CMC in Browns Park:
1934 to 2004

By Steve Bonowski

Garrat Van Wagenen, president of the Colorado Mountain Club in 1934, had a novel idea. Van Wagenen had a long standing interest in the area of northwestern Colorado around the canyons of the Green and Yampa Rivers after visiting there some years before on a pack trip. His interest was further piqued by an article in the July, 1934 issue of Trail & Timberline about the history of the area. The spectacular Gates of Lodore on the Green River graced the cover of that issue of the club's magazine.

Van Wagenen noted the accounts of the area. In 1825, General William Ashley was the first known white man to float the Green through Browns Park and then through the treacherous Canyon of Lodore. Later, in 1869, John Wesley Powell wrote at length in his journal about traveling the Green through the same area and eventually continuing onward on the epic first float of the Grand Canyon.

The Browns Park area was first traversed and then settled by fur traders in the 1820s. Native Americans had been there for millennia and there are signs on the surrounding bluffs and canyons of Fremont culture natives and later. Late in the 19th century, Browns Park became an occasional hideout for the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Both had a strong reputation in the Park for their "gentlemanly ways" and were quite popular with the locals. Other desperados weren't quite as well liked, such as Tom Horn and others.

Part of the mission of the Club has been to encourage the exploration of the far reaches of the state. By the 1930s, the Green and Yampa Canyons had been explored at the river level, and the area was proposed for national monument status in order to protect its unique natural values. However, little was known of the upper reaches of the canyons as the steep walls made access from above almost impossible. Knowing the skills of CMC members, Van Wagenen proposed to rock climb interesting areas of the canyons. In order to decide which areas to climb, Van Wagenen, who was fond of flying, had the novel idea of doing an overflight of the canyons to identify likely places.

By October 1, 1934, plans were complete. The plane would circle the canyons at 15,000´ taking pictures to make maps for later intensive exploration. A ground party would provide support, serve as a landing crew, and also investigate land approaches to possible exploration sites. The Wyoming Air Service loaned a plane and CMC members provided funds for the effort. The ground crew left Denver on October 13, with the plane piloted by Van Wagenen and accompanied by Carlos Reavis to follow the next day.

US 40 across Colorado was a transcontinental highway, but it was paved for only a few miles west of Craig. Then it was gravel. Many miles of bad road stretched from Maybell, thirty-one miles west of Craig, to Greystone at the edge of Browns Park. The ground crew climbed up an equally bad road on Douglas Mountain, just east of the Gate of Lodore, to explore for a possible landing site. The next day, the plane flew over the mountain, but was waved off by the crew. The nice landing area on the long mountain top was found to have many small gullies that could have tipped and damaged the plane upon landing. The plane flew off to land and the ground crew hurried down the mountainside to find it.

The plane was not in the flats around Greystone, so the ground crew continued northward and then west on the road. They found the pilots near where Vermillion Creek enters the Green. They had landed on the dry flood meadow along the Green. As the Browns Park history book by Diana Allen Kouris is silent about planes in the park, it is highly possible that the first plane landing in Browns Park was done by the CMC.

The next day, under an overcast sky, the intrepid pilots conducted their overflight of the canyons amid a strong, cold southwest wind. The plane's engine was powerful enough to deal with swirling air currents, but it took every bit of piloting skill to handle the downdrafts. Numerous photos were taken on the flight, and some ground approaches were discovered by the ground crew. Unfortunately for Van Wagenen, the lateness of the season precluded further exploration. But the interest of the club was strong, and later years would see many trips to the area for climbing and exploration.

The club next made a major visit, in the form of a summer outing, in September, 1936. Camp was at the Chew Ranch, two miles above Pat's Hole at the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers. Famous western author David Lavender helped with the scouting for the outing in July, 1936. Trail & Timberline devoted many pages of the January, 1937 issue to accounts of the outing. The area was thoroughly explored, and members found many fine areas to climb. They also discovered a number of archeological sites. The magazine contained in depth coverage of the sites with drawing of pictographs.

The Colorado Mountain Club was a major advocate during 1935 to 1937 for the creation of Dinosaur National Monument. The low point in the cClub's advocacy for the Browns Park area occurred in 1954, when a dam was proposed for the confluence of the two rivers. A postcard survey of the membership was done. The Board determined that not enough members replied, so it took no position on the proposal. Fortunately, other organizations resisted the dam as did the Boulder and Pikes Peak Groups of the CMC acting on their own. Other protection for parts of Browns Park occurred in the 1960s with the creation of Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge's creation was in part driven by the need to mitigate changes in the river caused by the construction upriver of Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir

The 1960s and 1970s saw the first creation of wilderness areas on national forest lands in Colorado. It was only natural that conservationists would turn their attention to land areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management in their search for special places. The area around Browns Park yielded several areas publicized in Finding Freedom: A guide to Colorado's unknown wildlands published in 1982. Several CMC members were instrumental in creating the guide. At his first ever CMC conservation meeting in July, 1982, this writer had fun helping to collate the pages of Finding Freedom.

The spectacular Diamond Breaks area immediately south of Browns Park and the Green River was included in the guide. West Cold Springs Mountain to the north of Browns Park was also included. To the south of Douglas Mountain, which forms the southern border of Browns Park at its east end, additions to the Monument on the Mountain are proposed for wilderness. All of these areas are official Wilderness Study Areas.

The CMC has had a special interest in the Vermillion Basin and Creek area to the north and east of Browns Park. While not an official wilderness study area, it is contained within the longstanding Citizens Wilderness Proposal for BLM lands. The BLM re-inventoried the area in the late 1990s, and over 70,000 acres having wilderness qualities were found. All of these areas, and many more contained within the Citizens Wilderness Proposal, have been introduced several times in Congress by U.S. Representative Diana DeGette.

The club's interest in Browns Park has flamed anew in the 21st Century. We opposed efforts in 2000 by Moffat County government to take over management of all federal lands in the county, including the Monument and Refuge. The county’s proposal was not accepted by the Department of Interior. However, the Department and the BLM have encouraged creation of a collaborative citizens effort in the county. A new partnership, the Northwest Colorado Stewardship (NWCOS), was created in the spring of 2003. NWCOS includes agency personnel from federal and state agencies, county commissioners and employees, other local residents, industry employees, and citizens from elsewhere in Colorado who have an interest in the region. The BLM has provided training from its national training center in Phoenix on community collaborative efforts and on the National Environmental Policy Act. The club is an active participant in NWCOS.

Working with its partners in the Colorado Wilderness Network, the CMC has sponsored stewardship and cleanup weekends during the past several summers. While the club is no longer able to offer airplane rides and float trips due to insurance restrictions, the CMC expects to continue offering trips in northwest Colorado for hiking and stewardship for many years to come.

References: Trail & Timberline: July, 1934; November, 1934; November, 1935; August, 1936; January, 1937. Finding Freedom: A Guide to Colorado's Unknown Wildlands. Colorado Open Space Council (now Colorado Environmental Coalition), 1982. The Colorado Mountain Club: The First Seventy Five Years of a Highly Individual Corporation. Hugh Kingery, Cordillera Press, 1988. The Romantic and Notorious History of Browns Park. Diana Allen Kouris, Wolverine Gallery, 1988. Conservationists' Wilderness Proposal for BLM Lands. Colorado Environmental Coalition, 1994.