A group of relay participants will walk from downtown Aspen to Buttermilk Ski Area on Tuesday evening to complete one leg of a monthlong, 3,900-mile journey across nearly 10 states for a “Carry the Load” event honoring fallen military personnel and first responders.

Anyone can join at the Aspen fire station at 6:30 p.m. for the walk, said organizer Dill Driscoll, who helped co-create the national relay nearly a decade ago.

The event is part of a nationwide effort to “bring the true meaning of Memorial Day” (part of the Carry the Load mission) and raise funds for programs and organizations that “support the military and first responders, families of the fallen heroes,” Driscoll said.

Aspen is the latest stop in this cohort’s zigzag relay journey throughout the Great Plains and Mountain West. The crew started at North Dakota on May 17 and made stops in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Utah before heading to Colorado, according to the schedule for the Mountain States relay team.

After walks in Grand Junction, Aspen, Basalt, the Denver area and Colorado Springs, they’ll head to Texas and Oklahoma before concluding the tour back in the Lone Star state. The group covers most of the miles by bus, with walking distances totaling between 5 and 20 miles across multiple stops each day.

Four other relay groups are also en route to Texas, where all participants will meet for the flagship Dallas Memorial March on May 29. Carry the Load began in Dallas in 2011 and has since expanded into a national relay that this year will cover 48 states in 32 days via five different relay routes.

The other routes covered the West Coast, Midwest, New England and East Coast regions; each route also included rallies, many of which have been scheduled at national cemeteries.

kwilliams@aspentimes.com