By Hal Walter

I can distinctly remember the last time I fired a gun. Last summer we had a cow that had been sick for several months, and despite ongoing veterinary care, her condition was worsening. Finally, we made the decision to donate her carcass to the local wolf sanctuary, and I had to put her down.

A single gunshot was the most humane and effective method. Cattle are fearful of strangers, and a lethal injection would have rendered the meat inedible by the wolves.

Later in the fall I took my rifle out into the field in search of wild game but never fired a shot.

This is all to say that I am a gun owner and have been for many years. I received my first .22 caliber rifle at the age of 12 after completing a hunter safety course. Though not very versatile (there’s an old ranching joke that “if you cain’t do it with fencin’ pliers it probably don’t need doin’”), a firearm occupies that odd space between lethal tool and recreational equipment. Between rights and personal responsibilities. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
Of all the holidays, Halloween is the one festivity that seems to turn out the entire Westcliffe community.

If it’s a school day the kids strike out as soon as the bell rings at 4 p.m., swarming in costume, many with parents in tow, to the downtown business district. Some of the adults wear costumes as well.

It amounts to a street party as the kids trick-or-treat the various shops and restaurants in the golden sunlight. For the grown-ups it’s a chance to socialize, and take time to actually talk with people you often only share waves with on the highway. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
We don’t often think of the conservation and local food movements as being interrelated. However, two events I recently attended spelled out just how interconnected two causes could and should be.

Central to both are undeveloped land and clean water, and healthy local economies. It’s an often overlooked fact that agriculture in the Arkansas Valley is central to keeping water flowing in the river throughout central Colorado. For instance, if it were not being used to irrigate chiles, melons and many other fine crops in the river’s lower reaches, the water might be siphoned off higher and sent to the Front Range to irrigate medians. Moreover, when irrigated land is “dried-up” then it often goes under development. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Over the years, running has been the vehicle for some amazing experiences. Some of them I’ll never forget, like running the Boston Marathon or facing down a mountain lion during a trail run, finishing fifth in the 5-day 100-mile Kokopelli Supermarathon, stepping on a rattlesnake, and thousands of other experiences I’d have missed if I’d chosen a more sedentary lifestyle.

Now I have to add to my lengthy list of unforgettable adventures a recent run with two Raramuri or Tarahumara runners – Miguel Lara, 22 and Arnolfo Quimare, 32. Miguel is the recent winner and record-holder for the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. And Arnolfo was featured in the book “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
School is back in session, and this year I am more grateful for that than ever. As the parent of an autistic son, I must admit I have become comfortable with the notion of school as not only a learning opportunity for Harrison, but as respite care as well.

When Harrison is back in school, I have a nine-hour block of time. There’s less of a day care rush. I can work. It’s quiet. I can even take some time to relax. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

As cows go, she was an amazing animal, one of the original 14 head of cattle purchased from Virgil Lawson when we started this little venture in natural beef seven years ago. He insisted we had to have her as a “lead cow.” She’d keep the herd together, and was “bucket trained.”

You’re not suppose to name animals you might someday eat, but this solid black cow came with a name and it was Sophie. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
Any of the following about Ed Quillen may or may not be true. And if it isn’t, it might as well be, since Ed has left us in an untimely fashion and I’m now free to libel him at will.

Don’t blame me. It’s totally unfair to everyone that the likes of myself are left to write eulogies for Ed, who is probably best known as a Denver Post columnist and contributor to Writers on the Range, but who is regarded among faithful readers as a legend in Western journalism. Ed is one person who should be granted a day pass from death, so that he might come back to write his own epitaph. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Many of us move to the country or the mountains to carve out a rural existence with the idea we are going to simplify our lives, get away from the craziness. Somehow it doesn’t always work out this way.

At least it hasn’t for me.

This notion occurred to me on a recent Sunday morning as I was quietly grinding away with a hacksaw at welds on a driveway cattle guard. On the other end was a 1,200-pound horse named Jack with his hind leg caught in the big steel grate made of angle iron and plumbing pipe. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Although our trails had crossed numerous times over decades of mountain running, if it hadn’t been for the untimely departure of a close friend, I’d likely never have met the near mythical Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco, the central character of the New York Times bestseller “Born to Run.”

Micah recently made headlines when he was found dead four days after disappearing on a solo trail run in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico. Among the search party was Christopher McDougall, the author whose first search for Micah led to literary acclaim. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

While driving home through the Wet Mountain Valley after picking up a homeopathic remedy for a sick cow, I detected a quick motion coming from behind and in a field to the right. Before I could even turn my head, the bird – surely a peregrine falcon – was angling across the road in front of me like a rocket, riding the contours with its built-in radar over fencelines and the rolling landscape. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
This should not be taken as whining, but rather as philosophical exploration. The question is this: Why can’t I consistently make money?

Over my life I’ve developed skill levels at a variety of vocations and avocations. In fact I seem able to find success at most things I really apply myself to. Acquiring money is not one of these things.

I can write, and edit. I’m OK with a camera. I design print publications ranging from newsletters to books. Even when I’ve had real jobs practicing these skills it’s never led to financial abundance. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Believe in ghosts? I suppose I’m inclined to, mainly because I’ve had a few spooky experiences that apparently defy logic. In the spirit of Halloween and Day of the Dead, here’s a recount of some these events, and lest you think I’m making this stuff up, rest assured I’m really just not this creative. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
My summer job is winding down, and, wow, has it been interesting, maybe even meaningful. Perhaps even important.

I’ve working on a collection of articles, published in a series of three newsletters called “The Farm Beet,” about a group of independent farmers, all of them located on the banks of the Arkansas River or its tributaries, and the local restaurants, stores and food institutions that serve up their foods. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

There’s movement ahoof to make pack-burro racing Colorado’s official summer sport. Many readers might be surprised to learn I’m not racing my ass to the capitol to support this effort, though I’m not entirely against it either. I just have mixed feelings.

Why? Well, let’s start with some basics as many people may not even know what pack-burro racing is, something that’s problematic for an activity that seeks official state-sanctioning. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
Geographers seem to agree the definition of a desert is a region where annual precipitation amounts to less than 10 inches.

By that definition those of us in the Westcliffe area may be living in a desert this year, and for sure we lived in one last year when the total was 9.34 inches. The least ever recorded was in 2002 when we received 8.77 inches.

In fact, this place ironically called the “Wet” Mountain Valley has been a desert about a half-dozen years since records began being kept in 1948, and we’ve hovered at just about the desert mark several other times with precipitation just a tad over 10 inches, like in 1973 when 10.03 inches were recorded. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

There was a “Wide Load” approaching, and the truck traveling ahead in our lane hit the brakes. I in turn hit my brakes, and that’s when Harrison lost his lunch.

I pulled over to the first pullout along the Arkansas River on U.S. 50 to assess the vomit damage. We had no change of clothes, no wipes, and precious little time before Temple Grandin was to begin her lecture, “Autism, Animals and Visual Thinking,” at the Buena Vista High School gym. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter
If a picture can paint a thousands words, then I should keep this short. My columns are usually 800-1,000 words, and this one is accompanied by a few photos.

It may baffle and surprise some readers to learn that I often picture a written essay as an image. It forms in my head and then I attempt to project this image into words. Sometimes it’s easy to get those words out, and sometimes not so.

I started out in journalism because of an interest in photography. I joined my high school newspaper class and saved to buy a Minolta SRT 101 camera. My folks later bought me some darkroom equipment and we turned a small bathroom into a makeshift lab. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Hearing an owl hoot in the middle of the day is considered by some an omen of death or at least serious bad luck, which I suppose would make sense since I heard the owl on the day after my 51st birthday.

Misfortune? It’s relative. Death? I suppose I’ve reached to point of understanding none of us are getting out of here alive, and odds are my time here is more than half up.

Before we dwell too far upon the negative, let us also take comfort that owls can bring messages of circumspection. And that can be a good thing. Owls are also a symbol of higher wisdom. And I figured at this point this owl didn’t care what time of day it was, just so long as the damned wind didn’t carry its voice away. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

When I started out with cattle, everything I knew about them was stated on the biggest check I’ve ever written for nine cows and five calves. That was in 2005 and I guess I’ve learned a few things about bovines since.

We’re in what is known as the “backyard beef” business, and do things a little differently than larger producers. We’re basically raising natural meat for ourselves, friends and family. This way we can make sure our animals are raised humanely and are not fed unnatural things, which as far as I’m concerned is anything other than grass or hay. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

“ISLE, July 10, 1896 – Ilse is the name of the new post office and town that has sprung up at the Terrible Mine, which is on Oak Creek in Custer County, very near the Fremont County line. There are in the neighborhood of twenty-five families living in Ilse, and there is a settler on every ranch from Yorkville to several miles above Ilse.” – Levi “Bona” Hensel, The Pueblo Chieftain

Recently while researching the history of the Terrible Mine for articles about the environmental cleanup going on at the nearby former townsite of Ilse, I was stunned by the number of people who lived and worked in this area during the time between when lead carbonate ore was discovered there in 1879 and the mining activity dwindled in the early 1940s. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is surely spinning beneath the Monticello sod over recent Congressional passage of the Food Safety and Modernization Act. You see, Jefferson had the notion that this was to be a nation of small farmers.

Soon the bill will be signed into law. It will affect produce, dairy products, eggs and some processed food, but not meat. Read the rest of this article

Wild Burro Tales: Thirty Years of Haulin’ Ass

By Hal Walter
Out There Publishing, 2010

Reviewed by Teresa Cutler-Broyles

“Hang on. Don’t let go.”

So Hal Walter tells us in Wild Burro Tales, his wonderful new collection that takes us on a wild ride through the exciting and overlooked sport of pack-burro racing, and his life with the creatures that give it all meaning.

At first glance the book appears to be, simply, about burros and the relatively obscure and unusual sport of running marathon distances partnered with an animal not known for its cooperative nature. Indeed, the stories – 19 in all, punctuated with brief asides that take on a life of their own in their ability to hit hard – are ostensibly about Walter’s experiences with pack-burro racing and the people and animals who make the sport what it is. For anyone interested in knowing the facts – where pack-burro racing originated, why it continues today, what sorts of skills and hardships are encompassed – Wild Burro Tales certainly delivers. And Walter touches on Wild West legend as well as hard 20th century reality as he opens that world for us. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Local historians say Ilse (pronounced “Ill-see” or “Ill-seh”) was a bustling little community in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with a number of area residents ranching, farming as well as working at the Terrible Mine, where lead was extracted and milled.

According to R.B. Brinsmade, a turn-of-the-century professor of mining engineering, the mine on the bank of Oak Creek produced about 250,000 tons of ore between 1880 and 1907. The lead was freighted out of the Wet Mountains by horse-drawn wagons. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

The sobering test results indicating our well water contains high levels of lead and nitrates, as well as E. coli and coliform bacteria, raised more questions than answers.

While lead seemed the most alarming concern, nitrates were another puzzle. Generally nitrates are found in areas where high levels of chemical fertilizers are used in agriculture. They also can be present as a by-product of bacteria.

But the presence of bacteria itself was also a puzzle. Over the years we have tested for bacteria several times. All of the previous bacteria tests were negative. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

When you buy a home in the mountains, there’s the notion you’re on top of the world, the food chain and even the watershed.

You drill a well into the ground and out pours clear, sparkling “Rocky Mountain Spring Water.” Snowmelt filtered through ancient stone. That sort of thing. There’s a certain irony when someone who analyzes the ingredients list on just about anything he eats doesn’t even question what might be in the water. But that’s what happened here. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Though I run nearly every day, I’ve often joked that I rarely write about running because, hey, how much can really be said about putting one foot in front of the other? So it’s a tad ironic the most captivating book I’ve read in the past year is Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

When I try to tell people about this nonfiction story, which has a subtitle so long that I’ve saved it for the second paragraph – A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen – I have difficulty summing up what it’s actually about. Yeah, sure, it’s about running, but it’s also about so much more. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

My little jab at the Literary Industrial Complex – Wild Burro Tales – Thirty Years of Haulin’ Ass – is nearly reality. Soon the book will be available in local retail establishments and on amazon.com.

This collection of stories had its origins in my adventures on the Western Pack-Burro Racing circuit. But this experience grew to include a fascination with equus asinus, my exploration of using these animals as backcountry packers and saddle donkeys, and as therapeutic riding animals for my son Harrison. While the book is full of adventures, the process of putting this volume together is another story worth telling. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

It’s all about the animals, and maybe it’s about people, as well.

Animals were a big part of the decision to live out here, to follow this path. And animals, both domesticated and wild, continue to be a big part of the magic of this existence.

Afternoons linger into evening this time of year, and we decided to take our son Harrison for a ride on one of our saddle donkeys, Ace. About a half mile from the house I was leading Ace, and Mary was walking behind. I felt some minor calamity on the lead rope and turned to see my son falling. It really wasn’t much of a rodeo, but Harrison took a tumble anyway. Suddenly the evening became a blur of a screaming child who suddenly became very cooperative. A call to the clinic, and a drive to town. X-rays. A fractured arm. Splint. On the way home we stopped to watch two young foxes play along the road in Silver Cliff. Harrison acknowledged the foxes and I knew everything would be OK. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

It pays to be “in the now” in my line of work, but often I find my mind somewhere else and running on overdrive as I go about my chores.

My most reliable employment these days is managing a small ranch where we keep horses, cattle and a fair number of barn cats. There’s a big barn at the ranch and in one corner is an enclosed tack room. When I first started this job five years ago the tack room was overrun with mice. And when trapping them became tedious, I finally opted for some mostly feral cats. Read the rest of this article

This story is an excerpt from Hal Walter’s forthcoming book, “Wild Burro Tales.” The book includes pen-and-ink sketches by Westcliffe artist Lorie Merfeld-Batson, and should be available in May through local booksellers and amazon.com. Check out www.hardscrabbletimes.com for news about the book’s release.

Early day prospectors combed the West looking to strike it rich. I would venture many also were searching for something other than monetary reward — intangible things like freedom, independence, and a close bond with the land. Matching strides with these adventurers were trusty pack burros carrying their gear and food, and providing invaluable companionship. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

Here in politically regressive Custer County I’ve seen a number of interesting bumper stickers reflecting the general dissatisfaction of the majority so-called conservative crowd. Perhaps the most interesting is one that depicts the old green-and-white Colorado mountain license plate, the artwork that became the basis for a generation of bumpers stickers that said “Native,” “Skier,” etc.

This one simply says “Taxarado.” Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

It’s perhaps an irony that the Feed Barn and The Feed Store both recently closed their doors here in Custer County.

The Feed Barn was a 25-year-old livestock and pet feed business founded by a longtime ranching family. It has changed hands twice since it opened, and I am one of a handful of local residents who can remember buying feed from original owners Randy and Claricy Rusk at their location north of town. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

You see, it’s a little like this,” said my friend Peter. “It’s sort of like a roach motel. It’s easy to get in, but it’s hard to get out.”

Peter was talking about Custer County, specifically real-estate ownership here, where a quick look at the 81252 ZIP code on realtor.com brings up a mind-numbing 227 homes for sale. That’s one home on the market for every 15 residents, and most of us already have homes. Read the rest of this article

By Hal Walter

Years ago, when Ed and Martha Quillen were conspiring to start a magazine called Colorado Central, we met for a greasy hamburger at a saloon called Susie’s in Westcliffe. As I recall it was a slightly chilly day, and afterward we were standing outside in the street with Ed gesturing his speech with both arms and a cigarette in one hand.

That was about when I saw the black beast trotting right down the middle of the near-deserted street through the one-block downtown district. As the canine critter drew near, its eyes bright and tongue lolling from side to side, Ed became aware that I was being distracted, and was watching something moving behind him. He turned as the animal passed and stood silent with both arms frozen outward in exclamation. The smoke curled up from the cigarette as the animal just trotted on by.

“Excuse me, but that was a wolf?” Ed turned and said with a tone that was both statement and question at once. Read the rest of this article

Long before I learned my son Harrison has autism, or what the word “hippotherapy” means, I had this idea he should ride our burros. For me this was a way to incorporate fatherhood into my lifestyle.

For three decades I have trained burros for pack-burro racing, including six world championships, as well as for packing and riding. It seemed only natural I would want to share that with my son, and it would also help provide a vehicle to the backcountry.

Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

Late summer has its many emotions here in the Wet Mountains, from the blustery days when you first notice the edges of the aspens turning, to the clear blue days that seem never to end as summer becomes fall. But I know in my bones these days will end.

At some point the summer bugs will come off the windshield with the first heavy frost. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

A friend once suggested I write myself a check for $50,000, $75,000, or something like that, and just tape it to the refrigerator as a payment to myself for this grand lifestyle I’ve chosen.

Perhaps I should just make it an even, cool $1 million. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

Adding to the excitement of the upcoming pack-burro racing season was a visit by New York documentary filmmaker Trevor Velin and producer Meghan McGinley.

Trevor had contacted me about his idea to make a documentary film on Colorado’s only indigenous sport. Apparently he had read about pack-burro racing in a magazine and decided to check it out on his travels last year. I actually spoke to him following one of the races in 2008 but I was apparently in a hypoxic haze and barely remember the conversation. At any rate, Trevor decided the reality of a 29-mile race in which people run with burros up and down a rocky 13,187-foot pass was interesting and worthy of documenting on film. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

The telltale squiggly tracks across the dirt roads begin to show up in mid-May, a sign you need to watch your step until about late October.

One of the hazards of living in this particular ecotone — a place where different ecosystems overlap — is you may go jogging past an aspen grove one minute and step right over a rattlesnake a quarter-mile later. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

Westcliffe area residents no longer need to drive far for a selection of inexpensive plastic things made in China. A Family Dollar store opened here in May.

I watched in curiosity for most of the winter as the ground was broken and construction began for the new business. I was intrigued because I had in fact never been inside a Family Dollar. And since I seemed to be doing just fine without anything from there I doubted I’d ever need to set foot in the place. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

“Some of them live, and some of them die.”

“If you don’t want to lose any, then don’t have any.”

“At least you don’t have to feed the sumbitch anymore.”

I’d nearly given up on the cow I call “Number 30.’ During the days running up to the March full moon her udder had been swelling, and I thought for sure the calf would arrive then. Some cattlepeople say that cows tend to have calves during foul weather, but a small snowstorm passed over, then a few more days, and the calf had yet to be born. Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

The old rancher told me

This time of year

it’ll blow and blow and blow

until it snows.

Read the rest of this article

by Hal Walter

It was just a few days before Christmas and my son Harrison and I went to the Westcliffe post office to mail out the holiday cards. The post office is a fairly harmless place to let Harrison run around while I take care of business. The only way out is the front door and there’s very little trouble he can get into. Read the rest of this article

Column by Hal Walter

Economy – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

AS THE SNOW BEGAN TO FALL, I built a pretty big bonfire in the fire pit near the house. Since the ground was already covered with snow and more fresh powder was falling it was safe to light up some branches and old papers that had been accumulating like so much psychic baggage. Read the rest of this article

Column by Hal Walter

Agriculture – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

A FAVORITE OLD RANCHER once told me: “It’s better to get where you’re going on a slow horse than to go to the hospital on a fast horse.”

Frankly, I avoid riding anything with ears that short. Read the rest of this article