QUARTERLY Summer 2014 A Conversation by Mary Taylor Young The front door welcomes us with in the kitchen, even the back screened an old-house squeak and, like three porch with its cobwebs and evidence Alices through the looking glass, we of chipmunks, don’t always meet with step inside, and into another cen- approval from 21st century teens. tury—the Colorado of the 1940s. Nevertheless, we soon settle in. The Our Wonderland is the William girls discover board games in a built-in Allen White cabin. I am here for two cupboard and become once again the weeks as the Artist In Residence at kids they still are in many ways. Rocky Mountain National Park. Olivia I explore the cabin more thor- and Emma—my 14-year-old and her oughly. The sense of the man who friend—are with me for the first once owned and loved this cabin is four days. strong—in the comfortable arrange- This classic “old Colorado” cabin ment of the wicker furniture, in the perches on the mountainside at the cushioned window seat that beckons eastern end of Moraine Park. Eagle from beneath an enormous picture Cliff Mountain is a terminal moraine, window, in the rolltop desk in the cor- pushed up as the Moraine Park glacier ner with its framed photos of William expanded 20,000 years ago, scraping Allen White himself. He is a rotund this valley like a plowing bulldozer. gentleman with a resemblance to car- This massive geologic event, almost toon character Elmer Fudd (also a mid- impossible for a human to imagine, 20th century personality). The smile had a wonderful result, creating a per- in his knowing eyes, however, reminds fect vista point overlooking this scenic me this small-town newspaperman glacial valley. Below the cabin’s front from Emporia, Kansas, who became a porch, the oxbows of the Big Thomp- prognosticator of national events and son River meander like a sleepy water politics was no buffoon but an astute snake, with the rock massif of Longs and influential man of his time. Peak looming beyond. The outdoors beckons and I plant Our first exploration of the cab- myself in one of the two vintage twig- in—which was built in the 1880s, my and-wicker rockers on the porch. research told me—is highlighted by Now that I’m seated, slowed down, many exclamations of “Cool!,” “Omi- my eyes really look at the place. The god!,” “What is THAT?!,” and “Eew!” cabin’s knobbly foundation and roof sup- The early 20th century furniture, the ports are of stacked fieldstone, each rock framed black-and-white photos, the (Conversation continued on page. 2) curious, free-standing “Hoosier” pantry Inside: Membership Picnic at Hidden Valley 2 Rocky Mountain Conservancy Newsletter an individual—a jaw poked out here, a As the rain shrouds the Moraine Park rounded rump there. Two eyes and a cabin, I sit in W.A.’s rocker, perched like a comical nose, or, in different light, a patri- raven surveying the world below. A few cian profile. Stacked higgledy-piggledy, cars motor past on the road, windshield into a structure of enduring strength. wipers ticking in mundane contrast to This cabin, after all, has stood longer the drama of storm and weather and than a century. Whoever sited it on the mountain playing out around. hillside did it well—a gentle sweep down The sound of the girls enjoying across fringed sagebrush and Indian their game comes to me through the paintbrush, around granite and mountain open windows, their voices softening to mahogany, to the lush park, then up the match the rhythm of the rain. The porch mountain beyond, up, up, to the boxy, floorboards, gravid now with rain, ema- unadorned top of Longs Peak. nate an old-wood perfume that joins As I watch, safe beneath the porch the humic scent of the wet mountain- roof, a summer rainstorm gathers clouds side. Some of these boards have been like an invading army and soon encloses in this place for 100 years, in an endless Moraine Park. Longs Peak stands now dance with the weather. My rocker, too, misty-veiled—hidden but always present. responds to the moist air and begins a Beneath the clouds, glaciers stand on rhythmic tune—ree! ruh!-- ree! ruh! end against its rocky slope. The colors of The timpani of ainr and rocking lulls the park change, saturated to richness by me and I feel myself almost in another the rain—jade and sage and russet. time and place. Then I hear the second At the table inside, Olivia and Emma rocker begin to creak. play the board game LIFE—“College career “Rains every afternoon.” The An evocation. Of this place, of your path,” “ Get married,” “Buy a house,” “Have Midwestern voice seems familiar, the memories.” a kid,” “Have another!”—fourteen-year- middle tones of Kansas. No southern “A figment of my imagination, you olds passing the rainy afternoon like we did molasses or nasal northeast or western mean.” when I spent childhood summers in Rocky casual. Just solid and plain speaking. A “Yes, young lady, of your imagina- Mountain National Park 40-plus years ago. voice like my grandfather’s. But it’s not tion.” He raises an eyebrow again, peers I flash back to rainy afternoons in the pine- Granddad. It’s another Kansas man. at me. “But do me the courtesy of not paneled kitchen of my grandparents’ cabin “Cools it down. Can get mighty hot imagining that I won’t speak my own on Deer Mountain, where my grandmoth- here in July during the day. Not like mind. I still have plenty to say, plenty of er kept us entertained while Granddad sat Kansas, of course. But hot.” opinions.” on the deck smoking his pipe. He was a “Yes,” I answer. The sounds of a I feel sure he does. Chevy dealer from Kansas and brought his spirited game of LIFE filter out from He points at my laptop. “You’re wel- family out to Estes Park every summer for within the cabin. come to record them on that machine.” years—first my mom and her siblings when The second rocker creaks a gentle At my surprise he waves a hand. they were kids, then the next generation of rhythm. “I’m not really here, you real- “Yes, I’ve seen all these new contrap- his grandchildren—me and my sisters and ize.” A rotund gentleman seems to oc- tions come through over the years. I cousins. cupy the chair. His head is cocked a bit get a chuckle at some of them—they in my direction, eyebrows raised confid- seem to break more than they work. ingly. He’s an older man, past middle You should hear the people curse age. He has a moon-shaped face and a when those spectacle cases they call a friendly, knowing smile. He wears a for- telephone don’t work here. What do mal white shirt, open at the neck, with you expect when you don’t have them no tie. His trousers are summer-weight, connected by a wire? Ha! I had more belted, with suspenders over the shoul- reliable telephone service in 1935! Even ders. I hide a smile. Belted above his though the local nosies listened in on round stomach, those trousers are in no the party line.” danger of descending. “Not here in the He looks out over Moraine Park, physical sense, at any rate,” the gentle- the Big Thompson River writing itself in man adds. cursive across the valley floor. “Looked “Yes, sir,” I say, wondering where different in my day. Back then, this val- my formality has suddenly come from. ley was filled with resorts, lodges, horse Mary’s newest book, Rocky Mountain National “I realize that. At least I certainly hope stables. It was like a little town here, Park: The First 100 Years, celebrates the history of the park. Available in Conservancy Nature you’re not.” even had a post office. But the Park “Mmm, yes. I’m more of a thought. Stores in the park. (Conversation continued on p. 8) Rocky Mountain Conservancy Newsletter 3 Announcing the Annual Ask Nancy Rocky Mountain Conservancy Quarterly Editor Nancy Wilson attempts to unearth answers to any questions asked by Conservancy members and park visitors. If you are curious about something in or about the Picnic in the Park! park, email [email protected] or write: What new programs are being conducted by the park inter- When: August 2, 2014 Nancy Wilson, Rocky Mountain Conservancy, PO Box 3100, pretive rangers this summer? This summer, we are building a Time: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM Estes Park, CO 80517. Wilderness 50th Anniversary theme into park programs, as well Where: Hidden Valley in RMNP! as a Centennial message in preparation of the big year ahead. At the top of Deer Mountain there is a survey marker giving Members $15.00; Guests $20.00 We are also experimenting with a new interpretation technique information about location, altitude, etc. On the marker called “facilitated dialogue”- we won’t be the “Sage on the Kids 6-12 $5; Kids 5 and under free! there is an arrow, but the arrow does not point north. What Stage” quite so much - instead, we’ll be asking visitors for their is the purpose of the arrow? It may be that that the arrow is 11:00 - 12:15 Activities & mingling views and feelings about different topics to round out the dis- pointing in the direction of a survey point in the distance that was cussions! — RMNP East District Naturalist Kathy Brazelton.