About Jim Mayfield, who was one of the most remarkable human beings I had ever met. Jim arrived in Gunnison around 1972 or so, having cleaned himself up and completely reinventing himself from some extremely challenging circumstances in New Orleans. Jim started working at the Tune-up Bike shop, building bikes and tuning skis. He launched the mountain bike craze and would go on to be a bike racer, Zappa aficionado, and start the boomerang revival that swept through places like Gunnison, Crested Butte, Telluride, and who knows where else, building it into a viable boomerang business, marry well, and raise a beautiful family. Alas, Jim was taken from us much too early by a motorcycle accident. Rest in Peace, Jim, you were well loved and fondly remembered by all.
For those who care about such things, Tim is either sitting upon the red mudstone of the Moekopi Formation overlying the White Rim Sandstone, or on the mudstone of the Organ Rock Formation overlying the white Cedar Mesa Sandstone, it’s kinda hard to tell from this vantage point. However, I’m voting for the Organ Rock/Cedar Mesa interpretation myself.
For the next two days Tim and I found ways that we could scramble down into the interior canyons of the Maze and go exploring. Navigation really is a challenge in the Maze, and we had no topographic maps of the place so were encouraged to exhibit exquisite situational awareness. We found great panels of rock art – mostly pictographs- and big cottonwood trees in the fullness of autumn foliage, and even discovered occasional seeps and springs. Whilst walking down one particular side canyon we encountered a couple walking up from the Green River, where they had been floating down Labyrinth Canyon for several weeks. They were on a month-long float from Green River Utah down through Labyrinth and Cataract Canyons and taking out on Lake Powell. For as adventurous as Tim and I felt, these folks adventure made ours pale in comparison. Ever since encountering them I have wanted to repeat their journey. Perhaps I yet shall. On the fourth day Tim and I road and pushed our way back up the switchbacks, and returned to a world as mundane as the Maze is magical.
Postscript. Tim and I would over the years share some incredible multi-day adventures in the backcountry on skis and mtn bikes, including a remarkable 4 day ride from his front porch in Ft Collins to Steamboat Springs, 75 % of which was on dirt roads and single track trails across the Front Range and North Park. Adventures like these shared with friends like Tim are wealth beyond measure, and I have been a very rich man indeed.