The following article is the second in our year-long series of articles supporting ATRA’s 2024 theme: Better Together. This installment was written by Boulder-based trail runner and gardener Janelle Lincks who is sponsored by Satisfy Running.
My first trail run began one early Sunday morning in Boulder, Colorado. My college team had piled into a van to make our way from Denver to our long run destination. On the way a teammate excitedly described passageways through giant boulders, trails winding through trees and a river roaring down a beautiful canyon. “Like Fern Gulley or something like that,” she said through a beaming smile.
A wooden sign stood at the entrance to the trail and read, ‘Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.’ I looked out in disappointment at an underwhelming lot at the bottom of a grassy hill. However, ascending said hill I was taken aback by the sprawling expanse of prairie rolling up to forested mesas that unfurled ever upward to steep summits.
On the trails in Boulder. Photo: Bailey Kowalczyk
Connecting to nature
This felt different than the cross country courses I had run, the hikes I had been on in the mountains. There was a continuity here that had been lacking in those sporadic and isolated instances of nature I had known. The grassland reminded me of the open space that had surrounded my childhood home before the insatiable appetite of suburban development just about swallowed it whole. It felt connected to the nature preserve that remained the final vestige of that rural prairie that was formerly my hometown.
My teammate, who had grown up in south Denver, explained that her high school cross country coach had taken the team here for weekend runs. I later learned that these weekend excursions to the trails in Boulder were the only experiences she had in nature, being otherwise limited to the concrete jungle she called home.
I’ll never forget her excitement every time we ran that trail. Nor will I forget the powerful feeling of connection to something I didn’t know I missed so much. That run we managed to get lost on a loop trail, made an unnecessarily dramatic creek crossing and I fell down a few times and tore through five layers of leggings. My teammate helped me up and both of us laughed harder with each clumsy tumble. By the time we returned to Denver we enjoyed our post-run breakfast burritos with the savor of intrepid travelers returning from a daunting adventure in the wilderness. A teammate became a best friend.
Better Together in Boulder. Photo: Bailey Kowalczyk
Inspired by community
Who do I have to thank for that morning? Our coach for taking us there? My friend for guiding me? Everyone in my life that ever encouraged me to run? The sun and the moon for holding such a beautiful planet as ours in existence? The answer, all of this and more. But, the lasting impact of that day is the strength and joy that community inspires and how an open, natural space fosters that community.
Plants and animals form lively ecosystems when nature is left untrammeled and connected. The harmony that arises from these natural communities undoubtedly strengthens the sense of community between the people that explore them. The sheer existence of open space offers access to almost everyone for connecting with nature and with each other. And the existence of the open space and trails that have allowed me to experience such powerful connections was made possible by a community who came together over their shared connection to that land.
Open space preservation is a goal in Boulder. Photo: Ryan Lawrence Photography
Preserving open space
Between 1950 and 1970 Boulder’s population more than tripled from 20,000 to just under 70,000 residents. Fearing the industry and development consuming natural areas in other parts of the country, citizens enacted groundbreaking legislation in the 60s and 70s to protect open space. In 1959, People’s League for Action Now (PLAN)–Boulder County formed, a group of citizens determined to protect the scenic spaces of Boulder. PLAN successfully campaigned for the “Blue Line Amendment” which prohibits city water service above a certain elevation and helped establish both Boulder’s Parks and Recreation department as well as the Open Space program. It is one of the first urban planning committees in the country that focused its energy on the protection and preservation of natural spaces.
In 1964, residents organized to protest the development of a luxury hotel on Enchanted Mesa. After the city condemned the land and put it up for sale Boulderites raised small donations from the community to post the purchase price. Bill Briggs, a lifelong explorer of the mountains and open space of Boulder, recalls the energy of the city after the community purchased Enchanted Mesa, “People felt that they had really saved something important to everyone. It was the beginning of everyone becoming involved with what happened to Boulder.”
Building on the momentum, Boulder citizens voted for a 0.4 of a cent sales tax specifically for purchasing and maintaining open space, the first piece of legislation of its kind to pass in U.S history. In 1973, residents called for the creation of an Open Space Department focused on acquiring and maintaining natural land. “I remember feeling immensely grateful,” Briggs expressed, “And still, every day I get out on the trails here I’m grateful.”
The collective effort of the community of Boulder during these decades has given us the 45,000 acres of open space that we can enjoy and explore today.
Lincks and Briggs in front of Chautaqua Dining Hall.
Advocate Bill Briggs
Briggs grew up as a climber, but as the trails developed in Boulder, he and his friends took to trail running. Before the Mesa trail was built he remembers the arduous trek bushwhacking south toward Eldorado Canyon. The development of trails made the area accessible to people.
Briggs recalls the disbelief some of his friends felt when he first took them along for a hike or run on the Mesa trail, “People couldn’t believe something like this existed.” And right in their backyard at that.
Boulder had long and storied history as a running community, but it was predominantly on the track and the roads. The budding trail system brought together climbers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts alike. Group runs started becoming more regular on the trails and there were even underground races organized by word of mouth.
“The development of the trail system around Boulder was a big part of making trail running visible and developing a community around it,” Bill reflects, “Trail running was non-existent in Boulder before that. The community of trail running grew right alongside the development of the trails.”
Briggs still lives in Boulder and enjoys daily hikes and runs on the trails there. I met him when I worked at Chautauqua and we hit it off talking about trails in the area. He shared info with me on trails I didn’t know about and even gave me a map to help guide a long run in an area I wanted to check out.
L-R: Allie McLaughlin, Lincks, Sam Lewis, Ashley Brasovan at the 2021 USATF Trail Marathon Championships.
Better Together: Shared experiences
I had long felt a strong sense of connection to the nature surrounding Boulder, but hearing his stories and connecting with Briggs, I felt like a part of a tradition of trail running in the area. I remember heading up for solo runs on the trails before work, the air cold and the forest cast dark blue in twilight, feeling the sort of melancholy and uncertainty that can arise when you wonder why you left your warm bed so early to run alone in the dark. Often I’d see Briggs out there hiking with his lab Clancy, two figures climbing toward the towering Flatirons. His words of encouragement made it make sense, brightening my day before the sun.
In Boulder, a strong community protected the natural areas that would in turn maintain and cultivate community for decades. Access to the trail system in Boulder gave a young runner from the city an outlet she could not find in the glass and concrete surrounding her home. It gave me a connection to a rural prairie that disappeared around my home as I grew older. It protected and expanded the stomping grounds of a climber turned runner and lifelong explorer of its endless miles. It gave us a place to explore, to connect with ourselves and with each other. By sharing experiences on the trails together and the visions and values they inspire we can act to change the future, keeping the possibilities inherent to the wild world open for generations to come.
Janelle Lincks in her element racing on the trails.
Resources
For more about open space in Boulder, visit PLAN Boulder County, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, ‘A Look Back at Boulder’s Open Space’ Elevation Credit Union, and this article. Read Janelle Lincks’ article about Overcoming Self Doubt.
