road as the group realized what they had just accomplished, learned, and lived.
There is something that draws me to wild places and for some reason the wild is where I feel most alive. I’ve asked myself over and over if this trek was a success. I also ask myself, what was gained by offering such a program for the youth of Des Moines County Iowa? The first question is simple. Yes… I consider this program not only a success, but I believe it has set a milestone in the environmental education efforts of Des Moines County Conservation. A program of this magnitude had never been done in the county before, and we did it brilliantly.
It’s the second part that I struggle with. It’s not such a simple answer, it’s as abstract as the aspens. It’s the wind whispering through the pines, and the purple moonlit sky over a mountain lake. The specific benefits of this program are yet to be seen. It resides in the hearts of all those who experience it. You could say we brought a little bit of the “wild” back to Iowa. We will see the benefits of this program for years to come as our students grow and live their lives. As they put to use the self-confidence they discovered in the wild. As they take responsibility for and strive to protect the “wild” places they value. As they grow to be stewards of the natural world we leave them.
I believe we will see the benefits of this program in the work they do, thanks to the work they did on this trip, on themselves, ironing the wrinkles out of their soul.
Kent Rector is the Environmental Education Coordinator at Des Moines County Conservation. He led, along with MK Gunn, our education specialist, a 4 day teen backpacking trip this summer
- Published in Backpacking, Hiking, Nature
Stewards of the Land
By MK Gunn
Durango Herald’s monthly column, “Stewards of the Land”, has been around for over ten years. That’s ten years of info on where to go on your public lands, what to look for, and how to do it responsibly.
But what is a “steward of the land”? When you look up the definition of the word “steward”, the results are underwhelming. Most definitions are something to the effect of “One who manages another’s property, finances, or other affairs”. I don’t know any stewards of the land that think of themselves this way. So then I looked up “stewardship” and found this definition at dictionary.com. “The responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.” Nailed it.
Yes, the stewards of the land that I know are committed to the responsible overseeing and protection of our public lands because these special places are something considered worth caring for and preserving. Most of these stewards glean no financial benefit from this but they rake in a myriad of other benefits, some that are often unseen by others.
When I think of the stewards of the land that I know, they are all ages. I have had a five-year-old tell me how litter can harm wildlife. And I have had a wrinkled and grey-haired woman teach me the deep down importance of true wilderness for the human soul.
If anyone is to be successful at a skill, they need to start as young as possible. {Oak at the local three year olds that can ride a pedal bike and ski the green runs. These kids learned at such a young age that they don’t remember not knowing how to ski or ride a bike. It is ingrained in them. Kids need to understand the importance of caring for our natural treasures just as much as anyone else. And kids won’t necessarily do this on their own. We need to help them.
One of the programs I lead with San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) is backpacking trips with teenagers. 2019 marks the seventh year. It’s one thing to go on a little hike on Saturday morning and then get lunch downtown. It’s quite another to carry everything on your back that you will need for three days, have nothing but mesh and nylon between you and a ferocious lightning storm, and have to dig a seven inch deep hole and squat over it every time you need to poop. In Terry Tempest Williams’s book Red, she writes, “The landscape that makes you vulnerable also makes you strong”. We need strong stewards of the land more now than ever.
I was delighted recently to spend four days backpacking with teens from Iowa. Former SJMA employee Kent Rector came out with a group of six teens, ages 16 – 18, and treated them to a six day trip in the South San Juan Wilderness. Rector did a fantastic job of preparing these teens. Thanks to a variety of grants, Rector was able to buy the necessary equipment and food for every one of them. They had their packs weeks in advance and were able to practice packing their load and carrying it. He also taught them how to use all the equipment and provided them with Leave No Trace (LNT) training. He connected them with Ros Wu, Natural Resource Specialist for the San Juan National Forest (SJNF), and they learned about what Wilderness with a capitol W means. There is not one acre of congressionally designated Wilderness in Iowa.
After months of preparation and anticipation, I met them at the trailhead and they followed me enthusiastically into a cloud of mosquitoes and a landscape of wildflowers, aspens, mixed conifers, and mountain views. The enthusiasm waned quickly. The day was hot and the trail was steep. Some group members had considerable trouble with the hike, but we were a team. The faster hikers were nothing but supportive. At one point, they eagerly jumped at the chance to help a struggling team member by taking a substantial amount of out of her pack and adding it to their already large burdens. It was all worth it. We made camp at a picturesque lake below the Chalk Mountains. We named the lake “Salamander Lake” due to the profusion of tiger salamanders living there. We also marveled at the masses of five inch long leaches, freshwater scuds, and finicky fish that would swim within a foot of our fishing lures and then eat something else.
We frolicked through wildflowers and learned what we could eat and, more importantly, what would kill us with just one taste – bane berry! We wondered at arborglyphs (carvings made by historic sheep herders) dating back as far as 1934. Some books tell us that an aspen tree will live only 60 to 100 years. But others say 150 years is more accurate. We believe the latter! These massive trees sported drawings of birds, cows, and a man in a sombrero as well as a variety of names and dates, many from the 30’s and 40’s.
On my last night with these young stewards of the land, I read to them “The Coyote Clan”, a chapter from the book Red. They soaked in the words about being vulnerable, being adaptable, the trickster coyote, and the reminder that no one can ever truly own this landscape besides Mother Nature. And they smiled when I declared them members of the Coyote Clan. As Williams writes, “Members of the Clan are not easily identified, but there are clues. You can see it in their eyes. They are joyful and they are fierce. They can cry louder and laugh harder than anyone on the planet. And they have an enormous range”. And, if you ask me, they are also stewards of the land.
MK Gunn is the Volunteer and Education Specialist for San Juan Mountains Association. She has dubbed herself a “steward of the land” for over ten years now but her parents have always known her to be one. Reach out to her at MK@sjma.org.
- Published in Backpacking, Hiking, Nature
The Mountains Are Calling
Nick Keeler
The winter season in Southwest Colorado is one of beauty, change, quiet and inspiration. It is difficult to imagine a more picturesque winter mountain setting than what each one of us is blessed with on a daily basis. People from across the country travel here to experience the aesthetic beauty possessed by the mighty San Juan Mountains. When the snow has fallen and many trails, peaks, and alpine lakes seem inaccessible, know there are safe locations to travel to and different methods to reach those special places.
The informed winter enthusiast must always consider the topography and potential for avalanches, current snow condition, future weather possibilities, and have the proper gear and the knowledge of its use. Even when all of these factors are prepared for, during certain weather conditions there is always the potential of avalanche danger. Remember this simple but important truth, “Enough snow to ride? Enough snow to slide.”
While we don’t want to deter folks from getting out in the snow, the winter recreationist should know the potential for danger if the proper precautions are not taken into account. Any number of different “gear lists” can be found on-line for different occasions; some essentials to bring on your San Juan adventure include: at least one detailed map of the area, a compass, extra warm clothing, a warm blanket (in case of an unplanned overnight stay), flashlight or headlamp, pocket knife, first aid/survival kit, extra nonperishable food, and more water than you think you would need. The San Juan National Forest offers a free winter guide/brochure, “Where to Go in the Snow, on San Juan Public Lands”, which includes a gear list as well some avalanche awareness and survival tips.
Purgatory, Hesperus, Telluride, and Wolf Creek are good options to downhill ski and snowboard, but where would a person go in the San Juans if they were looking to walk a trail, snowshoe, cross country ski (XC ski), or snow-bike? Haviland Lake about 17 miles north of Durango offers a wonderful winter trail system. This is an area with minimal avalanche danger, a well-established and maintained trail system, it is right off Highway 550, and no major mountain pass prevents its access. Are you looking for more snow and a higher elevation experience? A little further to the north past Purgatory lies the Molas Pass Winter Recreation Area. If the snowpack is minimal, or there is an early or late season urge to snowshoe, Molas Pass is where to go. Just to the south of Silverton off Highway 550, at an elevation of 10,910 feet is where you will find this gem. There are 200 acres designated specifically for non-motorized use, which allows for more of a wilderness experience and provides a safer environment for all.
Closer to Cortez and Dolores there are some good prospects to be explored. Just north of Dolores is the Boggy Draw trail system, which functions as a snow-bike and snowshoe trail system in the winter months. Closer to Mancos is the Chicken Creek XC Ski area, which provides another nicely groomed trail system with the emphasis here being on cross country skiing. These areas near Dolores are a bit lower in elevation, so if we experience a lack of a winter like last year these locations may not be covered in snow. Up near Lizard head pass next to Trout Lake on the Uncompahgre National Forest is another vast winter playground to explore. Cross country skiing, snowshoeing, snow-biking, and snowmobiling each can find a home here at 10,222 feet on Lizard Head. The trail destinations mentioned in this article have been selected because they generally do not exhibit extreme avalanche danger. However safety and preparation are ultimately up to the user, one must “know before you go”. For more information about winter safety and recreation please visit or contact the San Juan Public Lands Center at 15 Burnett Court in Durango or (970) 247-4874. The Public Lands Center contains one of our bookstores for the San Juan Mountains Association; we have an assortment of guide books and maps available, along with first-hand knowledge and information to benefit any winter recreationist.
The snow covered peaks of the San Juan Mountains are sure to inspire and charm, but must also be respected. The solitude one can find in these mountains is utterly remarkable, there is an entire outdoor recreation industry in the Four-Corners which can attest to that. Even in winter, John Muir knew exactly what he was saying, “the mountains are calling, and I must go.”
The Next Generation of Wilderness Defenders
“Shoo!” “Scram!” “Oooogaboogaboogaboo!”
The Wilderness Information Specialists (WIS’s) in training started throwing rocks at a hollow log. The sound startled the mountains goats and they ran away. We rejoiced! We had chased the mountain goats out of our camp.
Any nature savvy individual knows that harassing wildlife is a faux pas. It stresses the animals and can scare them away from water or forage thus leaving them in a weakened state and more prone to predation. But the mountain goats in Chicago Basin are NOT afraid. The love us. They want to get as close as they can. Why?
Mountains goats normally live above treeline (~12,000’ in SW Colorado) but in Chicago Basin in the Weminuche Wilderness, goats can be spotted as low as 10,500’. They have moved lower to be closer to the salt people leave behind – especially our urine. Goats will destroy vegetation in order to get at the salty urine. Therefore, it is important for visitors to urinate on rocks or logs.
And that is just one iota of what folks should know before visiting “The Basin”. There are volumes of information regarding the 4 W’s: Water, Weather, Wildlife, and Waste.
But how is a visitor supposed to know all this stuff? There are plenty of resources available online (search for SJMA’s “Chicago Basin Trip Planning Guide”), by phone, and at the trailhead. But if a visitor gets all the way to The Basin without proper knowledge, a WIS there can explain proper etiquette and why it matters.
On July 19 – 21, another guide and I took a group of six local teenagers to The Basin as WIS’s in training. Before the trip, the teen WIS’s had to complete an online training and test. This included general information about the Wilderness Act, Wilderness regulations, and a list of FAQ’s specific to Chicago Basin. By the start of the trip, these kids were ready! We hopped the Durango-Silverton train to Needleton. We began educating hikers and backpackers before we even got off the train. It took some prodding at first to get the teens to approach visitors, but by the third day the folks hiking in could barely get past them without receiving an onslaught of Wilderness information. The teens were nearly talking over each other to be sure that their information was heard. We talked to 91 visitors over three days!
What was their information?
- Weather: From July into September, afternoon lightning storms are a real threat. Be off the high summits by noon. Keep an eye to the sky and seek cover if the clouds look ominous.
- Water: Treat your drinking water in order to protect from the parasites giardia and cryptosporidium. Avoid getting water from sources contaminated by mines. Look for aquatic macroinvertebrates living in the water – this is a good sign. Also, camp at least 100’ from any water sources in order to avoid compacting riparian soil and prevent scaring wildlife away from their drinking water.
- Waste: Pack out all your trash INCLUDING TOILET PAPER. Critters will dig up buried toilet paper. There are natural items that can serve as toilet paper. Pack out your human waste or bury it 6 to 8 inches underground at least 200’ from any water sources.
- Wildlife: In addition to the mountains goats, be prepared to keep your food and salty gear away from marmots, chipmunks, bears, and moose. Store salty gear (packs, poles, shoes, clothes) at least 5 feet up a tree or in an enclosed tent. When not in camp, store all food at least 10 feet up and 5 feet out.
- No campfires are allowed in the Needle Creek watershed.
- No mechanized or motorized use is allowed in designated Wilderness, including drones.
- Most importantly, this isn’t just a list of regulations to ruin your fun. This is public land that is here for all of us to enjoy. We need to work together to keep it pristine for ourselves and future generations. In designated Wilderness, “man is a visitor who does not remain”. Wilderness is nature in its natural state.
It’s no secret that public lands are under fire right now. But here at the San Juan Mountains Association, we are training the next generation how to educate others to take care of these treasures that belong to all of us. This was the 5th annual teen backpacking trip and I assure you that there will be more to come.
- Published in Backpacking, Hiking, Nature
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