Just say NO! to hippies & new-agers in Crestone

Did you know the fruits, nuts and flakes in the teenie-tiny town of Crestone want to rename Kit Carson Mountain to Mount Crestone? You know, Kit Carson Mountain, that sits right next to Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. Apparently the mighty explorer Kit Carson was a "war criminal." What a bunch of dopes. Story HERE.

“I don’t know who Kit Carson was, but the vibration doesn’t feel right to me. The energy doesn’t feel right to me,” A.K.

That sounds good enough to me... change it!

Yeah, making 8,000 Native Americans walk 300 miles, many to their death, is just exploring...

Hare Krishna ~ OM ~ ૐ

Kit Carson is certainly an interesting figure in the history of the American west. The book "Blood and Thunder" is a great read about Carson, the Navajos, and Manifest Destisny.
To say he is not a hero to many native Americans, especially the Navajo is an understatement in light of their forced captivity in Ft Sumner N.M. and subsequent decemation by starvation which is called The Long Walk by the tribe. To the white population in the Southwest he was a hero who finally brought the Indian wars under control. He is a figure much like Sherman after the Civil War, hated by southerners, a hero to the north. He was right about one thing "War is Hell"
Joe Rogers

I have to second the Blood and Thunder recommendation: great read! David Roberts' A Newer World is another good one, though it focuses more on John C. Fremont. Carson, like just about any human being, was a contradictory and sometimes conflicted figure. It should be pointed out that he married first an Arapahoe and later a New Mexico Spanish woman, and by all accounts loved them both genuinely. So he was hardly just a racist oppressor. The Blood and Thunder author seems to conclude that he was rather coerced by the Army into participating in the Navajo campaign. At the least, he's a fascinating character that people should be encouraged to learn about in order to understand the West.

In any case, I have very little sympathy for these renaming campaigns. Cartographic history is what it is, sometimes disappointing, sometimes fascinating. (I love how most of the major peaks in the Uintas bear the names of geologists!) If we're going to change peak names, I'd much rather go after all the ones that had the misfortune to be named after politicians who are now justly forgotten.

Whow! Next they'll want to change the name of RMNP to Stoned Mountain National Park

Well said, Jackson.

Thank goodness for local Fred Bauder (and those like him):

“They’re (new-agers) not from our community. They’re from Chicago and New York. They live in another world. They come here and camp out and go away eventually, hopefully.”

Thanks for the link, Todd.

Yeah, making 8,000 Native Americans walk 300 miles, many to their death, is just exploring...

Holding 19th Century explorers to 21st Century standards is kinda silly. But if we did, there'd be a whole lot of "exploring" done by Native Americans that wouldn't pass today.

"Holding 19th Century explorers to 21st Century standards is kinda silly. But if we did, there'd be a whole lot of "exploring" done by Native Americans that wouldn't pass today."

Yes, there is the case of Cuerno Verde, the wild and brave Commanche chief who is said to have exterminated many Spanish pueblos in the early territories while killing hundreds and sacrificing many prisoners in cold blood. Chief Cuerno Verde, or "Greenhorn", is the namesake for the mountain range and peak just on the other side of the hill.

Not to diminish the many atrocities committed against Native Americans, but our western history is full of colorful and brave characters. The names we've given to places are a good reminder of this.

ummmm...I think we might do better to keep the topics focused on photography??

ummmm...why? I'm kinda enjoying this lively conversation.

There's a lot of not-so-great things happening in our society, our government, our world. Expending the effort to rename a dead volcano seems to be fiercely low on the priority list I would think. That's almost as bad as the folks on technology forums that spend countless hours writing posts about how much they hate Apple and the iPhone, and they don't even OWN the thing. There has got to be more important work to do here folks!

Todd, I STILL crack up over your signature, lol!

Good comment, Jackson. It is interesting how many/most of our peaks were named during one brief window of time in our history. Would have been nice to have tried to use the native names whenever possible, though I suppose that wasn't likely to happen at that time. Makes me think of Denali/McKinley.

I must admit that (for my own selfish reason) I don't sympathize much with the "spiritual" people in Crestone, or in particular the Manitou Institute, who shut down public access to the entire Cottonwood Creek drainage. That certainly does not reflect any kind of spiritual values in my mind (generosity? tolerance?)

Paul D. I must confess, I stole that line 20 years ago from a stand-up comedian named Eddie Strange. He now uses his real name, Ross Bennett. If you want a ROTFLOL experience, go to his video page and watch his four-part video of his colonoscopy routine.

Hey, burrying someone in their backyard is a great honor i think, especially if it's a nice back yard--beats a crowded cemetary next to a freeway...
I personally think killing people is a bad thing, even under orders, but id probably leave the name alone, a geographical name isnt necessarily an 'honor'.
But, if they do change it, they should change the name to something cooler, like "Stan's Mountain". Ive never climbed K Carson before, but if it were given my name you can bet that i'd climb it a bunch of times, even in Winter...and i could use the excersize

I never said what my opinion is... But The Long Walk wasn't just another colorful moment in Western history. Besides, hippies are nice folks. Did anybody see the Furthur setlists from MSG? Holy crap!