Take a deep breath. Don’t turn on the heating yet. We’re not talking about the single yellow leaves that you see slowly falling onto the paths. They will multiply soon… and in due course they will be absolutely beautiful. Now is not the time for that. But we have started the turnaround.
Thankfully, Tuesday morning seemed to have marked the turning point at the end of a monsoon season that had lasted over two weeks. As much as we all appreciate the miracle of the rainbow, quite a few people were mentally on the brink. It wasn’t just the constant, sometimes sudden rain, but the rolling thunder and crazy lightning that tested people. There were windows of opportunity to get out, and getting out is a big reason many of us live here. Normally, it’s no problem to find some solace in the wilderness or head out on a trail for a short hike or bike ride. This monsoon season made it a tough slog. C’mon, nobody wants to work super hard at 9,000 feet.
But Labor Day weekend is here and that honors labor and the labor movement. The old CB adage of “work hard and party hard” still holds true here, but for too many, you have to work a lot harder to even party. The cost of living here is higher than it’s ever been and the return isn’t as lucrative. It used to be that you could work multiple jobs and find a way to own a roof over your head and enjoy the amenities of the place. That was never actually easy because even when things were cheap back then, the economy didn’t offer much money. But these days, it’s ridiculous. Today, you need four or five well-paying jobs to be able to own a condo on the open market in the North Valley. It used to be that at least you knew you could leave work, go home to your drafty rental, grab a bite to eat and be in the wilderness within minutes. Today, many workers have to commute daily.
As mentioned in a letter to the editor in the current newspaper, even the rents for the “affordable” Whetstone housing project are pretty high. The income needed to pay those rents seems pretty high too, but I can’t imagine that this is still a place where a single ski freak can easily live and enjoy his life on $15 an hour or $30,000 a year.
The idea is that rents in Whetstone aren’t going up much and incomes are going to keep going up, so opportunity exists. The restricted condos aren’t going to add much value, so people might be frustrated 20 or 30 years from now when they’d love to use the increase in their home’s value to pay for their kids’ college or a beach retirement but can’t. But people will make the sacrifice to live in this beautiful valley, and the community as a whole is doing a good thing by giving people the opportunity to live close to where they work. That’s important. Maybe everyone who signs up for a Whetstone condo should take a one-hour class on how to save money and build wealth without being dependent on their unit in a mountain paradise.
And we do live in a mountain paradise. Another letter to the editor in this week’s paper extols the virtues of CB as he felt them on his first visit. It’s a good reset after the chaos of summer. The end of the summer season can be a time of frustration as excessive hustle and bustle, bad weather and rapid changes in the valley can overstep our personal boundaries. One might begin to question the peculiarities of being a small town – the public aspect of relationships, the impact on small town government, the higher taxes that come with being a resort, more expensive food and gas, small town politics and the fact that it’s harder to get anything else compared to most other Americans. This can be frustrating.
I’ve experienced the frustration of locals just trying to get a damn parking spot near Elk Avenue on a rainy Sunday night when parking spots that were there not so long ago were closed off. I’m a critic of the city’s policy of eliminating parking spots to cut traffic in the city. The upcoming discussion of eliminating public parking near Mountain Express bus stops this winter (mostly in business districts or vacant residential areas) makes no sense to me. We used to make decisions about how to make things better for the general public, not harder, and then the like-minded visitors and second home owners took our direction. Now the goal seems to be to make things harder for people who don’t live in the city itself.
The fact that we as a community (we are all responsible) have not exactly kept up with the infrastructure demands over the years brought on by not only more visitors to the valley, but also significantly more people living here full-time or most of the time, does not help. While it seems to me that some in town are trying to account for the part of the equation that relates to the new reality (kudos for that), they are missing the mark by only pushing the punitive part of the equation. But again – the reboot – we live in a mountain paradise.
There is a group asking for feedback on a possible piece of traffic calming infrastructure. It is a long-discussed trail between CB South and Crested Butte. The map shows two basic alternatives: one is an easy trail that is separate from, but follows, Highway 135. The other is a cooler, less direct, but probably more spiritually fulfilling trail that winds through private property and ranch land. It seems to me that the first decision is to define the purpose of the community. I could argue that the priority is on a comfortable commuter route between two metropolitan areas as e-bikes become more popular and functional. This obviously requires the fastest route possible that reduces highway traffic and is e-bike compatible. Take the time to take the survey that will soon be making the rounds.
Ahhh, then there’s Snodgrass. As has been the case for more than three decades, the entire summer route was closed in late August because much of the traditional trail is on private property. The Allen Ranches use this property for cattle grazing, which doesn’t sit well with cyclists or hikers, and especially dogs.
There is some confusion and misunderstanding about what is now open and what is closed. After speaking with a number of stakeholders this week, it simply seems that the only part of the trail that is closed is the part that is on private property. Due to the routing, it does not make for a good bike ride, but you can still get a taste on the Gothic/Mt. CB side of Snodgrass.
There is also a public access in Meridian Lake that leads to a portion of the Snodgrass Trail that is on Forest Service property on the Washington Gulch side. But it’s basically a one-mile landlocked trail between the boundaries of private property. It might be good for a quick hike or photo adventure when the leaves change. Keep in mind, though, that a grazing permit is required in this Forest Service area, so you and your dog will be sharing the forest with pooping livestock at the same time. It’s always a treat to give a dog a bath after he rolls in a pile.
Personally, it makes sense for me to avoid the ranching operations that occur there in the fall. There are other wonderful aspen groves in the area to experience such as Woods Walk, Strand, Baxter Gulch, to name a few nearby options. I want to keep the ranchers throughout the valley as neighbors, so I have no problem giving them some space if they need it.
Of course, you are legally allowed to use the sections of the Snodgrass Trail on public land this fall, but by and large there are alternatives that allow your neighbors to operate without causing recreational/ranch conflict. It seems like the situation is ripe for a partnership between USFS and CBMBA, with the mountain bike club doing the heavy lifting and re-aligning the trail to move it from private property to public land. They’re really good at that.
And finally, speaking of really good…it seems the local high school students took a good lesson about partying in our backyard. After being publicly called out for their lack of respect for the wilderness and the impact on our valley when they do what kids do, word is the end of the summer party was held in a drain away from the usual gathering place. Smart move! It sounds like there was a big fire and stoking until the wee hours of the morning, but at the end of the day the fire was contained in a fire ring, no trash was left on the grounds, and a (respectful) good time was had by all. Thank you kids, parents, and everyone else who helped instill community values in the growing members of the tribe.
One of the best months in the valley is upon us. Things will slow down, but there will be enough going on to put money in the bank. The rain will soon stop for good, the leaves will change color forever, and there will be room to breathe deeply. We are in a mountain paradise. Breathe deeply.
—Mark Reaman
