kilian wrote:MUni Rider wrote:I fully expect to see a corespondent with the Colbert Report or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart do a story on the town of Crestone very very soon. Seriously. It would not suprise me at all! This has been on the home page of Colorado Gazette.com and who knows where else, so the story is spreading. I hope to see you on Comedy Central soon.
Hahaha +1.... i could definitely see that, and i would enjoy watching that episode. Is there a suggestion page on their website?
I can already picture the graphic: Kit Carson, the man, on a horse, on a mountain. The good people of Crestone, with Keno as their leader, lie far below. They're all looking up at the horse - and straight into his mouth. He has a big red bow tied around him. In case I'm moving too fast for anyone... Google the phrase "looking a gift horse in the mouth."
These folks have one of the prized Colorado 14ers as their centerpiece and they want to change the name. They may want to visit Colorado Springs, home of another prized 14er, Pikes Peak. Also home to Pikes Perk (the coffee shop), Pikes Peak Museum, Pikes Peak Alternative Health & Wellness, Pikes Peak Chocolate, Pikes Peak Gay & Lesbian Community Center, Pike City Motors, and two more pages in the phone book of all things "Pike."
Colorado Springs, where:
- (a) Tax revenue from tourism accounts for 25% of the City’s annual budget
(b) Over 4.7 million visitors travel each year and spend close to $1 billion
(c) Tourism is the 3rd largest employer, providing over 16,000 jobs to residents
And while old Zebulon may not be as notorious as your peak's namesake Kit, he certainly has his blemishes by today's standards, leading troops into battle after bloody battle and accounting for the deaths of many good people with good intentions of protecting their own lands, their own beliefs, and perhaps even using his "explorer" status to cover for a rumored career as a government spy, covertly infiltrating Spanish territory. Hero, or criminal? I don't mean to trivialize *at all* the atrocities of war committed by Kit Carson, but I also don't see how they're any different than any other "war hero." This is true of all war heroes, all war criminals. War is ugly and there's no nice way to go about it. People suffer and die. Other people cause the suffering and the dying. It's unconscionable that in this day and age, with all our technology and wisdom, that we haven't discovered a way around it - killing each other. He, like so many other soldiers of the day, so many soldiers
today, was doing his job.
This isn't a political battle - conservatives versus liberals - so I wish the Gazette hadn't used that terminology in their report (although I am happy they gave this story some publicity and perhaps prevented the petition from surreptitiously making its way through to approval).
I want the name left as it is... yet I'm the biggest flaming liberal you'll ever meet, and an atheist to boot! So I don't believe the peak, or the town, is inhabited by God, or gods, or goddesses, fairies or elves, or any other magical, mystical creatures that might be causing a "bad vibe" in the village. And I certainly don't think the name had anything at all to do with any of the accidents up there.
I guess what really irks me about all this is that I have a lot of good memories attached to that peak - we probably all do - and I don't understand how someone can just come along and change the peak I know, the peak where those memories were born, to something else - especially something as lame as "Tranquility Peak." That name means nothing to me. It was thrown out there by a marketing guy who moved into town a few years ago and has no connection at all to that mountain, other than trying to capitalize on a snafu in some documentation from many years ago. And he's somehow convinced the townspeople, and the local government, that this is a good idea. From a marketing standpoint alone, how is this a good idea? And since when did newspaper reporters create news, rather than report it?
My first trip up Kit Carson was difficult. I packed in up to the lake in a downpour and set up camp for the night, and made my summit bid the next day. I met a lot of folks that day - "Aubrey" and "Jen," "Jamies" Nellis and Princo, "ctfbq" (Patrick) and his daughter. I summited in a dense fog... but it was wonderful, and I was so happy to make it first to Challenger, and then on to Kit Carson, one of the peaks I had actually been dreading, due to its dangerous reputation. We got off safely with minor casualties - a few toenails, from what I recall - and packed out. It was a long walk, all the way off that peak, and down that trail, all the way to the bottom of the road. I was exhausted, and moving slowly, till I spotted some mountain lion tracks in the fresh mud - that sure put a spring in my step!
The second time I went up there was for Point 13,541. It was a wonderful scramble of a peak, and there weren't many names on that register - Gerry Roach's was the last entry, and he had been up there a month ago! The views over to Kit Carson were pretty spectacular - we could see people going up the Outward Bound and Kirk Couloirs, even so late in the season, mid-July.
The third time I was after Point 13,580. It was my hiking partner's 100th and final peak in finishing all the ranked peaks in Custer county, so were both pretty excited. We met a few folks on the trail, including "anasarca," "Papillon," and "Wooderson." After getting that peak my partner went on to do another 13er, while I found a big flat rock, and took a nap. It was a good day, sleeping there on that rock, in the sunshine, surrounded by old friends Kit Carson and Challenger, after seeing my buddy make one of his goals.
Really, folks. Don't change the name. You will regret it. That's not a threat, but some good, heartfelt advice from someone who's been in the marketing business for a very long time. And has seen plenty of folks get duped into making dumb decisions due to the influence of a clever but misleading marketing campaign.
Don't change the name. Don't try to bury your history. Don't deny the accomplishments of a man who can be seen as both a war hero and war criminal, depending on whose side you're on.
Don't listen to the words of someone who came to your community eight short years ago, stumbled on an interesting bit of historical trivia, and is trying to make a name for himself off it. Don't close your doors to the thousands of hikers that visit the many 13ers and 14ers on your doorstep every year, and who would appreciate a friendly place to gas up, eat up, and lay their heads for a night or two. Don't send them down the road, to Salida, or Buena Vista, Woodland Park or Florence. And don't... well, you know. I already drew a picture for you.
Give me a break! If the biggest problem in your world is the name of a rock in your backyard, then you must lead a very charmed life. You can just feel free to call it Crestone or anything else your little heart desires while putzing about the town. How does having the mountain referred to as Kit Carson by everyone else really affect you? Almost as much as a a 3rd grader calling another 3rd grader a poopy-head. 
This has been on the home page of Colorado Gazette.com and who knows where else, so the story is spreading. I hope to see you on Comedy Central soon.
