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Now that summer tourist season is almost upon us, we can expect the usual deluge of publications which guide the vacationer toward choice spots -- lakes, campgrounds, fishing streams, hiking trails, etc.
However, no matter which Guide to a Significant, Awesome and Secluded Rocky Mountain Experience you decide to read, you should know that the best places have been deliberately omitted.
Why? I'll explain from my own experience. A decade ago,
newly arrived in Salida as managing editor of the local
daily, I discovered that one of my duties was assembling
the annual special edition for tourists, Summer
Fun.
So I extolled the diverse attractions of this area, giving great attention to the places that I liked myself, to those that my colleagues enjoyed, to spots I heard other local people talking about.
Summer Fun
came out at the end of May, and by the
middle of July, I was about as popular as an IRS auditor
among those very people.
The publisher wondered why I had to mention Xxxxx Creek
as a spot where brookies teemed. It was
shoulder-to-shoulder fishermen last weekend,
he
complained. I could barely find a place to cast from,
and the creek has been fished out anyway. It'll take me
years to find another place as nice as Xxxxx Creek
was.
A friend in town moaned that the Xxxxx Trail, a scenic
delight which had been his favorite getaway because he had
the whole place to himself, now looked like the marching
route for a mass migration of Boulderites in backpacks.
You'd have a better chance of finding some peace and
solitude if you went to a disco,
he growled.
When I ventured to my own favorite camping spot, a secluded little glen just off the Xxxxx Road, I discovered it had three tents, two pickup campers, several Winnebagos, lots of trash and no firewood.
Since the place had always been empty in years before, I
inquired of one of the campers. He pulled out a copy of
Summer Fun
and showed me my very own words, about
how there was this wonderful camping spot about four miles
up the Xxxxx Road from Xxxxx, which offered a tumbling
creek, superlative views, etc.
I learned my lesson. That was the last time I ever tried
full disclosure
when putting out a tourist
publication. Every year thereafter, I polled my friends and
the newspaper staff as to whether they had any favorite
haunts in the nearby mountains.
Those places were of course omitted. It's not that I had anything against serving the tourist public, but we gave our visitors ample information about dozens of attractions. It only seemed fair that we reserve a few for ourselves.
Policies may have changed at Summer Fun
since my
departure five years ago, but the practice is reasonably
widespread. I discovered that last month. I had written an
article for a mountain magazine which must remain
nameless.
The editor had some questions. As we were talking, I mentioned Xxxxx Pass as possibly worth an article someday.
Oh no,
he said. That's one of my favorite
places, and as long as I'm here, there won't be word one
about it in this magazine. We're keeping that to ourselves,
and I'd sure appreciate it if you never wrote about Xxxxx
Pass for anyone else.
I said I understood perfectly, although this leads to
mixed feelings. You enjoy montane tranquillity and so you
want to keep your discoveries to yourself. But as a writer,
you have to keep finding new things to write about if
you're going to make a living. And there's nothing that
many editors like more than an article about some new and
undiscovered
spot.
On that account, I used to worry whenever I picked up a tourist guide, or visited the bookstore and saw some new Guide to 3,714 Previously Unpublicized Trails, Campsites, Creeks, Passes & Peaks.
But so far, my fears have been groundless. My favorite spots haven't appeared in print. When I have a chance to ask the authors, they will confess that they started out with good intentions. They planned to be honest and forthright.
Along the way, though, they learned the same lesson I did ten years ago. Self-interest got the better of them, and they left out the truly good places. For which we should all be grateful.
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