Colorado as Place

The Rockies on the West Side of Estes State Park

For the values that my places have instilled in me, I owe many thanks. I have found that I give thanks to these many places by giving respect to my connections to these places. I have found the value of place-based stewardship for my personal environment in many places, yet Colorado has been one where I was first able to combine multiple layers of values invested in both the biological and social stewardship within a temporary place.

I have had many memorable Colorado experiences, mostly through the connection of my best friend at The School of Environmental Studies, Ryan. While I chose to be close to home at St. Olaf, Ryan, being the very mobile person that he is, chose The University of Colorado in Boulder. After he left, I felt almost like I lost a piece of myself and was thrilled and fortunate enough to visit him often, in a very social setting, every year. I have also experienced Colorado in its natural state through a road trip to Estes Park with my best friend in college, Megan. We backcountry camped, marveling in the biological beauty of Colorado despite all of the environmental degradation there.

My freshman year of college, I spent my spring break with Ryan and his friends. We day hiked by the flats in Boulder and a bit in Estes park. When Ryan and his friends were in school, I learned my way around the city streets—especially Pearl Street—browsing bookstores, mining health food co-ops, and adventuring different parks. The independence and space of this place allowed me to be me. Perhaps it was the freedom from the daily schedule that I have at home, or perhaps it was the open feeling of the Boulder residence, but the independence was nothing I had felt before.

Ryan, Friends and I

My sophomore year, I spent a week with Ryan and three weeks living in an activist house for J-term. I worked for the regional headquarters of Ecopledge, an environmental organization dedicated to corporate responsibility. I spent my life organizing the campus of Boulder during the day, meeting the students, and learning my way around the buildings. By night I was meeting the most amazing people living at the house with me. I soaked up the activists of all sorts, the conversations, the book and music recommendations, the volunteering to feed the poor, chess games until early mornings and parties and protests on the weekends, like dry soil soaks up the rain.

Organizing for Ecopledge

My junior year I spent my spring break again with Ryan and his friends. I visited some of my activist friends there, but was taking a road trip to the southwest and was only in town for about three days. Yet knowing this place and its people really made me understand the importance of community and the feel of a place. Ryan and I would spend all night laughing and talking with his friends, and then spend the morning continuing discussions from the night before. To me, Boulder is a very open community, diverse in people and ideas. This openness really means a lot to me in any place, and because I have my best friend to visit, Boulder and Colorado has taken an important place in my life, creating a strain in my heart when the time comes to leave.

Spring Break Road Trip with Ry at The Grand Canyon

The summer before my senior year, my friend Megan and I took a spur-of-the-moment road trip and ended up in Colorado. We went to Boulder for a day and I showed her my favorite haunts. We then took to the mountains, backcountry camping for four days. Leaving anything “civilized” in our car in the parking lot, we took only what we needed: food, a tent, water, and our conscious bodies and minds. We opened our eyes, ears, and noses. We saw beautiful new birds—like the iridescent Stellar Jay— delicate little mountain plants and mosses, and animals such as moose, elk, and big horned sheep.

Backpacking in Estes

Leaving my material life behind, being up in the mountains with a pack on my back, put my life into perspective. I realized I paid more attention to what I normally deem as the simple things in life. I learned how to dig a cat hole, how to work up a sweat hiking, how to spend time thinking about the relationships I cherish in my life, and how to really enjoy a meal. You can eat anything at the end of such a strenuous day and think it was the best meal of your life!

Meal Time

Colorado as place is the story of friends, land and reoccurring visits. Place describes a personal connection, but place can also be an experience, a catalyst for growth and change, and realizations. Different streets and buildings in Boulder, and different campsites and mountains in Estes Park, hold different memories of the same place for me. Because of my enriched experiences with land, people and my independence, Colorado has clung to my memory as a life place.

The Rockies