Day After

The fire tripled in size overnight and got to within 1 1/2 miles of my house which was unnerving but we had one come within 3/4 mile several years ago and that was way scarier. Still it was not so very much fun to be awakened by news helicopters flying over the house in the wee hours of the morning. Strummer had a few words for them when he went out into the yard this morning to do his business and Lola was fascinated by them and stood transfixed staring up at the sky. Cody usually goes batshit at stuff flying low in the sky but he was intent on getting back inside for his breakfast so spared the neighbors his opinion on the matter.

It was a noisy walk this morning with all the helicopters blaring but I wanted to see if the fire was still at threat so I headed along the Foothills Trail to see what I could see. I've been meaning to take my camera along the trail to take photos of my morning walks anyway so I thought I'd snap some photos. No dramatic fire pix with flames shooting into the sky, I didn't go chasing the fire last night. I probably could have got some good ones but I'm not really into chasing down natural disasters for a photo op. I'm more of the opinion of 'fire bad, run away'. Plus there were all sorts of circus freaks coming to see the show and driving like maniacs through my neighborhood which has very little in the way of sidewalks and streetlights. Plenty of nice photos here if you're interested.

Here are some that I took this morning.

Sunrise over Wonderland Lake. This has nothing to do with the fires but I thought the cloud formation was cool.


This is looking north towards the southernmost edge of the fire. The fire stopped at Lee Hill Rd. which you can't see in the photo and the shot is taken from the Foothills Trail south of Lee Hill. If you look to the right of the peak at the far left of the photo you can see the Hogback Trail arcing down the hill. I wrote about running on that trail here. You can also see bits of smoke here and there from various hotspots that had yet to burn out.


Token dog photo (don't they look thrilled?) taken at the top of the Kiln Trail looking north. Lee Hill Rd. is between the dogs and the burnt hill in the background. It's a popular cycling route and the Boulder Peak Triathlon goes up it.


Some deer jumping a fence and crossing Lee Hill Rd. Taken from the bottom of the Kiln Trail. Cody was pitching a fit but the deer came towards us anyway.


A closer shot of the burn area. Again you can see the Hogback Trail arcing down the hill at the left side of the photo. It's funny how well you can see the trails after a fire.


The people in the Dakota Ridge neighborhood which is just to the east of these hills (and I do mean 'just') were allowed back into their houses so I feel confident the fire is well on it's way to being controlled, at least the part that effects me so I'm not worried for myself anymore. Must have been horrifying for the people on the plains who have horses and livestock. Lots of people had to open their gates and let their horses go because the fire spread so quickly with the high winds that there was no time to get them in trailers to evacuate. There's a really cool llama ranch that burnt down but thankfully they got the llamas out in time. I'm glad I got out of it o.k. but I feel awful for the people who lost their animals. Thankfully there were no major injuries, a few fireman had minor injuries. Hopefully that will be us done with the fires for a while.