The Valley on Its Own Terms

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 07:10:01 GMT · 19:48

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## About this episode
The pilot of Back in the Boat opens with the springs, the Fremont, and the Nuche — the deep-time and pre-contact history of the Yampa Valley, assembled from the written record. It's careful about what's known, what's inferred, and what's still owed to the people whose history it is.

## In this episode
- A disclosure: AI-assisted production, and a placeholder standing in for Nuche testimony
- The geology of the valley — around 150 springs, Steamboat Spring's lost chug, and the worms of Sulphur Cave
- Sorting out which spring is which: the named one by the river vs. Old Town Hot Springs
- The Fremont culture — sedentary farmers, granaries, rock art, and their unexplained departure
- A correction to an earlier version of the episode: 1839, not 1820
- The Nuche, the Yamparika band, and the valley as seasonal medicine ground
- Colorado booming while this valley stayed quiet — and the ages of the neighboring towns

## Hosts
- Marv Sundstrom