it's been three years since the high park fire (pics from the poudre canyon)

[fizzgig]

i will never forget those three weeks of hell, fear and anxiety. the heat, the smoke, the glow behind the mountains at night. there was a staging area a couple miles down the road from my dad's and i will never forget how people would line the road each evening to salute the returning firefighters, for whom i will be eternally grateful.

[msongs]

1. those hillsides are pretty well stripped of trees. did the fire burn all the stumps too? nt

[fizzgig]

3. that's just how those hillsides in that part of the canyon are.

it was a big fire and some heavily-wooded areas are covered in nothing but burned trees.

[brer cat]

2. I was in Durango

visiting my oldest sister soon after the Missionary Ridge fire, which I believe was in 2002. My sister spent that time in "hell, fear and anxiety" with the car packed, ready to leave at a moment's notice. We were also in Los Alamos after the big fire there. My niece and her family happened to be out of town when the city was evacuated, but they lived for days wondering if they would have a home to return to and whether their furbabies were safe. I'm not sure anyone can understand that fear and anxiety if they have not experienced it.

Your pictures show the devastation we saw in both places, but it is more horrific in person than pictures can depict. You are blessed to live in beautiful country, fizzgig, but it does come with a price.

[fizzgig]

4. it is sometimes hard to remember that fire is necessary for the ecosystem

we were lucky in town that there was really no chance of the fire getting to us, but my best friend's family lived in one of the communities that got hit hard by the fire and lost everything.

we took a drive up the canyon three months after the fire and stopped at the spot where i took these pics. i was near tears at the destruction and watching my river run black with debris. the floods in september 2013 caused even more destruction in some parts of the burn area.

it seems so long ago, but these pictures are a reminder that three years is the blink of an eye when it comes to fire recovery.

[locks]

5. Fire and flood

The Poudre pictures are still hard to look at; thanks for reminding us that the Poudre is still a beautiful river. I drove up to Gold Hill Sunday by way of Sunshine, been a while. So thankful Main street and the old Cemetery were saved and most of the homes but it's hard even now to go up the canyons like Four Mile and Sugar Loaf without tearing up. Thankful we've had rain and hope this won't be a fire year.

[pasto76]

6. 2 years ago yesterday Black forest fire kicked off