Of Raptors and Rapture - Barn Again

Dateline: Lyons, CO

The Colorado Tour

The harbingers of winter (read: Snow and Ice!) are making us keenly aware that our Colorado sojourn as Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers is drawing to a close, and that it's time to head for the barn once more. We reflected on this year's Colorado Tour as we hiked local landmark, Rabbit Mountain, a critical raptor nesting ground and cultural crossroads near Lyons, Colorado. We can't help but feel fortunate for the opportunity to experience the rich diversity of people and places we've encountered along the way. For the past six weeks, we've lived a nomadic life, sleeping in our tent by night and delivering Leave No Trace workshops and outreach by day. Throughout our 36 events and nearly four thousand-mile perambulation of the great state of Colorado, we've been enraptured by the state's wide variety of natural and cultural resource treasures, and equally impressed by the love and appreciation that Coloradans hold for this precious heritage.

Rabbit Mountain - enraptured beneath the raptors!

As we lead our trusty Colorado Tour Subaru into the barn for the winter, we're hoping that this is but another episode in our Leave No Trace travels, and that we will meet you yet down our nomadic trail, perhaps in another clime and another season, seeking to Leave No Trace as the story continues...

Special thanks go to Xcel Energy for supporting the 2011 Colorado Tour, and additionally to Coleman, Inc. and Subaru of America who continue to be dedicated champions for the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Program and the Center for Outdoor Ethics. Of course, incalculable thanks go to our Traveling Team colleagues and the extraordinary folks at the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics for their dedication, support, and joie de vivre.

...along the Colorado Trail,

Peggy and Barrett