Colorado resident Jaylyn Gough was tired of seeing the Native American roots of the outdoor spaces she loved being ignored. She knew each of these natural icons had a history—one that didn’t start with the person they were now named after. To trace these spots back to their ancestral foundations, she launched the “Whose Land Are We Exploring On” campaign and set out to learn more about America’s most famous outdoor destinations.
She started with Mount Evans—she’d already climbed the 14,271-foot peak and knew some of its history. “I knew it was the closest 14er to Denver and that it was named for an important man in Colorado’s history,” Gough says. “It seemed like a good place to start.” The information she discovered shocked and saddened her...