The legend of William 'Ivy' Baldwin starts when he was just 12-years-old when he ran away with the circus. He learned how to be a tightrope walker as well as a balloonist while he was in the circus. Ivy Baldwin was brought to Denver by John Elitch to perform at Elitch Gardens. He fell in Colorado and decided to stay. Ivy was only 14-years-old when he first crossed Eldorado Canyon on a tightrope wearing cloth shoes with resin soles and a 10 pound 26-foot pole with 1 pound knobs on each side. Get our free mobile app The Colorado daredevil was 582 feet high when he performed this famous act across Eldorado Canyon near Boulder, Colorado. Ivy Baldwin would go on to cross the same canyon over 80 times until he was forced to stop by his family because he never wanted to quit.