Colorado celebrated its 150th anniversary on Aug. 1 in innumerable ways, including the ambitious attempt to place around 500 people on the summits of the state’s highest peaks, such as Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs, and Mount Blue Sky, in Clear Creek County.

Tribal blessings were offered at Pikes Peak in Ute territory and at Mount Blue Sky, which was renamed in 2023 to remove the name of the disgraced territorial governor whose policies led to the Sand Creek Massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people, mostly women, children and the elderly, in 1864.

Ernest House Jr., an enrolled member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe who helped organize the ascents by Native American hikers, said the blessing was less about the hiking than about the future. “It’s about the next 150 years, and humanity in general at a 30,000-foot level. How best to do that than at the top of these mountains?”

Photojournalist Cheney Orr joined the Mount Blue Sky hike, which began around 2 a.m. Here are some of our favorite images from the trip. You can also watch the video on our Instagram. 

A group of hikers with headlamps walk on a dark mountain at night, with city lights visible in the distant background.
Members of a tribal youth hiking team hike in the darkness early on Aug. 1 to reach the summit of Mount Blue Sky, with the city lights visible in the distance.
A group of five hikers are illumined by headlamps on a mountain at night. Three of them are sitting, two of them are standing. Tobacco smoke, lit by a headlamp rises above them.
Hikers share rolled tobacco as they take a break from making their way to the summit of Mount Blue Sky.
A man holds a feathered staff, illumined by a headlamp on a dark mountain. A mountain ridge is silhouetted behind him.
Cheyenne Arapaho artist Lewis TallBull, 40, is illuminated by another hiker’s headlamp as he ascends the peak.
A group of hikers with headlamps walk on a dark mountain at night, with pre-dawn light beginning to illuminate the surrounding mountains, rocky terrain and valley below.
The sky begins to brighten as members of a tribal youth hiking team approach the summit of Mount Blue Sky.
Person wrapped in a floral blanket stands on rocky terrain at dusk, looking toward a colorful horizon with dark mountains in the distance.
A hiker stands on a ridge and looks out across the plains before the final ascent of Mount Blue Sky.
Five hikers stand on the Mount Blue Sky summit at sunrise, with one holding a staff aloft. The group looks toward distant mountain ranges beneath a glowing orange horizon.
Hikers celebrate after reaching the summit of Mount Blue Sky just before a sunrise blessing. The group included Ute, Pueblo, Yaqui, Mexika, Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho and Northern Arapaho tribal members, many of them strangers hiking together.
Two people stand on rocky terrain, playing hand drums at dawn. The sky is partially cloudy with rocky terrain behind them
Tribal youth play drums and chant minutes before the sun became visible over the Eastern Plains.
A young man with a feather in his long hair, a tattoo on his arm and hickeys on neck stands as he passes rolled tobacco to a seated person wearing a red and green patterned poncho. Both outdoors near a stone building and rocky terrain.
Hikers share rolled tobacco after reaching the summit of Mount Blue Sky just before a sunrise blessing.
Three people stand on a mountain at sunrise; one holds a staff with feathers, while the others look out over the landscape.
Lewis TallBullmholds a feathered staff at the summit of Mount Blue Sky during the blessing.
Person holding a stick with a bird head sculpture, seated outdoors on rocky ground at sunrise; other people are sitting in the background.
Joseph Fletcher, 15, holds a staff topped with a bird’s head during the blessing.
A person stands next to the Mount Blue Sky Interpretive Area sign at sunrise, holding a flag and feathers, with rocky terrain and distant mountains visible.
Standing near a sign noting the Mount Blue Sky Interpretive Area in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, tribal historian Chester Whiteman, 71, holds the flag of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. He is a descendant of Sand Creek Massacre victims.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Cheney Orr is a photojournalist for The Colorado Sun, via Report for America.