Celebrating 75 Years at The Ranch

Written by Jojo Morrison

Coach and Norma Walker opened Trojan Ranch in 1947 to provide a place for kids to stay active and have fun. The good clean wholesome fun that stays with you for a lifetime. Summer 2022 marks 75 years of providing a child-focused outdoor experience where the core values still stand as creating wholesome good fun for kids of all ages.

Looking back over the last 75 years, we have thought about what makes Trojan Ranch, now Colorado Mountain Ranch, so unique and how we can continue the legacy for future generations while preserving our past.

To mark this momentous occasion, we would like to turn our efforts toward the past and the future by professionally preserving and archiving 75 years of photographic history. This includes thousands of Coach Walker's original film slides, 8mm and 16mm films and over 40 years of photograph yearbooks. The history and stories enshrined in the photographic history of the Ranch is priceless. Preserving it for the future would be a great way to honor Coach Walker and all the staff and campers who called The Ranch home. With the primary intention of making the photographic history available to our 75 years of Alumni.

This goal gets more and more serious every year as the threat of fire danger increases in the Rocky Mountains. When the Ranch receives the notice to begin evacuating the three main areas, we turn our attention: the kids, the horses and the photo albums.

Buried within the boxes and boxes of slides and film are Coach Walker’s photographs of pools around the country in the 1950s to gain inspiration for the pool at Trojan Ranch. He also documented the excavation and building of the pool at CMR in the 50s. The creation of the Ranch Pool was a big deal then, and throughout its lifetime, it continued to be a big deal for campers and staff alike. Because of this and to continue Coach’s legacy, we want to rebuild the camp Pool.

The Ranch Pool was built in the 1950s and was functional till 2010. However, after the Fourmile Canyon Fire of 2010 that devastated the Main camp area and the Corral all efforts were turned towards rebuilding main camp. Now, after surviving fire, flood and a pandemic, it is time to rebuild the pool. As you can imagine, this huge endeavor will take time and money.

The goal is to raise enough money to cover costs for professional archiving of the Ranch’s photographic history and to rebuild the pool.

As many of you know, the last few years have been very challenging for the Ranch. The main goal has been to keep the Ranch afloat and make it through the pandemic. We could not have made it without the help, support and encouragement of the CMR community. Now we ask our community to come together again, but this time in excitement for the future, for what the next 75 years hold for the Ranch.

The pandemic has also kept us apart, while 2022 marks our 75th summer of Summer Camp, it just didn't feel safe enough to host a large event. However, we hope that in summer 2023, when things feel safer, we can have a truly fantastic event to celebrate the 75 years of CMR.

Our first goal is to raise $10,000 to archive the photographic Ranch history professionally. This includes making photos, films and slides available to the public (and maybe even by year! You will finally be able to find yourself!) Once we have reached that goal, any additional funds raised will go towards the New Pool Rebuild Fund.

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

• As we celebrate 75 years of Summer Camp, we also want to preserve your stories. Did you know you can submit your camp stories and photos to our CMR website?

• Click the link on "Our Story" then click "Your Stories".

• To submit large donations or only donate to the New Pool Fund, please email The Ranch directly.