The Durango Telegraph, May 9, 2024

4 Talk birdy to me

True confessions of a bird watcher going for his Big Year by Zach Hively

Caught in a trap

Ruthlessly killed for their pelts, wildcats need protections by Ted Williams / Writers on the Range

11

Pedaling uphill

Sometimes, when your mojo leaves, you gotta go out and chase it down by Jennaye Derge

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8

Drying out

The SW Colorado snowpack was looking good – and then April hit by Jonathan Thompson / Land Desk

STAFF REPORTER: Scoops McGee telegraph@durangotelegraph.com STAR-STUDDED CAST: Zach Hively, Ted Williams, Jonathan Thompson, Allen Best, Jennaye Derge, Rob Brezsny, Lainie Maxson, Jesse Anderson & Clint Reid

P.O. Box 332, Durango, CO 81302 VIRTUAL

The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or mon-

Ear to the ground:

“Is there a special reason you’re doing that?”

– We suppose that rafting through Smelter on a cold, blustery spring day may seem strange to the average tourist.

Burt the bard

Regular readers of this fine publication no doubt are familiar with the works of Burt Baldwin, the unofficial Telegraph poet laureate. Since the early days, Baldwin’s poetry, essays and short stories have been a recurring feature in the paper.

On the cover

What we are pretty sure is a yellow warbler rests in a tree, possibly after a long trip north from its winter home. / Photo by Andy High

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Baldwin

A graduate of Rutger’s University, Baldwin moved to the Four Corners area more than 45 years ago. Although he has held various jobs in that time, he spent the bulk of it as an educator, teaching at Fort Lewis College, Pueblo Community College and the Ignacio School District, where he taught for 34 years. In that time, he taught every grade level and a variety of subjects, from science and history, to language arts. He has been awarded the Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education and the Southern Ute Tribal Award for Outstanding Service, to name a few.

Now retired, Baldwin lives the country life outside Bayfield with wife, Laural (reportedly a mean pickleball player.) He recently compiled his life works into a book, appropriately titled “Selected Poems: 19732023,” which he will be reading from next Fri., May 17, at 6 p.m. at Create Art and Tea, 1015 Main Ave. (And maybe, if you’re lucky, he’ll tell you some stories about his old friend, Ed Abbey.)

In the meantime, here is but a small sample of Baldwin’s work.

“The Shirt”

Old men need old friends.

“The Shirt” was bought thirty some years ago at the Humane Society Thrift Store.

A simple, long sleeved gray and blue cotton-plaid Haggar, now faded and thread bare; worn while gardening or during oil changes.

It is often hidden deep in the closet away from who might edit it.

It silently awaits its next adventure.

Old men protect and rely on old friends!

At this age, mutualism is always a necessity.

– Burt Baldwin

LaVidaLocal

Caution: Big Year in progress

This isn’t the sort of thing you’re supposed to say out loud. It could jinx you or keep you from getting laid. But I’ll say it anyway, because I am neither superstitious nor insecure, even if I should be: I am doing a Big Year.

A Big Year, for those of you with love lives and other social interests involving human beings, is the attempt by amateur birders to spot and identify as many species of birds in North America as possible within a calendar year. We do this in hopes of becoming professional birders; although no one has yet accomplished this leap, we imagine the sponsorship deals must be lucrative.

Many birders go all-in on their Big Years. Plane tickets, motel rooms, chartered watercraft, loads of those little birdidentification books in which none of the illustrations quite match the little sucker you definitely probably spotted flitting into that tree over there, unless it was a discarded Ruffles bag or maybe a leaf: Big Years are not cheap.

Unless you do them my way.

As I write, the year is more than onethird complete. I have already knocked out many of the more exotic birds, like the raven, the crow, the robin and the rock pigeon. It took me until April to spot a turkey vulture, but I got one. So please bear these specimens in mind – along with more generally familiar finds, like whatever kind of grackle lives in Walmart parking lots –when I tell you that I am all the way up to 18 species so far. And counting!

That said – I think I am, nonetheless likely to win under any reasonable calculation of birds-per-mile, or birds-per-dollar.

I mean, obviously, if you discount all those backyard birders in more birdhospitable zones where the abundance of water and foliage and insects means you can’t even walk across your backyard swamp without stepping on a living, not-a-plastic, flamingo. Factor in my specific geography, along with my specific age bracket, socioeconomic status, BMI and need to submit a column about SOMETHING this week, and I am the odds-on favorite to crush this Big Year on a birds-per-effort basis.

Unlike every other Big Year birder, I have accomplished these 1½-dozen feats without the aid of a single bit of travel. Well, OK, I traveled once. But I didn’t see any birds. I am confident that no other Big Yearer can say THAT in mid-May.

Strictly competitive-hearted people might ask me why I am even bothering with this Big Year nonsense when there are much wealthier and more retired birders out there with current tallies in the several hundreds. To them, I might answer that Big Years are on the honor system and therefore any one of my fellow birders might be cheating. I might also answer that the sort of Big Year they imagine requires far more planning, patience and interest in birding than I currently have.

Local writer Blake Crouch striking it big time with his novel Dark Matter being turned into a series for Apple TV. Don’t forget the little people, Blake.

The Bridge to Nowhere is finally going somewhere, even if it’s just Farmington, with the long-awaited reroute of Highway 550 South opening Thursday.

The City of Durango will again be offering free trolley rides this summer, June 1Aug. 31. As an added bonus during the same time, parking at meters between Camino and Narrow Gauge from 7th-9th will also be free.

Big Years aren’t all about winning, though, unless of course, I win. Even the winners don’t receive anything much beyond bragging rights and probably a nod on some blog somewhere. There is no Olympic qualifying round of birding, no Nike deal (yet!), no guarantee that you won’t feel compelled to come back and best your own record the next year, or the year after that, or the year after that, like some sort of under-appreciated Tom Brady.

Big Years are much more of an experience, a Zen art, a chance to live out the dreams many people have had their entire lives since signing up for AARP. They provide learning opportunities aplenty. For starters, Big Years are about breaking down stereotypes: birding is not purely for older people with nothing better to do with their 401(k)s. It is also for youthful people who cannot afford to do things that cost money.

Big Years are the sort of absolutely noncommercial, unproductive, anticapitalist endeavors that remind us what really matters: getting outside once in a while. Connecting with the world beyond our screens. Getting in tune with the cycles of living creatures beyond ourselves. Remembering that there is an inquisitive, feeling, breathing being behind (or above) every splash of poop on my windshield that I just freaking squeegeed.

And absolutely, positively, they’re about getting laid. But not yet. Maybe next year. Can’t jeopardize the very real chance that, any month now, I’ll spot Bird No. 19.

– Zach Hively

The first wildfire of the season torched a few acres near the Lightner Creek Mobile Park on Tuesday when someone’s slash pile got out of control. Hey people, it’s real windy out there – maybe hold off on setting things on fire for a while? Thanks.

Boebert’s bill to lift federal protections for gray wolves passed the House. It is ironically called “Trust the Science” but should maybe be called “trust bubbas in their snowmobiles running over wolves.”

Well, it appears hopes of a rocking runoff in SWCO are slowly fading, thanks to recent dry and windy conditions, with the snowpack dwindling from 100% in early April down to around 70% now.

Plight Privilege

Mike Black, a millionaire who earned his survivorship bias growing up well in Texas, decided he was way smarter than the homeless population in Austin. So, about a year ago, he left home with a change of clothes, a backpack, and his phone, and he launched a YouTube channel to prove that he could make $1 million in a year starting from scratch. He made $60K in 10 months and then quit for “health concerns” even though he’d been seeing his doctor, which real homeless people can’t do. Guess nobody told him that you “don’t success with Texas,” or something like that.

WritersontheRange

Cat fight

Bobcats and other wild cats need protection, not ruthless

by Ted Williams

Unlike the rest of modern wildlife management, killing bobcats is unregulated, driven not by science but by fur prices. We’re stuck in the 19th century, when market hunters, for example, shot boatloads of waterfowl with 10-foot-long, 100-pound “punt guns.”

Now, there’s a campaign in Colorado – via a November 2024 ballot initiative – to ban hunting and trapping of bobcats, Canada lynx and mountain lions, though lynx are already listed by the state as endangered and supposedly protected.

As a lifelong hunter and angler, I’m told by a group called the Sportsmen’s Alliance that it’s my duty to defend bobcat trapping and hunting against such “antis” as those pushing the ballot initiative.

But a true sportsmen’s alliance of ethical hunters –Teddy Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, William Hornaday, Congressman John Lacey and other Boone and Crockett Club members – got most market hunting banned in 1918.

It persists today as commercial trapping and hunting of bobcats. Ethical hunters eat what they kill. Bobcat trappers and hunters discard the meat and sell pelts, mostly for export to China and Russia.

Yet the Sportsmen’s Alliance warns me that, after bobcat trapping gets banned, “hunting ... and even fishing are the next traditions in the antis’ crosshairs.”

I don’t buy it. I’ve heard this mantra since the 1970s, including from my then-colleagues at the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife who, like me, were fed and clothed by fishing, trapping and hunting license dollars.

This from veteran bobcat researcher Mark Elbroch of the native cat conservation group Panthera: “Colorado treats bobcats pretty much like they’re treated throughout the West” (except for California where killing is banned without a special permit.)

“There are hardly any regulations in any state. No bag limits, no data on how many are out there. The

hunting community gets super excited about what it calls the ‘North American Model of Conservation,’ and one of the tenets is you don’t kill for profit or trade,” Elbroch continued. “Trapping violates that model in every way. Bobcat trapping is the extreme – selling fur for luxury items. It’s sickening.”

From December through February, Colorado bobcat hunters and trappers may kill as many bobcats as they please. And hunters are permitted to pursue bobcats with hounds, an inhumane practice for both cats and hounds.

Bobcat traps are also unselective, catching other species such as Canada lynx, raptors, otters, foxes, martens, badgers, opossums and skunks. “Lynx, a close relative to bobcats, are naturally attracted to bait set for bobcats and are harmed, injured or killed when caught in traps,” Colorado veterinarian Christine Capaldo said.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife attempts to rebut such reports with: “No lynx in Colorado has ever been reported as accidentally trapped by bobcat fur harvesters.” Of course not. What bobcat trapper would jeopardize permissive regulations by filing such a report?

So, in addition to an estimated 2,000 bobcats, how many non-target animals are killed by the roughly 4,000 bobcat traps annually set in Colorado? No one has a clue.

Colorado requires “humane” live traps. But they’re scarcely more humane than legholds and less humane than quick-kill conibear traps.

During winter, bobcats keep warm by finding shelter. In live traps, they’re immobilized and exposed to cold, rain, snow and wind. Traps must be checked every 24 hours, but there’s virtually no enforcement, so livetrapped bobcats sometimes suffer for days. When traps do get checked bobcats get bludgeoned or strangled.

Before European contact, bobcats prospered throughout what are now the contiguous states. Caucasian immigrants quickly set about rectifying this with an all-out war on the species, behavior that flabbergasted the Indigenous and for which their only explanation was that the pale faces were insane. By the

killing for their pelts

Colorado requires humane live traps, but bobcats are often found trapped in harmful ways./photo courtesy of Animal Wellness Action

early 20th century, bounties and government control had extirpated bobcats from much of the United States. Now bobcats are slowly recovering in every contiguous state save Delaware. That’s an excellent reason not to kill them.

Bobcats belong to all Americans, the vast majority of whom prefer them alive. But they’re managed for the very few people who kill them for profit. And from a strictly financial perspective, live bobcats are more valuable than dead ones.

A study published in 2017 in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, based on money spent by wildlife photographers, set the value of a single live bobcat at $308,000. Today the average bobcat pelt fetches $100.

Ted Williams is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring conversation about the West. He writes about fish and wildlife for national publications. ■

SoapBox

120 years of killing; enough is enough

This article, written on Earth Day, is a tribute to the intrinsic value and interconnectedness of all life.

John Wayne, the most iconic cowboy of our time, once said, “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life ... It hopes that we’ve learned something from yesterday.”

When it comes to wolves, the ranchers of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho apparently believe the wisdom of yesterday is best gained as if yesterday was 1904, not 2024.

In 2020, the management of wolves was assigned to states, handing states the “responsibility for management and protection of the delisted wolves.” In 2022, legal protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) were restored to all states, except Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

It is shameful and dangerous what the leaders of these three states have allowed since gray wolves were taken off the ESA. Shameful for blocking the way forward for ecological balance and diversity that is supported by science,

and the 30-year experiment of Yellowstone. Dangerous for setting the stage for treating animals in barbaric ways. Ghandi taught that “the greatness of a nation can be judged by how its animals are treated.”

Practices used in these states include the unethical use of spotlights at night to blind wolves, luring animals with bait, night vision scopes, neck snares, helicopter hunting, killing pups in their dens, and most recently, running wolves down with snowmobiles.

Cody Roberts, a resident of Wyoming, legally ran down a young wolf, captured the injured wolf, placed red tape around her muzzle, show-cased her in a bar as she lay suffering for hours, bragged about it online with pictures, took her outside and shot her to death, watching as a fierce green fire died in her eyes. This was with impunity. These are not “responsible management or protection” measures.

Deb Haaland, the Secretary of the Interior, who manages our natural resources and endangered species has the power and responsibility to end these barbaric practices to avoid repeating the extirpation of these most majestic, yet

most maligned animals. Haaland, who is Native American, should have compassion for the wolf who is being denied rights to its native habitat just as Indigenous tribes were years ago.

You can be proud to live in Colorado. Acts of animal cruelty are illegal in Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has worked tirelessly to find an equitable plan for ranchers and wolves to coexist, honoring the needs of both.

As a teacher, I have spent my career trying to dispel the myth of “the big bad wolf” and teaching that all life is intrinsically valuable and deserves to be treated with respect. In her wisdom, Maya Angelou said, “I did then what I knew to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” In 2024, let’s do better for wolves, ranchers and Mother Earth.

– Katherine Webster, Littleton, via e-mail

The cruelest month

The Colorado snowpack was doing pretty good ... then April hit

by Jonathan Thompson

What a difference a warm, dusty month can make. In early April, the Land Desk reported that the snowpack in most of the Southwest was at or above normal and appeared to be peaking right on schedule, presaging a normal spring runoff. But April turned out to be the cruelest month, after all, sending snowpack levels into a free-fall and dashing hopes for a strong spring runoff on most of the region’s streams.

Take the Gunnison River watershed: Snow water equivalent levels peaked April 9 at a slightly higher than median level – or about 107% of normal. Within a week, the levels had dropped below normal; and by May 1 were at about 75% of the median level for that date, putting it just about even with 2021, which was a horribly dry year. (More charts and graphs below).

A similar pattern is seen throughout Colorado, with northern areas (such as the Yampa) generally faring better than those in the southern part of the state (e.g. the Animas and Dolores). There are exceptions: Snowpack in the high La Plata Mountains, Vallecito drainage and on Red Mountain Pass in southwestern Colorado is still around 90% of the median and isn’t falling as quickly as in other areas. However, the aggregate for the entire San Miguel/Dolores/Animas and San Juan basin was at 70% of median as of May 8.

Part of the problem was that the spigot from the sky, after spewing generously for much of March, seemed to shut off mid-April, with the exception of a single good storm near the end of the month. But a bigger factor was the combination of unusually high temperatures throughout the winter along with relentless spring winds and a series of dust events.

Overall, the United States experienced its warmest meteorological winter (Dec. 1 - Feb. 29) on record, and Western states had unusually high temperatures. A sampling of average daily temperature data from individual and river-basin SNOTEL sites reveals that in most cases they were above

median for the period of record (which usually reaches back to the late 1980s).

Hastening the snowmelt have been a series of dust events in the late winter and early spring. Colorado’s Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies, in its April 22 statewide report, observed dust layers across the Colorado mountains, with severe dust in the McClure Pass and Roaring Fork region, and with Wolf Creek Pass having the heaviest dust in the San Juan Mountains. “Perhaps, besides the Roaring Fork region, overall dust severity is in the ‘average’ category,” CSAS director Jeff Derry

wrote, “but don’t believe, combined with the weather, it can’t have drastic effects on snowpack ablation. Without some meaningful precipitation, snowmelt season could be over quickly.”

In early April, the Dolores Water Conservancy District noted that it was unlikely it would release enough water from McPhee Reservoir to enable boating in the Lower Dolores River –even for a short period of time. The deteriorating snow situation makes the prospect of raftable flows above the confluence with the San Miguel River highly implausible. As I write this, the

Because of a drier April, Colorado’s snowpack has taken a hit. Although there likely will be enough water for irrigating, hopes for a release on the Dolores have all but evaporated.

/Photo by Jonathan

P. Thompson

river’s flow below the dam is barely more than a trickle at 50 cubic feet per second (and around 500 cfs above the reservoir).

At the beginning of April, the Bureau of Reclamation predicted Lake Powell’s surface level would increase by about 30 feet during spring runoff, before subsiding back to about 3,563 feet by the end of the year (It was at 3,561 feet  May 5). The agency hasn’t released its latest projections, but they’re likely to be less optimistic now.

The Animas River in Durango, where the water runs free and flows are influenced entirely by snowmelt, hit 1,600 cfs on April 25 before cooler temperatures brought it back down to around 1,000 cfs. We can get a sense of when and how big peak runoff will be by considering that on May 1 of last year, the snow levels in the basin were about twice what they are now, and the river peaked at 4,500 cfs at the end of May.

My guess: The Animas River will peak on May 18 at 2,400 cfs. ■

The Land Desk is a newsletter from Jonathan P. Thompson, author of “River of Lost Souls,” “Behind the Slickrock Curtain” and “Sagebrush Empire.” To subscribe, go to: www.landdesk.org ■

BigPivots Shifting gears

Compared to transition to combustion engine, switch to EVs will be smooth

by Allen Best

My grandfather was born in a sod house on the Colorado prairie in 1890. A generation before, it had been the domain of buffalo and the Cheyenne, Sioux and other tribes that feasted on them.

He was taken while still very young to the nearest town, Sterling. Cresting a ridge, he glimpsed the South Platte River Valley for the first time. What did he see, his elders asked? Cows, he guessed, and lots of them. He had no basis for imagining so many trees.

Grandpa somehow found his way to a two-year degree from Colorado A&M, now known as Colorado State University. Then he sought adventure. With a buddy, he set out from Fort Collins in 1915 for the world’s fair in San Francisco. They could have taken a train, I suppose, but they rode.

Travel by car, any car, beyond cities was an adventure then. His memoir from many years later talks about dusty, difficult travel across Wyoming, Utah and Nevada on little more than dirt paths. At one point, the so-called highway was so inadequate they rode their motorcycles on the railroad tracks. It took spunk to travel beyond cities in gas-powered vehicles.

I wonder whether my grandfather, if he were around today, would own an electric pickup. People in the early 20th century traveled by coal-powered trains or were pulled by animals. The transition to internal-combustion engines did not happen overnight. It took time to create the infrastructure.

Colorado today has more than 100,000 registered electric vehicles but hopes to have nearly a million by 2030. This will be necessary for Colorado to meets its decarbonization goals. It will also help us reduce the nasty ozonesoaked air quality that can make breathing more difficult. San Francisco has already proven that higher numbers of EVs can improve air quality. We need the same along the Front Range.

We’re moving fast in this transition. EVs – including plug-in hybrids –constituted 16.22% of all sales in Colorado in 2023, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. That’s

nearly four times the amount four years before. A state tax credit that went into effect in July 2023 has put wind into the sales. Tellingly, Tesla had the top-selling models for both passenger cars and light trucks. But in a couple years, we should start seeing more lower-cost models from the major manufacturers.

Nationally, you can find many stories about stumbles of the EV market. The most optimistic cite the more confident sales of hybrids, as consumers remain leery of going all electric.

Charging infrastructure remains an issue. Not every corner has a charging station. Even the fast-chargers take longer than gassing up. Traveling takes some forethought. Too, I hear of concerns about maintenance.

It’s getting easier all the time, though. Gov. Jared Polis recently announced $22 million that will yield 290 new fastcharger ports at 46 different sites from Holyoke to Dolores, Burlington to Silverton, in both small towns and big cities. As of February, direct-current fast chargers were located within 30 miles of 78% of the state’s geographic areas. I’m sure that my granddad had to do a lot more thinking for his trip than EV owners do today.

EVs are not the answer everywhere for all purposes. I hear complaints from

Wray to Alamosa about the inadequacy of electric trucks to pull heavy loads, whether hay or recreational vehicles. CleanTechnica tells of an experiment. Four electrified pickups – the Ford F-150 Lightning, Cybertruck, Rivian R1T and the Silverado EV each towed a 4,000pound car between Denver and Grand Junction. Three lost much range. Only the Silverado EV pulled its weight well.

But EVs have this distinct advantage, one I first heard articulated by the late Randy Udall 15 years ago: Electric motors can convert energy into motion six times more efficiently than internal combustion engines.

Hiccups will almost certainly occur on this journey. And some of our existing pickups and cars will be around for decades. The turnover will take time. If the comparison is not exact, I think about the transition that occurred during my Grandpa Rieke’s time. In 1924, the only way to traverse the Continental Divide in Colorado during winter was by train or on foot. No roads were plowed until 1930 when Berthoud Pass for the first time became an allseason crossing. Compared to that transition, this shift in transportation will be very easy and very quick.

Allen Best tracks the energy and water transitions at BigPivots.com. ■

Colorado just announced $22 million in grants for 290 new fast-chargers throughout the states./ Photo by Allen Best

by Paul Zaenger

TForgotten viewpoints

New book pays homage to eco-wisdom, legacies of Colorado Plateau

he west is an increasingly popular place to relocate to or visit. Not only can people telework from almost any small town with high-speed connectivity, but there is ample access to outdoor recreation. The recreation economy looms large as more and more people trek into the wildlands with an array of equipment and devices, and a no-holds-barred intent to experience the land.

There was a time (1920s-70s) when caring for the land and land protection was as equally important as recreation. A strong land ethic arose through conservation advocates including writers Aldo Leopold and Wallace Stegner, and longtime director of the Wilderness Society, Howard Zahniser. An economic benefit was always part of lands that were set aside, but income generated from tourism was secondary to protecting the land.

Michael Engelhard speaks to this land ethic in his new book, “No Walk in the Park.” His stories and perspectives are fueled by his 25-plus years guiding in the Grand Canyon and Utah’s canyon country. Engelhard splits his time between the Southwest and Alaska, which was the setting for his previous book, “Arctic Traverse: A Thousand-Mile Summer of Trekking the Brooks Range.” His excursions in “No Walk in the Park” range from Grand Canyon

National Park to northern Arizona and southern Utah. Snowshoeing the Grand Canyon rim, running the Colorado River, kayaking Lake Powell, he provides a range of perspectives, from earlyday explorers to scientists to Indigenous people. Many of these areas are sacred to tribes – Hopi, Navajo and Hualapai, among others – as he draws relationships between people and the landscape. Rainbow Bridge is one destination Engelhard, a trained anthropologist and educator, visits. Spanning a side canyon below Navajo Mountain in southern Utah, Anglos did not discover it until 1909, although it had been known to Indigenous peoples long before. He

recalls a hiking trip through the maze of canyons and red rock domes below the mountain as he reflects on this geography sacred to the Navajo. He also shares writings from Edward Abbey, Clyde Kluckhohn and John Wesley Powell, who led the first Anglo expedition to float through the Grand Canyon in 1869. Powell spoke of “rock forms that we do not understand.” Engelhard expands on this, writing about hiking through canyons, when on the final approach he sees, “One last bend and there it is. The curve of a mustang’s neck. A dream’s trajectory.

Muscular yet weightless –the most elegant rock parabola you’ll ever lay eyes upon.”

In another chapter (“Let There be

Night”), Engelhard describes a summer night hike into the Grand Canyon. Hiking is cooler then, and he shows the reader night-blooming flowers, night sky features and tribal values in a glorious nightscape. This turns quickly when his partner spies the silhouette of a mountain lion. The story moves fast and is notable.

They do hike on – “Our mobile shadows, I realize, are minute eclipses, with the moon as our sun … ancient (moon) light on ancient geologic strata staggers the mind. We take in the flickering luster of stars long extinct, and compared to them and the galaxies pushing outward, even the Canyon’s oldest layers strike one as young.”

The message is clear that the landscape holds values intrinsic to itself. Engelhard calls the reader back to these values, beyond the recreation economy, by showing the power of these places.

The text sometimes refers to features in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere as though you might be familiar with them. It would be useful to keep a map (digital or paper) handy as a reference.

You can find “No Walk in the Park” at Maria’s Bookshop. It’s a short read (242 pages) that will bring you to a landscape close at hand but from a viewpoint that is sometimes unseen or forgotten.

Paul Zaenger is a former ranger at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. ■

GossipoftheCyclers

Ride like the wind

Getting your mojo back – on, and off, the bike

by Jennaye Derge

The day the word “surgery” was thrown at me, I felt sweaty-palmed and brave all at the same time. I’d been seeing doctors for years, trying to solve what a friend so lovingly suggests I call “stomach issues,” and I finally got a doctor to sign off on an action item. It was no longer, “Let’s try this and see if it helps. Let’s make another appointment and see what we can find.” It was surgery; hopefully a period on a long-unanswered sentence.

The declaration came at the tail end of a list of events that made my legs a little wobbly. I’d gone through a breakup after enduring a long-distance relationship, moved houses – again, and had morethan-shaky job circumstances. Anything that used to feel like a sure thing, suddenly wasn’t. I felt like there was a big question mark lingering over my head. And so, as many of us cyclists do, I rode to feel better.   I pedaled all the trails that I can easily ride, the ones that are my favorites, knowing they would put me in a better mood because I felt confident on them. I raced down the flowy paths and hit fast technical spots at a higher torque than usual. When I felt really good, I rode trails that were a little more challenging but super fun, and that’s when I fell straight on my face; literally and figuratively.

One day in particular, I toppled my way up a trail I can usually (almost) clean and stood at the technical sections that I know by memory. I was suddenly scared. I kept falling over at spots that I’d never fallen on before, and I just couldn’t position my body in that loose-yet-aggressive stance I should have been in. I was caught between all my life’s unknowns, and for whatever reason, this left me catching rocks on my

pedals or not catching the air I was trying to catch.

It was pretty easy to see that somewhere along the way, between breakups, job shakeups, doctors, pre-ops and the trail, I had lost my ability to be brave on my

bike. I had allotted all my brave tokens toward making sure my career was in order – that I was doing a good job and not making mistakes. My brave tokens were being spent in the doctors’ offices as they probed, prodded and told me to uncross my legs when taking my blood pressure. I even used a couple of my brave tokens to go out on dates.

My brave tank was being emptied on all the practical portions of my life, and I had, somewhere along the way, abandoned that giddy voice in my head that says, “You got this” and “Weeeeeyyyaaayyy” when it came to pedaling technical rocks.

Around the time I was flailing all over trails, a friend reached out wanting to go on a bikepacking trip. My initial reaction was (and usually always is) “Hell yeah!” and then it slowly turned into “Hell no” because I remembered I didn’t actually have the capacity. My tokens were spent. But then this weird thing happened where I couldn’t think about anything without also thinking about bikepacking routes: “I really need to go to the grocery store … I wonder if anyone I know has looped that route in Utah.”  Monkey brain.

I found myself staring into the glow of my phone

late at night, while work emails pinged in, searching for a route my friend and I could do that would be challenging, but not too challenging. Hard, but not too hard. I wanted to pack for an awesome adventure, to plan an amazing bikepacking trip, but like, not too big and not too much planning.

I had a few weeks before my surgery, which would knock me off my bike for more than a month, so I finally said “Hell yeah … let’s go big!” But like, a medium amount. You know?

I whiplashed the hell out of my friend. I would text her bikepacking routes at 10 p.m. that were 180 miles, riding five days four nights, where we had to drive six hours and stash water along the route just to make sure we didn’t get dehydrated. Then the next day, I’d send her a route that was almost in our back yard and asked if she wanted me to look for an Airbnb so we could hang and chill.

Bless her heart, what a saint to hop on with whatever I threw at her.

I finally settled on a route another friend sent me that looked like a chill two-day, one-night out-andback not too far from town. The route went along a

The author smiling in the sunshine, in an attempt to thrive in the chaos./Courtesy photo

river, so we didn’t have to worry much about water, and it was on a dirt road surrounded by BLM, so it wouldn’t be technical, and there would be plenty of places to camp. We could go as far or as close as we wanted, and this, to me, sounded perfect.

We got a little bit of a late start the day of and began pedaling in the heat of the afternoon. The first few miles were heavy, with long, 8%-grade descents on rutted, loose gravel roads. My lightweight mountain bike was fully loaded, and it was top heavy. When I hit a bump wrong, I fishtailed and slid all over the place. That made me nervous, and so when I stood at the top of some of those hills, I looked at them the same way I did at a scary technical descent: shaky and nervous with the distinct feeling I was going to go over my handlebars at any second. It took longer than it should have to make my way down the dirt road, so for the rest of the ride, my brave tank felt low.

I just couldn’t pull myself together and, while I was still having fun, I couldn’t seem to fully relax. My shoulders were tense, my brain was wondering if I’d packed the ingredients for a flat tire, and I couldn’t move my bike the way that feels natural or effective; the way I know riding a bike usually and should feel.

When we got to camp, we made dinner, laughed about life, looked at the stars and went to sleep. The wind started almost the instant my eyelids became heavy and I clicked off my headlamp. My tent walls started to flap violently in the gusts and as I tried to count sheep to fall asleep, I instead counted images of my bike being tossed by the wind into a tree.

There goes one bike, there goes two bags, there goes three socks.

The wind never relented and by the time the sun came up, my rainfly had become unhinged from its stakes, and everything in camp was covered in red dirt. Luckily our bikes were still intact, and we didn’t lose any gear, but that was the only gift the wind gave us.

We ate breakfast, packed up our bikes, turned around and headed back toward the starting line, but this time with a headwind.

Who knows … maybe 50-, 60-mph head- and crosswinds pushed us backward and sideways. I would be riding in a straight line, and then suddenly, my bike would be pointed up the mountain and toppling back down. When we rode across a long flat field, I tried my hardest to stay on course and – blast – got knocked over as if I was hit with an arrow. Fully flat on the ground, lying in a field of cactus.

We couldn’t help but laugh even though hurricanelike winds were blowing in our faces while we were forced to hike our bikes on flat terrain just so we wouldn’t get knocked over. Or, at the very least, so we could move forward.

A couple miles into the ordeal, a weird thing happened. I finally started to feel normal on my bike again. I was finally getting my brave legs back – maybe because of the laughing or the adrenaline. Or maybe I just thrive in chaos, but, as the wind lashed around us, my shoulders relaxed and all my requirements for being brave at business meetings, at doctors’ appointments, on first dates just sort of went away, and I remembered how to ride my bike again. I hit the steeper techy spots with more ease, and I climbed the big hills like I usually do; steam engine, full-speed ahead. When the wind gusted in my face, I pedaled

harder. When it started raining, it made me more excited. The more challenging the ride got, the more maniacal my laughter became, and the harder I pushed. There were butterflies in my stomach, my stoke had returned, and the brave tokens were back in my pocket, and I was ready to keep going forward. ■

Thursday09

Durango Trailwork on Skyline Trail, 8:3011:30 a.m., www.durangotrails.org

Live music by Tyler Simmons, 5-7 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

Book signing with Ruth Chou Simons, 5-7 p.m., Lively, 809 Main Ave.

Live music by Leah Orlikowski, 5-8 p.m., El Rancho Tavern, 975 Main Ave.

Live music by Tim Sullivan, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Bluegrass Jam, 6 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.

Live music Jeff Solon Jazz, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.

Live music by Andrew Schuhmann, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Author Event & Book Signing with Anne Hillerman “Lost Birds,” 6-8 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Trivia Night, 6:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1330 Camino del Rio

Merely Players presents “Chicago: A RazzleDazzle Musical,” 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.

DHS Troup 1096 presents “You Can’t Take it with You,” 7-9:30 p.m., Durango High School Auditorium, 2390 Main Ave.

MarchFourth with High Step Society, 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Drag Trivia Night, 7:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Friday10

Piano music by Gary B. Walker, 10:15 a.m.-12 noon, Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave.

Manna Garden Annual Plant Sale, 3-6 p.m., Manna, 1100 Avenida del Sol

Spring Gallery Walk - Durango Gallery Association, 4-7 p.m., downtown Durango

Live music Gary Watkins, 5-8 p.m., Weminuche Bar and Grill, 18044 Co Rd 501, Bayfield

Live music by Leah Orlikowski, 5-8 p.m., El Rancho Tavern, 975 Main Ave.

“Rust” an invitational exhibit opening reception, 5-9 p.m., Studio & Gallery, 1027 Main Ave.

Live music by Jack Ellis & Larry Carver, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Live music by Dustin Burley, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Live music Half-a-Shipwreck, 6:30 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.

Merely Players presents “Chicago: A RazzleDazzle Musical,” 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.

DHS Troup 1096 presents “You Can’t Take it With You,” 7-9:30 p.m., Durango High School Auditorium, 2390 Main Ave.

Aria PettyOne presents Aria’s Pizza Party, 8:30-9:30 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main Ave.

Fresh Baked Fridays: house, techno and electro, 9 p.m., Roxy’s, 639 Main Ave.

Saturday11

Durango Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-12 p.m., TBK Bank parking lot

Manna Garden Annual Plant Sale, 9 a.m-4 p.m., Manna, 1100 Avenida del Sol

History La Plata, Front Lines to Home Front –La Plata County and WWII, 1 p.m., Animas Museum classroom or via Zoom, animasmuseum.org/events

Bella Dance “Bella Danzante 16,” 4 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC

Adam Swanson plays Rragtime, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Karaoke, 6 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.

Community Yoga, 6-7 p.m., Yoga Durango, 1485 Florida Rd. Donations accepted

Live music by Matt Rupnow, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

The Black Velvet duo, with Nina Sasaki & Larry Carver, 6-9 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave.

Merely Players presents “Chicago: A RazzleDazzle Musical,” 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.

DHS Troup 1096 presents “You Can’t Take it With You,” 7-9:30 p.m., Durango High School Auditorium, 2390 Main Ave.

Silent Disco, 10 p.m.-12:30 a.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.

Sunday12

International Good Medicine Confluence: Natural Health & World ReEnvisioning, 8 a.m., Fort Lewis College

Manna Garden Annual Plant Sale, 9 a.m-12 p.m., Manna, 1100 Avenida del Sol

Mother’s Day Spring Fling, 12-6 p.m., Wines of the San Juan, 233 NM 511 Blanco, N.M.

Irish jam session, 12:30-3 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.

Mommy, Me & KitTEA Party, 1-3 p.m., Create Art & Tea, 1015 Main Ave.

Merely Players presents “Chicago: A RazzleDazzle Musical,” 2 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.

Durango Food Not Bombs mutual aid and potluck, 2-4 p.m., Buckley Park

Board Game Sundays, 2 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.

DHS Troup 1096 presents “You Can’t Take It with You,” 2-4:30 p.m., Durango High School Auditorium, 2390 Main Ave.

Mothers Day Wine Experience Soiree and For Love & Babes fundraiser, 3-5 p.m., Primi Pasta & Wine Bar, 1201 Main Ave.

San Juan Symphony Chamber Singers: “Sunrise: Music for Mother’s Day,” 3 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 E. 3rd Ave.

Durango Palestine Solidarity Rally, 4 p.m., Buckley Park, 12th St. and Main Ave.

Live music by Snowy Plovers, 5-7 p.m., Fenceline Cider, 141 S. Main St., Mancos

Sunday Funday, 6 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Live music by José Villarreal, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Blue Moon Ramblers, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Salsa Night, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Roxy’s, 639 Main Ave.

Monday13

International Good Medicine ConfluenceNatural Health & World ReEnvisioning, 8 a.m., Fort Lewis College

Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

AskRachel

Unchained, paying it forward and missing link

Interesting fact: The Selective Service is not, in fact, related to the Secret Service, no matter how many times I google the latter looking for the former to make sure I have my facts straight.

Dear Rachel,

My kid is a cyclist. For the last decade or so, we’ve done the whole Iron Horse shebang over Memorial Day. Well now my kid has moved out and moved on, and so I’m realizing that I have the holiday weekend to myself for the first time since the Obama administration. Where should I go? Get the hell out of Dodge? Or hit up some local spot that everyone else ignores?

- Freewheeling

Dear Unchained,

Taking off the training wheels. Alright! Time for you to cut loose and let go of those handlebars. Cut your… gear teeth?... OK, the bicycle metaphors are running thin. But I celebrate you and your newfound childlessness. What freedom. What liberty! I recommend going somewhere, anywhere, where no one will ask you about your kids, or your lack of grandkids. Like a silent retreat in Tibet or something.

– Shhh, Rachel

Dear Rachel,

One of my do-gooder friends is always telling me I should pay in cash at local businesses. They get to keep more money (no

Comedy Showcase, 7:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Live music by Devin Scott, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Tuesday14

Economic Development Alliance Meeting, 8-9 a.m., Center for Innovation, 835 Main Ave., Suite 225

Community Yoga, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Yoga Durango, 1485 Florida Rd. Donations accepted

Live music by Jason Thies, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Living with dementia, presented by Kim Martin and Kimberly Schooley, Rotary Club of Durango, 6 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.

Live music with The Black Velvet duo, Nina Sasaki & Larry Carver, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s, 725 E. 2nd Ave.

Live music by Randy Crumbaugh, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Open Mic Night, 7 p.m., Starlight, 937 Main Ave.

credit card fees) and this helps keep prices down. But this ignores the fact that I am broke and most of my purchases go on the credit card for Future Me to pay off. It’s credit card now, or nothing. How do I clam her up so I can enjoy my local latte in peace?

Dear Charge Account,

– Card-Carrying Member

I know, I KNOW, cash is better for the little people. Mostly because it helps them evade paying taxes. But cards are just so damn easy to use. Me, I’m going to spend much, much more money with a card than when I pay with cash. Cash still makes me feel like a babysitting 14-year-old. I worked hard for that! Card is like, wheeee I’m metropolitan, spending big because I can, and I mean, they haven’t shut down my card yet, so they must like my accumulating late fees.

– Credit where it’s due, Rachel

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com

Dear Missing Link,

Dear Rachel,

How and why do I get so many LinkedIn invites? Especially because never have I ever had a LinkedIn. I’ve never gone to their website, I don’t have a network of professionals, and that is not where I need to go to connect with other seasonal outdoor job providers. It’s enough to make me want to cancel the Yahoo account I’ve had since middle school.

– LinkedOut

Wednesday15

Young Professionals of Durango Happy Hour, 57 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

Butterfly Artist Collective, 5:30-7 p.m., Create Art & Tea, 1015 Main Ave.

Word Honey Poetry Workshop, 6-7 p.m., The Hive, 1150 Main Ave.

Open Mic, 6:30 p.m., EsoTerra, 558 Main Ave.

Trivia Night, 7 p.m., Bottom Shelf Brewery, 118 Mill St., Bayfield

Blueprint aka Printmatic featuring DJ Detox & DJ Notion, 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E College Dr.

Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 8 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.

Karaoke Roulette, 8 p.m., Starlight, 937 Main Ave.

Ongoing

“Emergence,” exhibit by The Art Squirrels, thru midMay, Smiley Cafe Gallery, 1309 E. 3rd Ave.

Easy: You have an email address. Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, doesn’t matter. The moment you have an email address, you’re added to a great registry of possible network connections in some deep underground ice cave meant to keep the LinkedIn servers cool and collected. It’s compulsory, like signing up for the Selective Service (yay for being assigned female at birth) or total strangers assuming you either must have kids or must be desperately trying for them (boo for same). That’s a whole other kind of LinkedIn, though.

– Unprofessionally, Rachel

The artwork of Caryl Goode on display thru May, Create Art & Tea, 1015 Main Ave.

Upcoming

Merely Players presents “Chicago: A RazzleDazzle Musical,” May 16-18 at 7 p.m., and May 16 at 2 p.m. Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.

Ska-BQ Bluegrass Party, Thur., May 16, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

“Folsom ‘68,” a Johnny Cash Tribute, Thur., May 16, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC

Deadline to submit items for “Stuff to Do” is Monday at noon.

Please include:

• Date and time of event

• Location of event E-mail your stuff to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): When my friend Jessalyn first visited Disneyland as a child, she was smitten by its glimmering, unblemished mystery. “It was far more real than real,” she said. “A dream come true.” But after a few hours, her infatuation unraveled. She began to see through the luster. Waiting in long lines to go on the rides exhausted her. The mechanical elephant was broken. The food was unappetizing. The actor impersonating Mickey Mouse shucked his big mouse head and swilled a beer. The days ahead may have resemblances to Jessalyn’s awakening for you. This slow-motion jolt might vex you initially, although I believe it’s a healthy sign. It will lead to a cleansed perspective free of illusion and teeming with clarity.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Keizoku wa chikara nari is a Japanese proverb that means “To continue is power.” I propose you make that your motto for the next four weeks. Everything you need to happen and all the resources you need to attract it will come your way as long as your overarching intention is perseverance. This is always a key principle for you Tauruses, but especially now. If you can keep going, if you can overcome your urges to quit, you will gain a permanent invigoration of your willpower.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Do you believe there are divine beings, animal spirits and departed ancestors who are willing and able to help us? If not, you may want to skip this horoscope. I won’t be upset if you feel that way. But if you do harbor such views, as I do, I’m pleased to tell you that they will be extra available for you in the coming weeks. Remember one of the key rules about their behavior: They love to be asked for assistance; they adore it when you express your desires for them to bring you specific blessings and insights. Reach out, Gemini! Call on them.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I’m taking a gamble here as I advise you to experiment with the counsel of visionary poet and painter William Blake (1757–1825). It’s a gamble because I’m asking you to exert a measure of caution as you explore his daring, unruly advice. Be simultaneously prudent and ebullient. Be discerning and wild. Be watchful and experimental. Here are Blake’s directions: 1. The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom, for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough. 2. If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise. 3. The

pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. 4. No bird soars too high if it soars with its own wings. 5. Exuberance is beauty.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Cosmic energies are staging a big party in your astrological House of Ambition. It’s a great time to expand and intensify your concepts of what you want to accomplish with your one wild and precious life. You will attract unexpected help as you shed your inhibitions about asking for what you really want. Life will benevolently conspire on your behalf as you dare to get bolder in defining your highest goals. Be audacious, brazen, brave and brilliant! I predict you will be gifted with lucid intuitions about how best to channel your drive. You will get feelers from influential people who can help you in your quest. (PS: The phrase “your one wild and precious life” comes from poet Mary Oliver.)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Is it possible to be too smart for your own good? Maybe, although that won’t be a problem for you anytime soon. However, you may temporarily be too smart for some people who are fixated on conventional and simplistic solutions. You could be too brilliant for those who wallow in fear or regard cynicism as a sign of intelligence. But I will not advise you to dumb yourself down. Instead, be crafty and circumspect. Act agreeable and humble, even as you plot behind the scenes to turn everything upsidedown – by which I mean, make it work with more grace and benefit for everyone concerned.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In my fairy tale about your life in coming weeks, you will transform from a crafty sleuth to an eager explorer. You will finish your wrestling matches with tricky angels and wander off to consort with big thinkers and deep feelers. You will finish your yeoman attempts to keep everyone happy in the human zoo and instead indulge your sacred longings for liberation and experimentation. In this fairy tale of your life, I will be your benefactor and unleash a steady stream of prayers to bless you with blithe zeal as you relish every heart-opening, brain-cleansing moment.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the coming months, I will encourage you to keep deepening and refining the art of intimacy. I will rejoice as you learn more about how to feel close to people you care for and how to creatively deal with challenges you encounter in your quest. I will also cheer you on whenever you

dream up innovations to propitiate togetherness. If you do all I’m describing, your identity will come into brighter focus. You will know who you are with greater accuracy. Get ready! The coming weeks will offer novel opportunities to make progress on these themes.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You could offer a workshop on the perks of wobbliness. Your anxious ruminations and worried fantasies are so colorful that I almost hesitate to tell you to stop. I’m wondering if this is one of those rare phases when you could take advantage of your so-called negative feelings. Is it possible that lurking just below your uneasiness are sensational revelations about a path to liberation? I’m guessing there are. To pluck these revelations, you must get to the core of the uneasiness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): During the last 11 months, life has offered you unprecedented opportunities to deepen and ripen your emotional intelligence. You have been vividly invited to grow your wisdom about how to manage and understand your feelings. I trust you have been capitalizing on these glorious teachings. I hope you have honed your skills at tapping into the power and insights provided by your heart and gut. There’s still more time to work on this project. In coming weeks, seek breakthroughs that will climax your destiny.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau declared, “We need the tonic of wildness.” In my view, Aquarians especially need this sweet, rugged healing power in the coming weeks. Borrowing more words from Thoreau, I urge you to exult in all that is mysterious, unsurveyed and unfathomable. Like Thoreau, I hope you will deepen your connection with the natural world. Share in his belief that “we must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day. We must take root.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I have four questions and homework assignments for you. 1. Is there a person in your inner circle who is close to ripening a latent talent that would benefit you? What can you do to assist them? 2. Is there a pending gift or legacy you have not yet claimed or activated? What would be a good first step to get it? 3. What half-dormant potency could you call on and use if you were more confident about it? I believe you now have the wherewithal to summon the confidence you need. 4. What wasteful habit could you replace with a positive new habit?

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon. Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.

(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)

Ads can be submitted via: n www.durangotelegraph.com

n classifieds@durango telegraph.com

n 970-259-0133

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Approximate office hours:

Mon-Wed: 9ish - 5ish

Thurs: On delivery

Fri: Gone fishing; call first

Announcements

2 New Local Offerings at Joy Rides

*Calm your mind by practicing mindfulness and meditation with the horses. Spring series starting in mid May. *Immerse yourself in the healing power of nature and animals on a 4-day guided llama trip this August. More info @ www.joyistheride.com, Trish @ 970-9467835 or joyrides.dgo@gmail.com

Ladies, Roe Overturned by you know who ... So! Overturn Viagra for MAGA supporters. Hello Don.

KDUR is Celebrating 50 years in 2025. Staff is on the hunt for past DJs who have a fond memory, story or even some recorded material! Please email station manager Bryant Liggett, Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu or call 970.247.7261

Wanted

Books Wanted at White Rabbit! Donate/trade/sell (970) 259-2213

Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970259-3494.

ForSale

Reruns Home Furnishings

Get ready for warm weather entertaining. Beautiful servingware, glassware and baskets. Patio sets, bistros, chaise lounges

and yard art. Also furniture, art, linens and other housewares. Looking to consign smaller furniture pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

ForRent

Durango Office Space Rental

Affordable co-working office space. Located near 11th Street, this office boasts abundant natural light and is furnished. Monthly pricing varies based on anticipated usage, $400 - $650. Please text or call Erica at 847-946-0898

BodyWork

Hair Sparkle

Sol Sparkle Hair Tinsel will be @ Animas Trading Sat 5/11 & Sat 6/1 from 14:00pm

Empower Yourself to Flourish!

Bring alignment to all aspects of your life. Remove blocks and interference ... physical, mental, emotional & chemical. Guidance and healing for creating more balance in your life. Dr. Erin 970-903-7176

Massage by Meg Bush

LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.

Lotus Path Healing Arts

Offering a unique, intuitive fusion of Esalen massage, deep tissue & Acutonics, 24 years of experience. To schedule call Kathryn, 970-201-3373.

Services

Lowest Prices on Storage!

Inside/outside storage near Durango and Bayfield. 10-x-20, $130. Outside

spots: $65, with discounts available. RJ Mini Storage. 970-259-3494.

Boiler Service - Water Heater

Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917

Electric Repair

Roof, gutter cleaning, fence, floors, walls, flood damage, mold, heating service.

CommunityService

Bring the World to Your Home

ASSE International Student Exchange Programs (ASSE), a nonprofit organiza-

‘The Bricklayer’ Twenty minutes in I found myself longing for a brick to the face

tion, is inviting local families to host a foreign exchange student. ASSE students come from more than  50 countries worldwide; are between the ages of 15-18; and are enthusiastic to experience American culture. Host families may be single parents, couples and single persons. The students have money for personal expenses and are selected based upon academics and personality, and host families  choose their student. If interested, call Elena at 1-800-733-2773, visit  www.asse.com or send an email to asseusawest@asse.com

The Maker Lab in Bodo Park Community-led nonprofit provides collaborative workspace, tools, learning opportunities and equipment featuring metal and woodworking, laser cutting, 3D printing, electronics and sewing. Classes for all levels. To join or learn more, go to  www.themakerlab.org or email info@themakerlab.org

“I saw it in the Telegraph.” Read by thousands of discerning eyeballs every week.

(*And a few that just look at the pictures.)

– Lainie Maxson