Spring has sprung

We've had a few above freezing days in a row now.

The birds have all come back from their winter roosts and are madly chirping up a storm here now.

I spooked about 20 elk near balancing beam rock today around twilight.

Also, a mama moose and her yearling have been sighted repeatedly in the neighborhood.

It's been a snowy February so far

I've been able to go cross country skiing in my own back yard every day this February.  Why does this matter?  It's a sign that we've been getting a lot of snow and cold up to this point.   However, it has warmed up the last few days, and the snow is getting thin.

In other news, the elk herd has been making it's own tracks up and down the hillside here.

Must have handy links for staying informed about the Boulder Flood

Following is a consolidated ‘must have’ list:

http://boulderoem.com/emergency-status

http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/

http://nederlandco.org/
http://jeffcosheriff.blogspot.com/
http://google.org/crisismap/2013-boulder-floods
http://maps.bouldercounty.org/iemcop/
http://gilpinsheriff.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/gilpin-county-road-closure-information/
http://nedweather.com/Nederland-Weather-Forecast.aspx
http://www.wunderground.com/

Following are for Fires:

http://inciweb.org/state/6/

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/data/activefiremaps/rmw2013174_1900.jpg

http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/

 Thanks Atashnaa for putting this together.

Local Example of the "Boulder Flood"

The local road up here used to be called "Haul Road" because it was used to haul materials out of Gross Reservoir when it was being built. Well it looks like the floods of September 2013 did a bit of hauling on their own. It all starts out innocently enough...

... but then quickly becomes this 8 foot deep gully....

all in a day or two!

This gully was sighted just past the turn off that goes up to 359

The Unexpected Death of a Chistmas Tree

Last December 11, I wrote a post about a trail side trimming of a trail side Christmas tree:
http://thorodinview.blogspot.com/2012/12/walk-by-trail-side-christmas-tree.html

Well, I'm sorry to report that the tree is no more.

Over the last two weeks, a group of about 4 lumberjacks hired by the forest service came through and did a massive amount of thinning of the sunny side of Winiger Ridge.

When it was all done, I noticed that the "Christmas Tree" had been cut down and chopped into pieces.

Here's the scene:



All of this thinning is supposed to reduce fire danger.  But it comes at the price that the thinned forest looks like destruction zone for a while.