You’ve got to be going to Walden to get there, and the 12th annual Barn and Outhouse Tour, sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Library today, is the perfect reason to go. Call 970-723-4602 to sign up for the 48-mile round trip, which begins at 12:30 p.m. at the Hanson Park Gazebo, concludes with barbecue in the school cafeteria, and costs $15 per person. (For an extra buck, you can ride the school bus.)
If you go, look both ways before crossing Main Street so you won’t get run over by moose, antelope, bighorn sheep, black bear or mountain lion stalking whitetail deer grazing on the courthouse lawn. There are no stoplights in Walden, where wildlife outnumber the 732 residents and a 15-point elk head guards a bowl of Jolly Rancher candies at the modest Chamber of Commerce. Benches in front of the post office are made from an Engleman Spruce that was the White House Christmas tree in 1990.
The old high school accommodates 180 K-12 students, and while it’s always a stretch to recruit an eight-man football team, the 1A Wildcats have gone to state in boys and girls basketball and volleyball five years running. Walden boasts five churches, three gas stations, one plumber, a bowling alley that serves “really good” sandwiches, and a graduating class that this year sent a girl to Annapolis and a boy to West Point. – Sureva Towler, special the The Denver Post
Getting there: Walden is 143 miles (about three hours) from Denver. Take Interstate 70 west to Exit 232 and head north on U.S. 40 to Hot Sulphur Springs, where Colorado 125 north provides 55 miles of spectacular scenery before entering Walden.
