LONGMONT - Among many things, the Centennial State is renowned for its music scene and delicious beer. With an abundance of craft breweries, I questioned what made Bootstrap more special than the other million Colorado breweries. This is...
COAL CREEK -- Conductor Brad Swartzwelter’s primary interest has always been trains, even from before he can remember. When he was around two years old, his mother took him on a train ride from Denver to Ottumwa, Iowa. While he does not remember the trip, his mother says he enjoyed it greatly. As a kid, Swartzwelter’s interest in trains only grew. As many kids do, he played with a train set and, further encouraging his interest, his parents would stop the car whenever they drove by a train so that he could watch it.
MT. BLUE SKY - 30 years ago when I first arrived in Colorado I was introduced to an amazing and complex mathematical and visual phenomenon known as fractals. The very dear friend who made this introduction was mainly focused on the...
I get a bottle of water and I drink it down because I am thirsty I try to finish the whole thing because if I am to purchase water and create waste I want to at least use it up but there remains a bit left in the folds at the bottom of the...
NEDERLAND - In 1909 Nederland became, by far, the leading producer of Tungsten in the United States until 1918. The Nederland Tungsten District produced $23,000,0000 worth of tungsten from 1900-1945. Tungsten was needed for the high-speed steel...
June is Pride Month, a celebration of the progress toward LGBTQ+ rights and the marginalized communities that fight for them in order to live as their true selves. As LGBTQ+ topics once again find themselves at the center of politics, Pride this...
Peak to Peak - When I got home from my lunch date with my friend DB, I sat on my deck. After spending a few moments with the hummingbirds, I cleaned and organized the cabin, making room for my beloved’s belongings. A few weeks later, my annoying...
One hundred and sixty-six years ago, the first gold vein was discovered in the Rocky Mountains east of what would become Central City on May 6, 1859. John H. Gregory was an experienced miner who had learned how to prospect for gold in Georgia in...
TUNGSTEN VALLEY - Our weather and climate situation can sometimes, perhaps, feel like too much to bear. As we obsessively monitor temperature, humidity, and wind speed here in the Peak to Peak, here’s some comic relief. It’s a true story...
it’s so strange to be somewhere without you because so much of me now is defined by us is defined by what we do by what you’ve taught me by how we’ve grown together what I want to eat how I sleep what I do when I wake how I walk it’s all been made...
The glorious golden gateway to summer opens with the solstice. This elegant gateway to paradise in the mountains is the start of the astrological sign of Cancer, the archetypal mother goddess, one of the four great turning points of the year,...
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK - As we get closer to summer, we are starting to see more of this year’s newest additions to the wild kingdom. Foxes and coyotes have already brought their litters into the world, and in another month or so the kits...
After mainly performing in Denver, this Christian metalcore band hopes to expand its reach into the mountains!
PEAK TO PEAK - In October of 2024 I wrote a piece for my column titled You Should Buy a Gun. (https://www.themtnear.com/stories/diversions-you-should-buy-a-gun,20891) I suggested three reasons to buy a gun. The first was to send a message to MAGA...
NEDERLAND - As school lets out and backpacks get shoved into closets for a well-earned break, many parents start thinking about sunscreen, camping trips, and late bedtimes. But there’s something else worth packing for summer adventures: your...
in almost every conversation I’ve had with people around town over the last week there’s been mention of the rain everyone is complaining about the weather saying they wish for sun they wish for heat they are tired of the clouds and the...
TUNGSTEN VALLEY - Last month we tackled the Case of the Red-Light Desert UFO, where a pulsating red glow lit up the site of a then-secret California desert stealth-plane radar test range all night, terrorizing the range’s lone security person. The...
After I returned home from Hygiene, Colorado, I spent time self-reflecting and contemplating the ways I could find true happiness once again. I considered the red string theory, a theory that suggests there's an invisible red thread connecting...
there’s some program in which chosen poets have a chance to write a poem that is engraved on a rocket or some such space faring thing and is sent into the sky beyond our planet to float in the blackness and one day perhaps be read by alien eyes or...
NEDERLAND - In the cozy mountain town of Nederland, Colorado, where the winds carry stories and snow, a group of parents and caregivers spent this school year doing something powerful: learning how to raise emotionally intelligent children...