And I'm back...

I've been neglecting this blog in favor of business, family and otherwise, but mostly to enjoy the Colorado summer before it is gone.

One of the trips I took was to Trapper's Lake, one of the largest in the state, and also one of the most remote and scenic. At least it was scenic in Aug of 2002, the last time I was there. 2002 was one of the first big drought and wildfire summers in our new climate regime. Several nasty fires had sprung up already, and the sky in Boulder was relentlessly scorched and smoky all summer.

We were hoping to find some relief in the high country, and planned a family backpack trip looping south from Trappers into the Flattops Wilderness, a rolling plateau of lakes, forests and meadows. At 11,000 feet, we figured it would be high enough to be cool and lush despite the drought.

Unfortunately a fire had sprung up near Big Fish Lake, a valley just a few miles west of where we planned to hike. However, a call to the district ranger reassured us that recent cooler weather had calmed the fire down to the point where it was not a concern, and we proceeded as planned.

The hike was everything we had hoped for - cool temperatures, green forests and meadows, and limitless views from the plateau:

By our third day out, however, we began worrying about the smoke on the horizon, and thought it best to start heading back to the trailhead:

We camped at Parvin Lake, and the next morning it was clear that the fire had blown up. Worse, there is only one road out from Trappers, and the fire was heading toward it, possibly cutting us off.

When we got down on the valley floor by the lake, smoke from the fire was rolling over the ridge, turning the sky a dark, evil-looking red. Even more disquieting was the low rumble of the fire - it had become a monster that was rolling through the forest.

We split up at the lake, my wife and daughters taking the short route to the lodge around the east side. I took the longer trail along the west side where our car was parked. Short cutting the trail through a boggy area, I came upon a middle aged woman and her elderly mother, lost, terrified, and heading the wrong way. I walked them (all too slowly) back to the trailhead, jumped in the car and hightailed it down to the lodge. There I found a ranger screaming at my wife to "Get in the truck, now!" and leave with him before the road out was cut off. We wasted no further time with him and started driving as fast as we could down the rough dirt road.

We rounded the ridge and saw flames shooting hundreds of feet in the air, as if the atmosphere itself was on fire. The trees were dwarfed by the size of the flames, which had become a red mountain piled on top of the green mountains. I took a very quick picture:

The trip this year was quite a bit less exciting. And although the frosts are mostly gone - they will take decades to regrow - Trappers Lake is still a place of tranquility and beauty

 

 

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