{"id":2458093,"date":"2020-05-05T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sean-beckwith-staying-current\/"},"modified":"2020-05-05T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T05:12:00","slug":"sean-beckwith-staying-current","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sean-beckwith-staying-current\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Beckwith: Staying current"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"413\" height=\"620\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/beckwith-atd-032719pdf-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/beckwith-atd-032719pdf-1.jpg 413w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/03\/beckwith-atd-032719pdf-1-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">\u201cWe\u2019re here for the North Star float. Williams, party of 15.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">With everyone polishing up their post-apocalyptic screenplays, I thought I\u2019d offer an unsettling vision of a different kind of future, one where Aspen mirrors whatever town \u201cFootloose\u201d was set in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Though I\u2019ve never seen the preeminent Kevin Bacon film, I get the gist. Old people don\u2019t like loud music or people laughing and dancing so they outlaw fun. The changes made at the nature preserve \u2014 eliminating parking at the take-out and moving it up to the paragliding landing zone \u2014 are likely the first of many changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Much like Hanging Lake, which I don\u2019t care about because it\u2019s just a hike and there are a million of those in the area, we\u2019ll probably see some kind of reservation\/shuttle system established.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I understand wanting to preserve the preserve, but name another float option. And before you name all of these stretches of river, let me reemphasize float. Some people go to the water park to relax in the lazy river, and some go for the wave pool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">There\u2019s always a death or two in area rapids during rafting season so pardon me if I prefer my recreation to be as fatality-free as possible. You have this river waterpark in Basalt with man-made waves. so why can\u2019t the inverse be done?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I liked \u201cRocket Power\u201d as much as the next X Games-obsessed \u201990s kid but sometimes I prefer alcohol in my veins to adrenaline. (Unfortunately, Nickelodeon cut the episode where Reggie and Squid try Twister\u2019s dad\u2019s stash so yet another teaching moment missed.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The reason North Star is so popular is accessibility, location and difficulty. You can squeeze in a trip before an afternoon shift or after a 9-to-5 without having to bring life jackets or helmets or worrying about river water in your beer. If there was another option*, people might go there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I know I get frustrated with Stillwater so I can only imagine parks officials are extremely fatigued by the complaints and parking issues. Like, seriously people, how are you shocked that the take-out and put-in are busy between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I can empathize with residents who live on the water about music and trash issues because A. We were taught not to litter in grade school and B. You\u2019re not Kid Cudi, you don\u2019t need a soundtrack to your life. But getting upset that people are laughing and playing around while floating on a river is like getting mad that your house gets pelted by golf balls when you live off the fairway No. 2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Maybe I haven\u2019t looked hard enough but I feel like if there was a float comparable to North Star near Aspen I would\u2019ve heard about it. Don\u2019t get mad at the people having a good time; get mad at your realtor who opted for that commission check over sharing an all-important detail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOh, by the way, before we close of this multimillion-dollar deal, just wanted to let you know the house is on a stretch of river that is packed during the summer months. But you know what they say, \u2018Come for the winter, stay for the eight-week stretch of warm weather we call summer!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Unfortunately, there isn\u2019t a real solution to the problem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If you try to mess with the river elsewhere, people are going to complain about messing up wildlife habitat or a portion of Gold Medal fly-fishing waters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A reservation system could work in theory but I worry about it turning into a Cloud 9-at-Highlands situation where you\u2019re booking months in advance and even then you have to account for weather holding up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Asking people to police themselves and respect the river didn\u2019t work because, I don\u2019t know, people suck. There has already been a letter to the editor complaining about North Star and it\u2019s the first week of May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">My solution to Stillwater is pretty much my solution to the Entrance to Aspen: Just leave it. Don\u2019t try to fix it. Educate people so they know what they\u2019re getting into.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If you don\u2019t want to sit in traffic, take the bus. If you don\u2019t want to jockey for parking at North Star, find a different float or a better time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Occasionally, you\u2019re just SOL. There is no cake and eating it too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">So I\u2019ll leave you with some advice from John Beckwith:<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019d like to be pimps from Oakland or cowboys from Arizona but it\u2019s not Halloween. Grow up, Peter Pan, Count Chocula.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">*I would get into the lack of public pools in Aspen but who knows if pools are even opening this summer or if the city of Aspen is aware of the concept of a public pool. Also, the W Hotel rooftop pool doesn\u2019t count. I\u2019m not risking whatever international STD is floating around in there just to take a dip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">Sean Beckwith is a copy editor at The Aspen Times. Reach him at <a href=\"mailto:sbeckwith@aspentimes.com\">sbeckwith@aspentimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/opinion\/sean-beckwith-staying-current\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe\u2019re here for the North Star float. Williams, party of 15.\u201d With everyone polishing up their post-apocalyptic screenplays, I thought I\u2019d offer an unsettling vision of a different kind of future, one where Aspen mirrors whatever town \u201cFootloose\u201d was set in. Though I\u2019ve never seen the preeminent Kevin Bacon film, I get the gist. Old [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 18:59:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}