Canyon Rim News

Ken Mabery, Superintendent

Musical Notes

We LOVE Our Partners!

Member Highlight

Park Happenings

Painting in Fresh Air

We partner with the National Park Service to inspire our community and visitors to learn about, play in, and protect Colorado’s geo-logic gem.

Canyon Rim News is the monthly newsletter published by the Colorado National Monu-ment Association to inform members of park news.

Board Members: Ginny McBride, Lauren Goodknight, Dan Flenniken, John Connolly, Seth Anderson, Terri Chappell-Paxson, Jim Anker, Brian Hollingsworth, Lenna Watson, Todd Young, Carl Jacobson, Eric Sandstrom

The National Park Service is having a Centennial year commemoration! And what a year it has been! The average vis-itor still came to Colorado National Mon-ument to enjoy the scenery, and learn something about this wonderful natural world we live in. Then, they continued on their way, enriched by what they experi-enced here.

Visitors embraced the milestone event, and they wanted to be a part of it. Rang-ers and CNMA staff also engaged vis-itors in many conversations about the Centennial and the meaning of National Parks. The excitement also translated into CNMA sales of special merchandise, and it was hard to keep up with the de-mand for Centennial merchandise. Visi-tors reported other parks were sold out of commemorative items, and they were thankful to find items here.

CNMA can be especially proud of the roles it played in the special events. I’d like to share just two other Centennial highlights from my perspective.

--Read More on Page 5

--Ken Mabery, Superintendent

Have you noticed any improvements on the first part of the Old Gordon Trail? The maintenance trail crew has been hard at work replacing sections of the trail surface to keep it from eroding. The work should be mostly complete by the end of September.

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The Centennial year has been a very musical time for Colorado National Monument with several concerts that were held in the Mon-ument. Often, one expects history or nature programs in an NPS site, but Arlene Jackson, Chief of Interpretation, Education and Com-munity Engagement, explained that concerts reflect the National Park Service mission.

For example, we welcomed the John Muir Uni-versity of the Wilderness concert, which was performed by the internationally acclaimed Chance Ensemble. Muir played an important role in the conservation of our National Parks. The Chance Ensemble played the most de-lightful music that was intertwined with the writings of Muir.

“Hearing John Muir’s words and reflecting on them while looking at the view of Wedding and Monument Canyon was awe-inspiring,” Jackson said.

The NPS Centennial Jazz Band came all the way from New Orleans to highlight our won-derful national parks. The US Navy Band Northwest Saxophone Quartet also performed at the Devil’s Kitchen picnic area.

If you have ideas for concerts, please contact the Monument.

Musical Notes by Amanda Arnold

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We love our community partners!

Chinle-James DavisGeorge DourosDavid & Joann HawkesJoseph KleinsmithLesley McClintokRebecca WarrenTom & Shirley ArthurRoger & Linda DingmanMary NelsonKerry Sue CarterSusan WolffJason DausmanRichard FlokosKara PeacockLibby Tart-SchoenfelderDaniel LuricksonJan HylandKen & Sandy NelsonJames BallRob FiedlerSteve HausotterLaura KiltyBob & Dara WhitmoreSusan ZoldakJanis BuchreusBob DunnHeather Woods

Wingate-Reid CameronBetsy & David RobbinsSara MillerClint DriscollRon & Barbara Mack Kayenta-Bill & Meg ThorntonSteve YeatonTiberiu Corduban Entrada-Nick & Kerry MarbleHome Loan InvestmentMichael Paxson & Terri Chappell-Paxson

We would like to thank Alpine Bank for recognizing the Colorado National Monument as a contributor to what makes Colorado great. Thank you again for the generous grant of $1,876! This grant funds school programs, visitor guides and it supports our association’s dedica-tion to Colorado National Monument. New Members!

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Some land outside the park boundary is privately owned. Please respect the owners’ rights and do not trespass.

Are you an avid cyclist, but still timid to ride the scenic Rim Rock Drive solo? During the month of October, there will be two special bicycle rides led by expert cyclist Donna King. In addition to a great workout routine, King loves cycling Rim Rock Drive. “I love the hills and the scenery. I especial-ly love seeing the desert bighorn sheep on my rides.”King has become a seasoned cyclist by rid-ing the 23 mile route (often more) at least twice a week. She adds to that total and rides at least 200 miles a week, with 100 of those miles in the Monument. While she is a Rim Rock Road cycling regular, she still enjoys challenging herself. “My biggest challenge is cutting my time. I cycle from the West Entrance to the Visitor Center in 30 minutes; it used to take me an hour.”Interested in joining the ride? Call 970.858-3617 ext 307.

World-Famous Ride, with Local Expert, by Amanda Arnold

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Park Happenings Event space is limited. Please call 970-858-3617 x307 for more information and to RSVP.

Thurs. Oct. 6, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.Biking Scenic Rim Rock Drive 36 Miles RT (Moderate/Hard, 18 yrs+)Join Donna King for a scenic bike ride on Rim Rock Drive through the Colorado National Monument. There will be stops throughout the Monument. The ride will start at the Visitor Center.

Thurs. Sept 29 & Sat. Oct. 8, 10 a.m.– 2:30 p.m.Biking Scenic Rim Rock Drive 46 Miles RT (Advanced, 18 yrs+) Join experienced cyclist Donna King for a scenic bike ride through Colorado National Monument. The ride will start in Fruita and end at the High Point on Rim Rock Drive with an elevation gain of 2,750 feet. There will be stops throughout the Monument.

Thurs. Oct 13 & Sat. Oct. 15, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.Explore Lower Ute Canyon 5 Miles (Advanced/Strenuous) Join geologist Don Regan, for a hike through Ute Canyon to learn about geology, history and ecology. Along the way, hikers will see an old cowboy camp, dinosaur tracks and the Ute Canyon pour-off. The group will return via the historic Corkscrew Trail.

Sun. Oct. 23, 2 p.m.Visual Slide Presentation on Monument HistoryJoin Steve and Denise Hight in the Visitor Center auditorium for a slideshow presentation about their recent publication, Legendary Locals of Fruita, which will be available for sale at the Visitor Center. The presentation will last approximately 40 minutes with Q&A and book signing.

Saturday, Oct. 29, 2 p.m.Visual Slide Presentation on Desert PlantsJoin Don “Cactus Man” Campbell for a 45 minute slideshow presentation in our Visitor Center auditorium on the cacti, succulents and other desert plants.

Sunday, Oct. 16, 2 p.m.Photography Walk Join experienced local photographer, Angela Classen, for a photography walk in the Colorado National Monument. Angela’s photography has been recognized and featured in the Colorado National Monument Association calendar for several years in a row!

Oct. 15 is Archeology Day! Explore the lives of ancient peoples

through hands-on, family-friendly activ-ities. Learn how they lived, hunted, cre-ated and enjoyed what is now Colorado

National Monument.

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Perhaps the most visible commemorative events were the special concerts. The Navy Band at Devil’s Kitchen, and the signature events at Saddlehorn: the Cen-tennial Jazz Band from New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, and the John Muir Concert. CNMA played a major role in bringing these concerts to the public. We reached over 200 people with these per-formances. A surprise visit by the inter-national “Up with People” cast (about 100 kids from 27 countries) was not sched-uled, but I’m counting it because they ex-perienced our Centennial and contributed to the excitement.

The monument was able to hire three new visitor service positions during this Centennial year. Steve Caron, a volunteer with the Student Conservation Associa-tion (SCA), spent the summer helping us enhance our group volunteer ambassador programs. He helped organize field activ-ities for a broad spectrum of volunteers. Devonte Jones, a ProRanger, (a Park Ranger development program), spent the summer patrolling backcountry trails, among other learning experiences. His contribution was so successful that we hope to extend his program beyond this year. We also received special Park Ser-vice funds for an additional Seasonal Park Ranger, which allowed us to have more visitor programs and keep the Visitor Center open longer hours.

There can be a let-down after a large commemorative event. However, since we commemorated the year leading up to the August 25th Centennial date, it only makes sense that we commemorate the actual YEAR of our Centennial – until August 2017. So, keep an eye out for more exciting events at Colorado National Mon-ument!

The CNMA store will continue to carry commemo-rative merchandise until it runs out; but many or-ders already cannot be filled (hint: get it soon!). As mentioned above, we hope to extend the ProRanger program in 2017, and perhaps beyond. Finally, the SCA position runs through to the spring of 2017, and we need to find another candidate to fill it.

Perhaps the two greatest outcomes from the 2016 Centennial will be: 1) renewed interest in volunteer-ing at Colorado National Monument. Steve Caron’s recruitment efforts, coupled with work by the Inter-pretive Park Rangers, attracted outstanding volun-teers. By next summer, many will be in a position to help the NPS and CNMA with a variety of programs and activities; and 2) the discovery that we can hold special events at the Saddlehorn Picnic Area with-out a lot of complex logistics. We will continue to explore this possibility.

Ken Mabery, Cont . . .

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Photos courtesy of John Lintott

Colorado National Monument has celebrated an artful Centennial year with wonderful con-certs, and this fall, artists continue to bring their talent to our glorious National Monument. On September 24, Grand Junction artist John Lintott presented an En Plein Air Q&A session at the Monument.

En Plein Air, by the way, is painting outdoors, or in the open air.

John is an accomplished artist who graduated from Colorado State University with his B.F.A in 2001. After running a custom frame shop in Downtown Grand Junction for almost eight years, he decided to put all of his energy into painting. With such a sweeping backyard of-fered by Colorado National Monument, John is certainly in a beautiful place that changes as the light makes its way across the cliffs.

“I am personally much more drawn to desert scenes, and just to have the red rocks and cliffs. I love that color pallet. I think it’s more dramatic than alpine,” he said.

For John, the red and orange rocks with hues in between, pack more of an artful punch. Each day is an opportunity for him to zip on up to the Monument to create a new painting.

John enjoys the generalized desert scenes and the prominent overlooks that puts Colorado National Monument on the map. Recently, John has been painting En Plein Air at the Upper Ute overlook.

While painting En Plein Air has opened John’s eyes a little bit wider to nature, he has fond memories of camping with his family as a child. John has always enjoyed camping, but he ini-tially disliked painting outside. However, when he participated in the Crested Butte Invitation-al, he changed his mind and approach to paint-ing.

“For me, it’s another excuse to explore and have adventures,” he said. John often paints small paintings outside and then make larger pieces in the studio. How-ever, he admits that now painting outside is a necessity in order to create a successful paint-ing. While the bugs can be a nuisance, they do indeed dictate his painting season.

For more information about his work, visit johnlintott.com. He is available for workshops and lessons.

Painting En Plein Air with John Lintott by Amanda Arnold

Photos courtesy of John Lintottpg. 7