Note: This article was published in the September/October 2004 issue of Legacy, and is posted here shortly after the passing of Enda Mills Kiley.
by Paul Caputo
Enda Mills Kiley, pictured here in 2004, holds a photo of her father.
Longs Peak is not the tallest mountain in Colorado. That honor goes to Mount Elbert, which, at 14,433 feet, stands 178 feet taller than Longs. In fact, there are 14 mountains taller than Longs Peak in Colorado. But as you approach the Rockies from the east, Longs Peak seems to stand alone. While many of Colorado’s other tallest mountains are clustered together, reducing the effect of their height, Longs Peak towers over every other mountain for nearly 40 miles in any direction.
Not long ago, I was charged with the enjoyable task of videotaping an interview with Enda Mills Kiley, the 86-year-old daughter of renowned interpreter, author, naturalist, photographer, and architect (to name a few possible titles) Enos Mills. Enda lives in a retirement community that practically sits in the shadow of Longs Peak in Estes Park, Colorado, neighbor to the national park her father campaigned so vigorously to establish, Rocky Mountain National Park. She speaks with enthusiasm and clarity about the work Mills did, the principles he espoused, and the landscape he held dear during an impressive career in a field that would come to be known as interpretation.
Most of what Enda knows about her father comes from what she has read. He died when she was only three. She has studied her father’s writings and has contributed her own passion to the field of interpretation. Her fervor for and knowledge of the landscape Enos helped preserve is worthy of the daughter of a man who presided over the opening ceremonies of Rocky Mountain National Park. She told me over lunch that the best thing I could do for the intellectual and emotional well-being of my six-month-old son is to get him outdoors and in tune with nature. (“Better than any toy you could buy for him,” she said.)
I had been asked simply to videotape an interview Tom Danton, a friend of the Mills family and retired chief of interpretation at Saguaro National Monument, was conducting with Enda for a video on NAI’s 50th anniversary directed by NAI member David Kronk. As soon as the interview started, I was drawn in. Since I started working at NAI almost three years ago, I have heard the name and seen the work of Enos Mills, and it was a thrill to hear the man’s daughter speak with such obvious enthusiasm about why we should all appreciate nature and operate according to our deepest principles the way he did.
I visited Mills’ cabin that day. I briefly met his granddaughter Elizabeth and his great granddaughter Eryn, who operate tours of the tiny cabin he built at the base of Longs Peak. Among other artifacts on display at the cabin are newspaper articles about Mills and his interaction with the U.S. government, including meetings with presidents Taft and Roosevelt. The exhibit drives home the importance of Mills as a historical figure, but it is the existence of this pocket of wilderness itself that drives home the importance of understanding that history in the first place.
Experiencing some of the history of Longs Peak and its surroundings changed my perspective on it forever. What I once thought of simply as the 15th tallest mountain in Colorado and the centerpiece of Rocky Mountain National Park has become, in my mind, the backdrop for an important and interesting story. It is not only a place where a young nature enthusiast fought to protect a landscape he found beautiful, and in the process of doing so, helped found a profession. It is a place where, generations later, there are people of all ages—from six months to 86 years—who benefit from the resource and are charged with continuing its stewardship.
I see Longs Peak every day as I drive to and from work, but as I pulled out of Estes Park that day with the mountain in my rear-view mirror, it looked different to me. It somehow looked taller than I remembered.
History in the Making
Note: This article was published in the September/October 2004 issue of Legacy, and is posted here shortly after the passing of Enda Mills Kiley.
by Paul Caputo
Enda Mills Kiley, pictured here in 2004, holds a photo of her father.
Longs Peak is not the tallest mountain in Colorado. That honor goes to Mount Elbert, which, at 14,433 feet, stands 178 feet taller than Longs. In fact, there are 14 mountains taller than Longs Peak in Colorado. But as you approach the Rockies from the east, Longs Peak seems to stand alone. While many of Colorado’s other tallest mountains are clustered together, reducing the effect of their height, Longs Peak towers over every other mountain for nearly 40 miles in any direction.
Not long ago, I was charged with the enjoyable task of videotaping an interview with Enda Mills Kiley, the 86-year-old daughter of renowned interpreter, author, naturalist, photographer, and architect (to name a few possible titles) Enos Mills. Enda lives in a retirement community that practically sits in the shadow of Longs Peak in Estes Park, Colorado, neighbor to the national park her father campaigned so vigorously to establish, Rocky Mountain National Park. She speaks with enthusiasm and clarity about the work Mills did, the principles he espoused, and the landscape he held dear during an impressive career in a field that would come to be known as interpretation.
Most of what Enda knows about her father comes from what she has read. He died when she was only three. She has studied her father’s writings and has contributed her own passion to the field of interpretation. Her fervor for and knowledge of the landscape Enos helped preserve is worthy of the daughter of a man who presided over the opening ceremonies of Rocky Mountain National Park. She told me over lunch that the best thing I could do for the intellectual and emotional well-being of my six-month-old son is to get him outdoors and in tune with nature. (“Better than any toy you could buy for him,” she said.)
I had been asked simply to videotape an interview Tom Danton, a friend of the Mills family and retired chief of interpretation at Saguaro National Monument, was conducting with Enda for a video on NAI’s 50th anniversary directed by NAI member David Kronk. As soon as the interview started, I was drawn in. Since I started working at NAI almost three years ago, I have heard the name and seen the work of Enos Mills, and it was a thrill to hear the man’s daughter speak with such obvious enthusiasm about why we should all appreciate nature and operate according to our deepest principles the way he did.
I visited Mills’ cabin that day. I briefly met his granddaughter Elizabeth and his great granddaughter Eryn, who operate tours of the tiny cabin he built at the base of Longs Peak. Among other artifacts on display at the cabin are newspaper articles about Mills and his interaction with the U.S. government, including meetings with presidents Taft and Roosevelt. The exhibit drives home the importance of Mills as a historical figure, but it is the existence of this pocket of wilderness itself that drives home the importance of understanding that history in the first place.
Experiencing some of the history of Longs Peak and its surroundings changed my perspective on it forever. What I once thought of simply as the 15th tallest mountain in Colorado and the centerpiece of Rocky Mountain National Park has become, in my mind, the backdrop for an important and interesting story. It is not only a place where a young nature enthusiast fought to protect a landscape he found beautiful, and in the process of doing so, helped found a profession. It is a place where, generations later, there are people of all ages—from six months to 86 years—who benefit from the resource and are charged with continuing its stewardship.
I see Longs Peak every day as I drive to and from work, but as I pulled out of Estes Park that day with the mountain in my rear-view mirror, it looked different to me. It somehow looked taller than I remembered.
Posted in Commentaries
Tags: architect, author, Colorado, David Kronk, Enda Mills Kiley, Enos Mills, Estes Park, interpretation, interpreter, interview, Longs Peak, Mount Elbert, NAI, national park, naturalist, photographer, Rockies, Rocky Mountain National Park, Roosevelt, Saguaro National Monument, stewardship, story, Taft, tallest mountain, Tom Danton