The Astrotours Curse

In Boulder there’s lots of left hands. There’s Left Hand Brewing Company, Left Hand Creek, Left Hand Canyon. There’s also Niwot, which means left-handed in the native Arapaho language and is also the name of a town nearby (as well as nearby Niwot Mountain, and Niwot Ridge). All of these references to ‘left hand’ or Niwot are a homage to the southern Arapaho chief, Chief Niwot.

Chief Niwot

Chief Niwot played an integral role in Colorado’s state history. He and his people lived along the Front Range, often spending winters in Boulder Valley. In the fall of 1858 during the Colorado Gold Rush, early immigrants were welcomed by Niwot and his people to the area, even though it was Arapaho territory. Upon meeting the first settlers in the fall of 1858, Niwot is said to have stated his legendary Curse of the Boulder Valley. According to local lore, Chief Niwot said, “People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty.”

Chief Niwot wanted his tribe to coexist peacefully with the white man. He learned English, Cheyenne, and Sioux, which allowed him to communicate with white settlers and other tribes. However, peaceful relations between the southern Arapaho and the white prospectors did not last.

Racist Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans decided to get rid of the “Indian problem.” He ordered the peaceful southern Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes to relocate to Sand Creek, an area in southeast Colorado north of Fort Lyon (an area in far east Colorado close to Kansas, not to be confused with the town of Lyons that’s close to Boulder). Governor Evans then ordered the Third Colorado Cavalry, commanded by Colonel John Chivington, to patrol the land for hostile Indians.

Colonel Chivington and his men patrolled Colorado’s eastern plains for months without finding any hostile tribes. Frustrated, they headed to Sand Creek. Despite Major Edward Wynkoop, commander of Fort Lyons, stating that the Native people at Sand Creek were peaceful, Chivington and his men attacked the Araphao camp the morning of Nov. 29, 1864. There are no exact statistics on the number of people who were killed that day, but most historians believe approximately 230 American Indians were killed during the Sand Creek Massacre, including Chief Niwot, and mostly women, children, and the elderly.

Sand Creek

President Abraham Lincoln, bogged down by the Civil War, called for a Congressional investigation into the tragedy. Congress ruled the “gross and wanton” incident a “massacre” rather than a “battle.” Chivington was reprimanded for his actions and lost his commission, Governor Evans was removed from office, and Colorado was placed under martial law. The Sand Creek Massacre site is now designated as a National Historic Site.

Today, we remember Chief Niwot with all the references to his name and statues scattered around the boulder area. AstroTours happens at the “Boulder Valley Ranch trailhead” Chief Niwot’s legendary Curse is of the entire Boulder Valley. Chief Niwot is believed to have said: “People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty.”

The first half of the curse is as true then as it is today. The beauty of the Boulder Valley is definitely eye-catching and has caught the eyes of people from all over the world that move here. If you’ve been on an Astro Tour you’re definitely well aware of the beauty both on earth and in the heavens above the Boulder Valley and probably wish to stay there longer taking in its beauty. Unfortunately the *curse* part is also all too real these days with people moving to Boulder, Longmont, Niwot, Gunbarrel, Lyons, and everywhere in between not only is the development hard on the land and natural resources but it’s taking away the pristine sky above our community with light pollution.

So next time you visit the Boulder Valley be wary of this curse. It's a captivating land but don’t let the beauty of the valley be its undoing. Practice Leave No Trace principles and limit your light pollution and maybe we can undo the curse.

Read more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Boulder_Valley

https://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/index.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20110719202332/http://www.getboulder.com/visitors/articles/southernarapahoe.html

This post was taken heavily from the Visit Longmont article below. I think the original ending is hilarious how it says this land is cursed because people keep coming here soooooo... you should come here too 😊

https://www.visitlongmont.org/things-to-do/museums-history/haunted-history/chief-niwot-and-the-left-hand-curse/

Davidson Mesa Overlook

Departing from my usual blog content I will be sharing some of my favorite places in Boulder in the next few posts.

Davidson Mesa Overlook - As you come in to Boulder via Hwy-36 at the top of the last major hill is an overlook with a visitor information stand. The turn off is at mile marker 42 and has big blue road sings pointing it out. This is defiantly worth the stop and should only add ~5 minuets to your trip.​

The turn off to Davidson Mesa

Davidson Mesa proves a panoramic view of the Front Range mountains, the City of Boulder, and its famous Flatirons rock formation; a monument to the Denver-Boulder Turnpike is also located here.

The view from Davidson Mesa

From here you can see Eldorado Canyon which is home to Eldorado Springs (a small town most known for its bottled water) and Eldorado Canyon State Park (a popular destination for rock climbers). Of course “El Dorado” Canyon means "The Gold" Canyon, The canyon got this name due to the golden color of the lichen on the cliff walls.

Eldorado Canyon State Park entrance gate

At the base of the mountains just south of Boulder you can spot the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). NCAR is a research and development center that studies meteorology, climate science, atmospheric chemistry, and the environment. NCAR's building was designed by architect I. M. Pei (known for many works such as the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris) who modeled the design after the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde.

View of NCAR

The FlatIrons are an Icon of Boulder as they tower over the town and can be seen from almost any where. They are the jagged red rocks at the base of the mountains. They extend south quite a ways however the first five (numbered 1-5 going south) are the main ones. They are made up of the Fountain Formation the same formation that makes Red Rocks Amphitheater, Garden of The Gods, Roxborough State Park, and many other amazing places across the front range. The Fountain Formation is from a geologic period called the "Pennsylvanian" (because this was when the coal found in Pennsylvania was discovered) which was ~290 million years ago. I can cover this more in my tour if you ask me but, just like the earth orbits around the sun the sun orbits around the black hole at the center of our galaxy. One orbit of the sun around the Galaxy is called a Galactic year and, occurs every ~250 million earth years. Therefore, you can imagine that one galactic year ago, when the sun & earth were in this same part of our galaxy, that we are in now, the rocky mountains were just starting to rise out of a giant inland sea and forming these flatiorns you see before you now.

View of the Flatirons from Chautauqua

At the base of the flatirons is a beautiful park called Chautauqua. Chautauqua hosts many performances, cultural events, lectures, and was the site of my parent's wedding! It is a beautiful park where you can access a large system of trails and climb all the way to the top of the flatirons. It was once a ski resort but no longer receives enough snow, a few of the runs are still open to sledding on snow days.

CU's campus sticks out as a dash of red in the middle of the town. They started building campus buildings in the traditional academic architecture with marble but quickly realized it didn't match the environment. So, they switched to red rocks like that found in the fountain formation which makes up the flatirons, and left them with more of their natural texture.

Aerial view of CU Boulder's campus with the flatirons, Chautauqua, and NCAR visible.

You can see Longs Peak towering over everything. Longs Peak is 14,259-foot (4346 m) making it a "fourteener" (Colorado is proud of all our mountains that are over 14,000ft and give them this special designation, Longs Peak is the north most "fourteener"). Longs Peak is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness. It is the highest point in Boulder County and Rocky Mountain National Park. The mountain was named in honor of explorer Stephen Harriman Long and is on the Colorado state quarter.

Colorado's state quarter which depicts Longs Peak

If you are on your way to my tour looking at longs peak is a good measurement of visibility. Long's Peak is exactly 28 miles away from Davidson Mesa. If you can see Longs peak clearly you can be sure it will be a good night for astronomy. If Longs peak is covered in cloud you might want to give me a call to see if you can re-book to a more clear night. You might also check for my flyer in the info stand at Davidson Mesa ;)