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LIME CREEK ODYSSEY
STEVEN J. MEYERS
Text and cover photograph © 1989, 2016 by Steven J. Meyers
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
Lime Creek Odyssey was first published in the United States by Fulcrum, Inc., Golden, Colorado, in 1989. Published by WestWinds Press, an imprint of Graphic Arts Books, in 2016 with new typography and design but without the portfolio of photographs.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meyers, Steven J.
Lime Creek odyssey / Steven J. Meyers.
pages cm
“First published in the United States by Fulcrum, Inc., Golden, Colorado, in 1989”—Title page verso.
ISBN 978-0-87108-325-8 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-87108-326-5 (e-book)
ISBN: 978-0-87108-327-2 (hardbound)
1. Natural history—Colorado—Lime Creek Region. 2. Lime Creek Region (Colo.)—Description and travel. 3. Lime Creek Region (Colo.)—Environmental conditions. 4. Nature—Effect of human beings on—Colorado—Lime Creek Region. 5. Meyers, Steven J.—Travel—Colorado—Lime Creek Region. 6. Meyers, Steven J.—Philosophy. 7. Philosophy of nature. I. Title.
QH105.C6M47 2016
508.788’38—dc23
2015034594
Designed by Vicki Knapton
WestWinds Press®
An imprint of
P.O. Box 56118
Portland, OR 97238-6118
(503) 254-5591
For K. B.
CONTENTS
Preface to the WestWinds Press Edition
OF MEATBALLS, SWISS CHEESE, AND SPONGES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The writing of a book is no simple thing, and often it seems that it is as difficult to properly thank all of those whose contributions have made a book possible as it is to write the book itself.
A book like this one that is an amalgam of memoir and essay belongs as much to those whose lives have intersected with the author’s as it belongs to the author himself, and each is deserving of recognition and gratitude. If I were to attempt such recognition here, if I were to do so as thoroughly as the circumstances that allowed this book to come into being require, I fear this acknowledgment would be as long as the book itself! I cannot name you all, but I will begin by expressing my gratitude to all who have made both the book and the odyssey the book attempts to portray possible. You know who you are. I am deeply indebted to you for your contributions both to this book and to my life.
A few, however, whose contributions to the book are truly great, must be named. Not to do so would be unthinkable. First, I must express my gratitude to Karen Boucher to whom this book is dedicated. It was her finding me and joining her life with mine here in the heart of the San Juan Mountains, her unbounded joy in the presence of this very special place that contributed most to my understanding of what it means to commit to, to make a home in, to truly dwell in place.
My love and partner for the past twenty-eight years, Debbie Meyers, embodies the rebirth wished for after the often terribly dark, cold winter of Karen’s passing—the new season of spring anticipated more in hope than in actuality at the time the Epilogue to the first edition of this book was written. Debbie is that hoped for rebirth, the warm, green spring of new life that has, indeed, come again.
And finally I must thank the staff at WestWinds Press, my editor Kathy Howard, and most especially Douglas Pfeiffer. All I have dealt with at WestWinds have been gracious, supportive, and hugely capable. It is their talent and expertise that have brought this little book back into print. It was Doug’s desire to see it in print again, his efforts to secure the rights for a new edition, his gentle guidance and encouragement that have made this book possible. For the arrival of this new edition of Lime Creek Odyssey I am forever indebted to him and hugely grateful.
PREFACE TO THE WESTWINDS PRESS EDITION
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
—HERACLITUS
In 1986, when the first chapters of this book were being written, Lime Creek appeared almost exactly as it does today. A few major avalanche cycles after particularly heavy winter storms have taken down slopes covered with trees and opened up hillsides here and there that were once densely forested. Young spruce and fir growing in the protective shadow of mature aspen that had risen from the charred forest floor in the aftermath of the great Lime Creek Burn of 1879 are now beginning to overshadow and will one day replace those aspen