The Roaring Fork Rope Bridge Adventure

April 29th, 2007
By SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist

I republish this tribute each year on the anniversary of my friend’s death.

I have a lifetime of wonderful memories of Rochelle, from the first time we met at a party when we were high school seniors to her radiant presence at my sisterâ€™s birthday celebration last November. We had many adventures over those 40 years, but Iâ€™ve recalled one in particular since her passing. Letâ€™s call it the Great Roaring Fork Rope Bridge Adventure.

First some background: The Roaring Fork River starts near Aspen, Colorado and runs undisturbed, which is to say undammed, to its confluence with the Colorado River some 70 miles north near Glenwood Springs. The Roaring Fork is a river of many personalities as it wanders through meanders created over the millennia. At its source above Aspenâ€™s toney chalets, it is a rivulet. At its terminus near the Glenwood cemetery where â€œDocâ€ Holliday of â€œShootout at OK Corralâ€ fame is buried, it is fairly wide, comparatively docile and navigable by raft and shallow draft boat.

At more or less the halfway point in the aspen and pine forests above the village of Carbondale, the Roaring Fork more than lives up to its name as it shoots through a basalt and limestone canyon. This is where our adventure unfolded in August of 1978.

The Roaring Fork Valley was a second home of sorts for Rochelle. She lived in Carbondale during the period when, as the joke went, it was first attracting the attention of the millionaires who were being driven out of Aspen by the billionaires. On her return visits, she was treated like royalty by the many friends she had made. She couldnâ€™t pay for a coffee at the Village Smithy or a beer at the Hollywood Saloon.

Please click here to read more at Kiko’s House.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 29th, 2007 at 12:37 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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