What a View
“…Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward…” Genesis 13:14
When I first stood on what would become our designated building site, I involuntarily spun in circles trying to take in all the views. Cooper Mountain to the southeast, the glorious red rock formations of Red Canyon Park to the northeast, the green garden park valley to the south, and the buff colored cliffs of the Shelf Road climbing area to the north. There is not one offending or ugly site as far as the eye can see.
La Cresta is a triangular 35 acre parcel situated approximately 10 miles north of the actual city of Canon City. A ragged cut of a road splits the parcel in the middle, winding through the red hillside like a native Red Racer snake slithering its way from Garden Park Road up to the park.
Watch Your Step
The northern portion, which we have claimed as a building site, is roughly 18 acres while the southern portion rounds out the rest. Both sections are traversed by deep, sandy arroyos, with the northern portion officially being the headwaters of Fourmile Creek, albeit running silently underground. These subtle, braided, dry stream beds still contain ancient material eroded from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, and serve as local highways for the myriad wildlife that reside here. Elk, deer, raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, with the occasional mountain lion or bear, leave these wide sandy stretches peppered with footprints. Every few years, torrential rains transform these docile paths into roaring rapids within minutes, uprooting trees and rudely displacing usually contented boulders. It’s even been known to wipe out the road on occasion.
You Spin Me Round
The western border abuts Red Canyon Park, famous for its hulking, bulbous, red sandstone features- ancient remnants of the Fountain Formation- the exact same prehistoric stuff as the famous Garden of the Gods and Red Rocks Amphitheater. These stalwart features morph all day with the varying sunlight and passing shadows, appearing to form and reform; like lava oozing from splits in the earth and cooling, over and over again. The land beyond Red Canyon Park is owned by the Bureau of Land Management, which essentially allows La Cresta direct access to thousands of acres of pristine public lands.
Along the southern border is the Shoemaker and Dilley Ranch property, for which a recent survey shows the fence line stealing not an inconsiderable amount of my land. I’ve been reticent to do anything about it and probably never will. This is an upscale residential development with 35-acre parcels and a rarely used agricultural lease that allows the affluent property owners in this subdivision to legally dodge property taxes and pretend they’re real cattlemen.
La Cresta shares its northeast border with a property owned by a young military couple who purchased their land shortly after we purchased ours. This border is not fenced but vaguely follows the aforementioned arroyo on the northern section. We’ve had limited but affable correspondence over the years and they seem like-minded in that, being not from here, they see and truly value the beauty and potential of this area. Having been avid Shelf Road climbers for years, they jumped at the opportunity to own a place so near one of their most cherished spots. Last I heard they were both deployed in Europe.
To this day, I still get dizzy when I stand on that first spot and have yet to find my favorite direction to view.
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