The Pole

If you’re planning a late-summer mushroom hunt or Hermosa Creek ride, be forewarned. The Hermosa Park Road, aka FR 578 – the one that parallels Purgatory’s backside – will be closed Aug. 19 – Sept. 13 so crews can replace culverts to accommodate reintroduced native Colorado River Cutthroat trout.

Bad news for hangover sufferers. That greasy burger and fries you reach for the morning after may actually compound your problems. According to a study by the CU Boulder – a school that knows a thing or two about hangovers, speaking from personal experience – a high-fat diet can make you even more anxious.

It’s time for one of Durango’s time-honored annual traditions. The Four Corners Gem and Mineral Show rolls into the La Plata County Fairgrounds on July 12-14. This will be the event’s 70th year, which is not exactly old in geological (or presidential) terms but certainly impressive by mere rock jock standards. 

Durango is the confluence of a lot of things: mountains and desert; new West and old. And next month, it will also be the confluence of good medicine. From July 10-13, Fort Lewis College hosts the 14th annual International Good Medicine Confluence, a gathering of “natural healers, nature lovers and culture-shifters from all over the world.”

The City of Durango’s park rangers have a new toy, er, tool in the rangering arsenal: a spiffed-up razer ATV.

Collaboration is all the rage – from music to fashion. And beer is no exception. Just in time to slake your summer thirst, Star Liquors is offering Skaterade, a skateboard-themed American lager made in collab with Telluride Brewing and The Boarding Haus.

In the scorching heat of June in 1977, atop a butte in Chaco Canyon, researcher and educator Anna Sofaer made a discovery that would unravel the astronomy of ancient America. Sofaer, who at the time was a volunteer recording rock art at a site known as Fajada Butte, noted three seemingly innocent stone slabs leaning against a cliff.

There will be a new voice at the helm of Animas River Days this weekend. Durangoan Chad Hare will be taking the mic from longtime master of ceremonies John Brennan, who MC-ed the event since time immemorial, or at least 1983.

“I’ve heard I have some big shoes to fill,” said Hare. “I am just kind of jumping in head first, eyes close. That’s my M.O.”

(For the record, the Telegraph does not condone jumping into the river, or any body of water, head first. And always wear your PFD.)