On the Colorado Trail with Zane Grey and The Mysterious Rider

Abstract

The Mysterious Rider was published in 1921, but the origin of the story came four years earlier during Zane Grey’s 1917 trip to Colorado. Some of Grey’s most memorable writing about the joys of fishing, hunting, and travel amidst spectacular scenery came from this adventure. The “Colorado Trails” chapter of Tales of Lonely Trails (1922) is about this trip, and it is one of the favorite passages of Terry Bolinger, longtime president of Zane Grey’s West Society. Terry once remarked that those descriptions of Colorado, and Trappers Lake in particular, fueled his initial interest in Grey and caused him to attend his first Society convention.