Over the course of 10 days in May, local naturalist and writer, India Wood, embarked on a diagonal hike across the Denver metro region. She had already hiked the first known “X” through Colorado from 2020-2022, traversing 1,500 miles of farms, ranches, and forests across the state. This time around, she wanted to see where much of Colorado’s population lives and works along the front range – by foot. Given that she was going to walk through each of SCFD’s seven counties, Wood decided to raise awareness of the district as she walked. So, she set off on her journey from Parker to Boulder armed with an SCFD banner for her backpack and a pocketful of SCFD stickers to share with residents along the way.

Wood’s first encounter with the SCFD began in an unlikely place: a cattle ranch in northwestern Colorado. It was there where she discovered the fossil of an Allosaurus whom she dubbed Alice when she was 12 years old. At the age of 16, she reached out to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science about the dinosaur. The museum hired her to help excavate the remainder of the skeleton over the course of two summers. The Allosaurus now stands at the center of the museum’s Prehistoric Journey exhibition, which was supported by SCFD funding when it first opened its doors in 1995. Wood was there at the exhibition’s ribbon cutting. Since then, she has been a staunch supporter of arts, culture, and science programming here in Colorado.

Wood kicked off her diagonal district hike where the sidewalk ended in a southern suburb of Parker. SCFD’s Communications Manager, Emma Mantooth, joined Wood for the first six miles of her journey through the region.

“Just those first six miles contained gorgeous views of the front range, conversations with passers-by about SCFD and life in their neighborhoods, and lots of India’s interesting insights and stories from her previous hikes across the state,” Mantooth shared. “SCFD is proud to have supporters like India who feel so strongly about exploring the world around us and uplifting culture in our community.”

Wood continued her journey through Parker and then on through Centennial, Greenwood Village, Denver, Arvada, Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, and finally Boulder. She hiked both solo and with friends new and old throughout her route, weaving along roads and suburban sidewalks. Along the way, Wood even visited a few SCFD-funded organizations. Highlights of her pit stops included sitting in the cockpits of old airplanes at Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight and interacting with the sculpture garden at the Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities. By the time she reached the end of her route in Boulder, she had hiked 85 miles across the district, visited seven SCFD-funded organizations, and conversed with numerous district residents.

“I was surprised at how varied the Denver metro area is from place to place, with warehouse districts, suburbs, industrial zones, open space, dense city, office parks, airports, roads and more roads, strip malls, parking lots, and golf courses.” Wood said, after finishing her hike. “The one constant was that people were pretty friendly to this hiker swinging along with her poles and backpack.”

Thanks to India Wood for raising awareness of SCFD on her hike, and congratulations to her on a successful journey!