by Caleb Schoonover
By now everyone should know about the little town of Ouray. But what is it about this little town that makes it so cool? This town is known as a really cool town because of its location and topography. All of us in Ouray know how steep 8th Avenue is. But all the tourists that come to town are amazed that we can even live in such a place.
“We are really privileged to live in a place with great access to the wilderness,” said someone I overheard in a conversation. And it is true, most people can't just go into their backyards and literally be in the wilderness. Some out of towners might think that the wilderness is this big scary place where people get lost and die. But if you just put your fears behind you, you can see the beauty of the outdoors.
As freshman Luke Hughes said, “I love how calming it is just to be out there.” I lived in Ouray county for 13 years of my life and it is the most calming and relaxing place that I have ever lived. I now live outside of Montrose and it is relaxing and all but it’s nothing compared to the relaxed people and wilderness of Ouray.
But the most calming time, according to senior Brayden Patterson, is “when it rains.” He states that “sometimes when I am dirt biking and it rains, I just stop and soak it in.” I too am a dirtbiker and when it rains and you get to a clearing you can see the clouds part and you see a triple rainbow appear, feel like you are in a fantasy movie where everything is just perfect.
To different people the word perfect means different things out in the wilderness. As band teacher Ms. Greiz said, “The thing I love about the wilderness is probably the flowers I get to see when I go on hikes.” In our little town and big mountains we have a wide variety of flowers and we don't really notice them when we walk by them. We just look at them and say “O look, a flower” and keep on walking. But have we ever thought about just sitting down and connecting with mother nature?
As a dirtbiker, I am always in the wilderness and I love it. The fresh scent of falling rain, the newly bloomed flowers and trees, everything out there is calming and refreshing. All we have to do to understand it is to go for a hike or run out in the trees and just take a deep breath. Only then do we really understand what mother nature is trying to give us.