In these weird times, appreciate our connection to nature

“After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains…”

—Walt Whitman

Looking at the on-mountain resort opportunities Sunday I decided to pull out the skinny skis and take a few laps on the aptly named Poop Loop. There’s no question why it’s called what it’s called. So far, the 2024-25 ski season in Crested Butte has been a bit lean and the Poop Loop offers alternatives. Thank goodness we had that Thanksgiving storm or we’d be looking at grass.

Someone mentioned how we were fortunate to have so many recreation options. “When the alpine skiing is bad, the Nordic skiing is usually great and vice versa.” I’m not much of a Nordic skier but when that seems the best option, it might as well be taken…and it was actually pretty great.

Despite all the current uncertainty in the world, recreation opportunities remain one of the finest attributes of our little valley at the end of the road. Talking to another friend who recently relocated to the Pacific Northwest, she was told how lucky residents there were since they could be at a ski area or on great trails within an hour of their home. Here, we have that good fortune literally out our back door.

As I’ve said before, you can start a hike in the morning at a US Post Office on Elk Avenue and walk to a US Wilderness area up Oh Boy Joyful and be back for a happy hour cocktail. You can hop on the bus at Old Town Hall and be skiing the Headwall within 20 minutes. Want the backcountry experience? Find a friend with a sled that can take you to dozens of challenging chutes or heck, just put on the skins at the base of Red Lady or Gibson’s Ridge and start uphill. Open the garage door in July, hop on the mountain bike and you can be closer to deer or bear than to tourists within literally minutes. 

The access we have to nature is pretty much unsurpassed, summer or winter. We are lucky in that respect. Most people who are attracted to this little but sophisticated town high in the Rockies embrace that connection to nature. Nature is one of our healers, teachers and companions. The benefits of nature don’t have to come in the extremes of a Jon Krakauer book focused on remote Alaskan wilderness or even having to skin hours to the top of Owen or Purple — you can breathe in the power of nature on The Woods Walk, Peachtree, Headwall or the Poop Loop (that’s extremely fragrant in spots!).

When the richest man in the world is shutting off our government contributions to the poorest people in the world and making a mockery of Congress, when our allies are booing our national anthem at sporting events because we’re kicking them in the nuts over the price of avocados, or when the amount of plans and changes to our valley seem to be lining up like the potholes at the Four-way, it is more important than ever to breathe in that power. 

It is important to not get sucked down the doom hole and remember to feel joy. Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle recently stated that in the current situation you can practice “resistance through joy…keep calm, pray daily…make it a habit to meet the Holy everywhere, every day. Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.” Resist by embracing nature that surrounds us. 

A friend texted me that Walt Whitman quote Monday and it is true to this place. The end of that quote is: “Nature remains; to bring out from their torpid recesses, the affinities of a man or woman with the open air, the trees, fields, the changes of seasons — the sun by day and the stars of heaven by night.”

True that. Looking at the heavens over Red Lady or Whetstone filled with stars and planets, breathing in the fresh air in solitude while on a hike in the woods or while sharing a chairlift on the ski hill, listening to the loud silence or the gurgling of a creek — these are the things we have at our doorstep. These are the things that can keep us mindful and sane and focused in a crazy world. Our tie to nature is something that not everyone has, so for that we should be grateful. Be grateful even for the poop on the loop.

—Mark Reaman