Historical Posts representing Adventure Continues: Second Quarter

On New Year’s Eve, 1975, I was partying hard with my college friend, Jeff, in Aspen Colorado. Jeff and I decided to drive out for a Colorado Ski adventure in my 73 VW Bug. We had no real agenda other than to ski and party. It was a successful trip. I guess you could say that Skiing and Colorado captured my attention and motivation for future adventures. The stage was set for an incredibly important year in my life.

When I think of 1976 my thoughts are dominated by my Indiana Hoosiers Basketball Team that went undefeated winning the NCAA National Championship. I was a senior at Indiana University in Bloomington totally absorbed as a student fan of the greatest College Basketball team of all time. This team so deserved to win it all with an undefeated record because the previous year’s team would have accomplished that goal if Scott May had not broken his arm. I can’t remember where I watched the championship game but I do remember immediately heading to downtown Bloomington to celebrate the victory with thousands of other Hoosier fans. So 76 has always been etched into my profile and is most commonly reflected in my username/email address, ghsmith76.

1976 was about so much more the college basketball, that Spring during my final semester at Indiana I was riding on my fraternity’s Little 500 bike team until a hernia ended that biking career. I dropped some tough classes allowing for a light load which was conducive for serious partying. I had no idea what I was going to do after college, but I prolonged that decision a bit by coming up 6 hours short of qualifying for graduation. I even checked out the Nuclear Navy Program, but failed the physical due to being color blind. But life was good, I was ready for the adventure to begin.

I did get that hernia taken care of and I was starting to consider job options when my mother alerted me to an opportunity for a Presbyterian Missionary summer assignment to work at the House of Neighborly Service in Brighton, CO.

The job was to help run the Day Care Center which served the children of the Chicano migrant workers in the area. Probably all that mattered to me was this opportunity provided a way to relocate to Colorado. It sure did seem like a great adventure.

I had no clue about the social issues surrounding Mexican migrant farm workers, but I would definitely learn. I was one of 4 recent college graduates who answered the call and thankfully one of us was a local girl of Mexican heritage. I learned a lot about what I represented to this Chicano community. We also got to take advantage of weekends in the Rockies

To the families of these children, especially older brothers, I was a gringo or honky and I did not know why. I suppose I did some good for that community, but frankly I was mostly focused on being in Colorado.

My initial plan was to enroll at the Colorado School of Mines in order to get those needed 6 hours but also to explore an engineering curriculum, something that was unavailable to me at Indiana. So I went to Golden and spoke with the admissions folks, and found that all was good if I wanted to enroll. Then I found out there were only 6 female students in the entire university. After a brief evaluation of my options, I decided to explore engineering up in Boulder at the University of Colorado, however, this would have to wait a year until I could qualify for in state tuition. So, I was looking at a year living in Colorado. The Adventure had truly begun.

My commitment to the House of Neighborly Service was ending but I had this idea about how cool it would be to spend the night in the mountains, voila, backpacking.

One of the girls I volunteered with who was from Ohio agreed to this venture and we were able to acquire the basic backpackers needs. We didn’t really know where we were going but I knew that there must be a good spot up toward Rollins Pass. All was going well, we hiked down to a small lake, setup our tent, and started warming our dinner over a sterno fire. On that night, July 31, 1976, the skies opened up nearby at the Big Thompson Canyon, setting off the deadliest natural disaster in Colorado history. We survived that stormy night with no clue about how lucky we were. We were camping high enough to avoid the heavy runoff. The next day as we were redirected to drive back to Boulder via Denver, we turned on the radio to hear of the disaster that claimed 144 lives.

The aftermath of the disaster was centered in the town of Lyons just up the road from Boulder. I could not help from being drawn into the sadness that permeated the region, but I’m not really sure how it affected me. Shock and amazement about how quickly your life could be taken. Serious respect for understanding weather. Maybe it was just my initiation to my new life away from Indiana. Colorado was home for the next 11 years and it played a significant role in fulfilling my passion search of my 2nd Quarter.

In recent years I have returned to backpack in the Colorado Rockies and the connection is still strong.

Next Post: Rabbit Ears Lodge

My missionary job was ending and I needed a job. Lucky for me the Adventure Continued with the opportunity to be the maintenance man for the beautiful Rabbit Ears Lodge located between Kremling and Steamboat Springs, Colorado.