i rarely name locations in my blogs. If asked, I’ll give a vague reply or say, “Western Kansas.” I won’t share my special places on social media. My thoughts are, I found them, so can you.
With Snow Mesa I’m making an exception. It’s come to my attention, dirt bikes (varoom, varoom) have been green lighted, for quite sometime, to occupy the same space as Colorado Trail and Continental Divide Trail backpackers, day hikers and equestrians users too. This is a skewered corrupt notion of the USFS policy of “Multiple Use.”
Why the “tude” about Snow Mesa Jeffie? Well, readers I’ll tell ya.
SM is an above tree line plateau (12,250-12,420 feet) surrounded by 360 degrees of stark beauty. It’s serene and mostly silent (except for the murmur of the wind). It’s a rare and unique chunk of Colorado geography. National Geographic views without the usual ups and downs of Rocky Mountain hiking. I find it to be as close to a religious experience as a non-practicing Jew can obtain. On a sunny summer’s day, it’s the BIGLY O of hiking.
BUT! That’s all without the noise, noxious fumes and testosterone intrusion of mostly young, male and dare I say White dirt bike riders, who gaze upon the Mesa as something to be conquered instead of appreciating.
The trail up from Spring Creek Pass (Continental Divide) bisects an active Pika colony. If you’ve been following along on my posts, you’re well aware of Jeffy’s Pika love.. My little buddies are indicator species of Climate Change. They are probably stressed. Pikas don’t need the added tsuris (aggravation in Yiddish) from the internal combustion engine crowd. Those protective gear wearing adrenaline junkies (similar to the Imperial Army of Star Wars fame) can interrupt the pikas short harvesting season. All this because the dirt bikers are too lazy to hike the same trails a 70 year old Alta Caca (old poop in Yiddish) does on a daily basis.
Now my Pika take. (After my rant).
https://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2025/07/hi-im-jeff-i-like-hanging-out.html
It’s on Snow Mesa where I saw the light and became an ordained Trail Angel. Read all about my transformation:
https://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2021/08/its-830-in-morning-and-youve.html
If that’s not enough personal attachment. Snow Mesa is where I got hopelessly farblundjet (Yiddish for lost). This post should have been in Outside Magazine.
https://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2019/08/at-least-i-didnt-have-to-cut-off.html
Back to the present! I’ve been ascending Snow Mesa since 2019. Honestly, this wasn’t an issue for me up to now.
So what changed? There’s now more dirt bikes, lots more. From the Beta Motorcycles website.
“Beta Motorcycles Announces Record Numbers: Sales Increased 180 Percent Between 2018 and 2024”
If you’re into graphs:
Plus! Many dirt bike riders don GoPro cameras on their Darth Vader helmets. Surely many clips find themselves on Facebook, Instagram and countless other social media venues. The bikers are clueless to the notion of the more the merrier doesn’t pertain to the Great Outdoors. (At least not on my turf!).
All this has translated to an increase of varoom varoom use on one of my favorite Colorado hikes. As Isaiah 7:7 proclaims. “This shall not stand!”
Snow Mesa nuzzles up against the La Garita Wilderness (established 1964). With a little bit of Googling, I discovered snowmobilers were instrumental in keeping this gem out of wilderness protection status.
HOWEVER! There’s power in numbers! Hiking is the Numero Uno outdoor activity in Merica!
According to research published this week by Statista Research Department, 61.44 million Americans went hiking in 2023. That's a massive leap of nearly twice the number who went hiking just 10 years earlier in 2013, and represents about one-fifth of the US population.
So, here’s where my readers (all 26 of you) can help.
You can email the new Forest Supervisor of the Rio Grande National Forest. You can forward this blog to folks you know who have hiked the Colorado Trail or the Continental Divide Trail. You can forward this blog to lovers of silent sports and the Great Outdoors including those equine lovers. You can send a snail mail to the District Ranger of the Divide RD.
Let your voices and words be heard. Keep Snow Mesa silent!
Here’s the Rio Grande National Forest email.
Attention: Forest Supervisor Dennis Kuhnel
mailroom_r2_rio_grande@fs.fed.us
Divide Ranger District
13308 West US Hwy 160 Del Norte, CO 81132
Lastly, when I completed my recent Snow Mesa hike (after handing out four PB&BOYSENBERRY sandwiches to CT backpackers) I was passed by four dirt bikers heading up to the Mesa. On a steep section near the highway I watched as a Colorado Trail hiker jumped off the trail to let them pass. She wasn’t happy about this.
Motorcycles and hiker/horses are a bad combo. It’s multiple abuse. The noisy guys have to go.
Help me, the pikas, the CT and CDT backpackers and the horse folks out
Thank you in advance,
Jeff
