11.25.2012

Checking out the fire damage

Our plan was to go for a long bike ride, like we did last Thanksgiving. Unfortunately it's been quite windy all weekend, so instead we hung out in the house on Thursday and Friday, and yesterday we decided to hike up to Bear Peak via the West Ridge Trail, which has been closed since June and reopened this week. June was the Flagstaff fire, which was the closest to our house. Thankfully it stayed up on the mountain and didn't rush down into Boulder as they'd feared it might.

We often hike from the trails that start in Boulder because they are quite pretty and, well, convenient. But for a couple weeks we had to go find other places which led to some fruitful exploration. (I actually really can't wait for wildflower season again so we can go back!)

In May we hiked up to Bear Peak, and this is what the view over to South Boulder Peak (and pretty much the whole hike) looked like:


Here are some pictures from this weekend. It was such a stark contrast from the last time we were up there.. Some Norwegians we met on the trail likened it to walking to Mordor, which felt like a pretty apt description. 




Hopefully the ash will become good fertilizer and some of the lushness of the area will return. We'll have to go back in another six months and see what kind of transformations have taken place.