Book Club Hiking & Adventure Group

A spellbinding and darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an unusual boy, whose family lives on the fringe of society and struggles to survive in a hostile world that shuns and fears them. He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his aunt Libby and uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixed blood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his aunt and uncle, or if he fits with the people on the other side of the tracks.

Let's discuss "Mongrels" while hiking the upper trails of Mt Falcon. At the release of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, the author kept talking about how the characters in Mongrels were his favorite. Let's find out why!

Copies of the book are available from the Denver Public Library.

We'll meet at the kiosk by the vault toilets at 6am, starting down the trail at 6:15am. Sunrise is at 5:43am so we'll have plenty of light. We'll go to the ruins, the Summer White House, Two Dog Trail, Devils Elbow, and up to the Tower. 5.1 miles, not a huge elevation gain (few hundred feet?). 2mph pace, not super fast since we'll be discussing the book.

https://www.jeffco.us/DocumentCenter/View/19619/Mount-Falcon-Park-map

I prefer to hike without pets or children.

You'll want normal hiking stuff, hat, water, sunglasses.

Market Street Madam tells the story of Annie Ryan, a woman who is running a second-rate brothel in 1890s Denver with an eye toward expansion. By chance she encounters Lydia Chambers, a society woman suffering from a laudanum habit and a bad marriage, who owns a prized property on the infamous Market Street. Annie's fortunes at the brothel turn on her niece Pearl, a pretty young girl swept up in Denver's underworld of jealousy, booze, and vice--until murder stalks the good-time girls and puts everyone's future in doubt. A rollicking tale of blurred lines, flowing booze, played-out miners and upstairs girls, Market Street Madam delivers a compelling look at the intrigues of the Wild West, where women were enterprising and justice could be had . . . for a price.

Let's discuss "Market Street Madam" while walking from Union Station down Market Street and to any other possible nearby locations mentioned in the book.

Some planned stops:
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=96236
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=96234

Copies of the book are available from the Denver Public Library.

We'll meet inside Union Station, I'll post how to find me the morning of the event, but it will be inside Union Station. There's a Tattered Cover at Union Station, restrooms, coffee, etc. I'm not sure parking, as I often just ride the light rail, but being Sunday there is likely free street parking nearby.

2.8 mph pace, not super fast since we'll be discussing the book while also looking for referenced locations. I'm not sure distance, but it could be 5 miles as we work our way from LoDo to RiNo. While fiction, I believe it might be heavily inspired by Mattie Silks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattie_Silks

https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2023/12/15/women-market-street

I prefer to explore without pets or children.

You'll want normal hiking stuff, hat, water, sunglasses.

This is a multi-part event and requires registering with Jeffco Parks for Observatory access. We're combining talking about the book and a hike with looking through the telescope.

After a strange interstellar journey, Maskull, a man from Earth, awakens alone in a desert on the planet Tormance, seared by the suns of the binary star Arcturus. As he journeys northward, guided by a drumbeat, he encounters a world and its inhabitants like no other, where gender is a victory won at dear cost; where landscape and emotion are drawn into an accursed dance; where heroes are killed, reborn, and renamed; and where the cosmological lures of Shaping, who may be God, torment Maskull in his astonishing pilgrimage. At the end of his arduous and increasingly mystical quest waits a dark secret and an unforgettable revelation.

Let's discuss "A Voyage to Arcturus" while hiking Pine Valley Ranch, before going to to view to moon through the telescope at the Baehr Observatory. The 1920's science fiction novel likely influenced Baehr and the designers of the telescope.

Registration for the Observatory is at: https://secure.rec1.com/CO/jefferson-county-open-space/catalog?filter=c2VhcmNoPTM2OTQ4ODI=

The book is public domain, not sure if the libraries have it, used copies are inexpensive and it's free to download from sites like Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1329

We'll meet at the information kiosk down near the river at 6:00pm, starting down the trail at 6:15pm. Plan is to loop up the Park View Trail, across Strawberry Jack and then down Buckskin Gulch before returning to our vehicles (park in the uppermost lot) to get headlamps, chairs, jackets and such for the trip to the observatory. Looks to be about 4 miles, if we go at a 2.2mph pace we should have plenty of time for stops and to talk about the book. Sunset is 8:26pm, we'll start up to the observatory about 8:40pm.

https://www.jeffco.us/DocumentCenter/View/9381/Pine-Valley-Ranch-Park-Map?bidId=

I prefer to hike without pets or children.

You'll want normal hiking stuff, hat, water, sunglasses for the daylight part. A jacket, headlamp/ flashlight, and possibly a camp chair for the observatory section. We'll be both inside the observatory to look at the moon, but outside as well, looking at the night sky.