Though the Lobatos Bridge is rated for 8 tons, it carries with it the weight of 10,000 years of human history.
The iron bridge spans a migration corridor that seemingly echoes with the ghosts of stories on the canyon walls archiving the stay of generations of humans as they followed the Rio Grande from the South all the way to and from the Gulf of Mexico.
Ancient petroglyphs are found in pockets all along the canyon walls from here to Taos, like graffiti of the ancients.
Chokecherry orchards and fish fed them and rattlesnakes kept them alert.
If you ask Ken Salazar, he’ll tell you all about it. On a morning hike through the willows and into the tall grass along a still Rio Grande, Salazar led a long group to the site of where a chokecherry orchard once stood Friday morning.
The chokecherry trees were torn out sometime in the early 1970s, he said. “They’d been cut down to the floor, piled up and burned.” It was a time before land management and were perhaps cut down to help grazing.
When he and his brothers, LeRoy and John, were young they carried chokecherries by the bucketfull. Just as they suspected those before them had.
“You kinda reminisce about what it used to be.”
He spoke to a small group of hikers that included the state director for the Bureau of Land Management Doug Vilsack about the importance of the Lobatos Bridge area. And why celebrating and its newly added recreational enhancements was important to the cultural history of the San Luis Valley.
Not only is its history important to the area, but its access to outdoor recreation like hiking, fishing, hunting, floating, or simply for its access alone is key to the whole project behind the Lobatos Bridge Outdoor Classroom and Recreation Enhancement Project.
With the addition of quality and accessible outdoor recreation amenities to the area, it aims to preserve but open the area to new people and outdoor recreation opportunities.
Friday’s hike of history with Salazar and his family was just the preamble for a gathering of Valley, State and Federal officials and locals to celebrate an outdoor enhancement project that, truly, has been in the making for 40 years.
Over the past three years, the Great Outdoors Fund, along with Great Outdoors Colorado and a host of other sponsors and collaborators, have raised funds to improve the area for outdoor recreation. Lobatos Bridge connects Costilla and Conejos Counties and the improvements and additions are looking to boost outdoor recreation tourism to both counties.
San Luis Valley Great Outdoors Executive Director Mick Daniel talked about how this project fits into the greater goal of improving access to the Rio Grande. “We want to ensure that people have access to get to the river. I think it’s just an incredible piece that sometimes we forget about: our attachment to water as people.”
Benches sit under trees in nice shade, right along the river and a concrete boat ramp leads right to the water’s edge.
“The ability to put your feet in the water and play is just an amazing thing,” he said.
The viewing area near the parking lot is lined with small bronze sculptures and interpretive signs designed by local designer Kelly Ortiz. These signs tell the history of the Valley in an almost 360-degree fashion. Looking all around you are given a piece of the Valley’s vast history and its role in many significant events in history. The bronze sculptures present many of the local animals and they were all sculpted by local art students.
“Please understand that many years have passed since this beautiful land was inhabited by our ancestors and our stories will help to shape the future,” said Lawrence Pacheco, Open Space and Youth Programs Coordinator for Costilla County.
It was important for there to be places that pass along history so those who don’t know can understand how the Valley’s peoples, past and present, have “survived and even thrived in this harsh yet beautiful environment.”
He went on, “I’d like to have all of you reach out to people in order to learn the oral history that’s been passed on for generations. This will encourage all of us to learn more and ask questions about our own heritage, be proud of it and share it with our families, friends and visitors so that the story never dies.”
The general sense was that the 50 or so people who were gathered to celebrate this opening was one of the largest gatherings of people here in a long, long time.
“This location has a particularly rich and complicated history that spans thousands of years,” said Dale Culver, manager of BLM’s SLV Field Office in a release. “This is a spectacular achievement for the public, our community partners, and the BLM.”
One of the Valley’s largest sections of BLM land is right in this corridor and the agency has also wanted to see the bridge area enhanced for some time, Vilsack said.
Vilsack observed the project’s emphasis on younger people and its involvement for kids. “It’s amazing to picture what this will look like in the coming years as we have more of an opportunity for young people to get out here, explore the canyons, and really just enjoy this amazing landscape we’re all privileged to be in.”
