The summer
of 1942:
recollections of J.
Mark Taggart

By Andrew LaMorte

This story was composed from the recollections of a long-time CMC member who was active as a teenaged junior member during the early 1940s. J. Mark Taggart was privileged to have climbed a number of fourteeners with CMH Junior Leader Mr. Lindsey, (Old Baldy was renamed Mt. Lindsey after his death), and to have climbed Capitol and Snowmass with Carl Blaurock, the first to have summitted all the fourteeners in Colorado. It is a reminder of fresh perspectives and the eagerness of youth, and of the difficulties of the war era; it illustrates the warmth of youth’s idealism tinged with the emerging awareness of young adults becoming citizens in a shrinking world. I hope it brings a smile to your day!

The war was on; it was the summer of 1942. Gasoline was rationed, along with many other items. Still, somehow, the Colorado Mountain Club managed to secure enough of this precious liquid to drive just over a dozen Junior CMC members, with a few chaperones, from Denver for a week of hiking activities. I think Mr. George Kelly was one of the chaperones. After we all gathered with our gear, the group just piled with our packs into the back of an open truck. We bumped along at a top speed of about thirty miles per hour over a rutted, rough dirt track that served as the highway in those days. We arrived that afternoon at the trailhead on the southeast flank of Mount Shavano, setting up camp for our first day. We were all excited to begin our week in the wilderness and restlessly prepared ourselves and our gear for an early start the next morning before turning in.

For our first day’s hike we formed two groups, since there were some in the group with less experience. Climbing Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache, five of the more energetic (myself among them) had brought our packs. We planned to continue hiking north and spend the night on the mountain, then meet the rest of the group at the summit of Mt. Ontario. We dropped down the north side to Brown’s Creek where we set our camp the first night. The other part of the group returned to the truck, drove around to Chalk Creek near Radium Hot Springs, and set up their camp for the night. Our party had the luck to get caught in a bad rainstorm, but the Boy Scout in us came to the fore, and we were able to get a fire started without too much trouble. We spent the rest of the night with no problems.

On the morning of day two we broke camp and climbed Mt. Ontario, where we planned to meet the rest of the group climbing from the northwest. Because we had spent the night on the mountain, we had a 2,000 foot advantage; we had to wait five hours at the summit for the others to join us! Following the reunion of our groups, we returned to the camp at Chalk Creek for the night.

On the morning of day three, we broke camp and headed for Mt. Princeton. We made the ascent from the southwest side, then descended the north slope to Middle Cottonwood Creek. One of the chaperones had driven the truck around with the equipment, picked us up on the road, and drove us all over to the Yale trailhead. We set camp and spent the night.

On day four we climbed Yale then returned along the same approach to the campsite where we had left the truck. Again, we piled with our packs into the back of the truck, motoring off to the trailhead at Harvard and Columbia. We pitched and rested for the next day’s activities, which would be our toughest.

The fifth day was the longest one yet, as we had planned on climbing both Harvard and Columbia. I can’t remember the location of our campsite or the exact route we used, but I think it was from the east. After a very long day and a tiring descent, we would have gladly collapsed into our tents, but we weren’t through yet! Instead, we piled back into the truck and headed over to the trailhead for Oxford and Belford. This was on Clear Creek near Vicksburg. Finally, we set camp and collapsed into our bedrolls.

Morning arrived on day six and, being well-rested as is only too common in the mountains, we eagerly broke camp to begin the day. We climbed Oxford, then up Belford gulch to the top of Belford, and descended to camp to again pick up and head to the final and highest peak on the trip—Mt. Elbert. We set up camp at the trailhead on the east side of the highest of Colorado’s mountains, ate supper, and turned in for some much-needed rest.

Day seven broke beautifully, and with the bravado instilled in us from our experiences of the past six days had, we climbed Mt. Elbert. I was reminded later by DeAnn Gravit (one of the Juniors on the trip) about how the boys carried the girls’ lunches so their packs would be lighter. Whether this was chivalrous or amorous, I’ll let you decide! Another CMC Junior and DeAnn’s boyfriend, Chuck Sauer, was on furlough, having just joined the army, and he accompanied us on our last day’s climb of Mt. Elbert.

Just to keep things exciting, there was a bad electrical storm during the climb. Fred Steputis reminded me about this; it caused all of our hair to stand straight up! The high voltage also caused the rocks to buzz, and sparks jumped from our ears to our fingers, naturally causing some discomfort. The scariest part was Molly Setheman being knocked out by the storm. Not all of the climb was as frightening as this; Molly remembers doing the “Congo Line” (a popular dance step at the time) on our way up the trail—kids always will be kids, I guess.

It was all at once glorious yet saddening, as this was our last climb of the week. I can’t remember whether we broke camp and returned to Denver that evening or spent the night and returned the next day. I do remember that my mother frequently worried greatly about us not returning home until after midnight on the many climbing trips we took with the CMC. All in all, it was a wonderful experience for a bunch of teenagers, and I certainly appreciate the CMC providing the opportunity for me to climb so many fourteeners during my membership. I still climb fourteeners—just the easier ones, though—with my grandchildren!

I can’t remember everyone on the trip, but here are some that I do. Along with Fred, DeAnn, and Molly, there were Margaret Setheman, Dorothy Setheman, Rae Storer, Johnie Purchard, Dorothy Teague, and Jo Pressman. If it seems that I recall the girls’ names much more clearly than the boys’, I guess that’s just the way it is after sixty years. P