Remember when you were in grade school and learned (or at least attempted to learn) all of the states and their capital cities? Well it probably wasn’t on any test, but Crested Butte is known as the Wildflower Capital of Colorado. We have fields full of flowers on every trail easily accessible to everyone. We even have a Wildflower Festival to celebrate all the beautiful blossoms out at this time of year. In the spirit of the festival, the Adaptive Sports Center set up a photography day with a group from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. This group is comprised of six high school age kids with various disabilities including Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy and above-knee amputation. With diagnoses such as these, some of the kids relied on walkers or prosthetic limbs, but that didn’t slow them down as they maneuvered over roots and rocks with more enthusiasm than some mountain bikers who shared the same trail. Armed with digital cameras and then challenged to capture whatever they thought was unique, interesting or beautiful, these six kids showed through the lens their own unique view of Crested Butte. The three adult therapists who accompanied the kids also took part in the fun! I tagged along with the group to get photos of the day. Witnessing the group explore for the first time a trail I had been down a hundred times was an eye-opening experience. Wildflowers are common in Crested Butte, but seeing the local landscape through the eyes of six kids from New York City reawakened my own wonder and appreciation for the scenery. Trees and flowers I have walked by a million times suddenly had a new beauty after seeing it from another person’s point of view. I was even happy to see some of the kids staring in their own photos, their smiling faces only making the mountain backdrop more stunning.
