Driving on Rampart Range Road will take you directly through the path of the Waldo Canyon Fire so you can see up close the destruction it wrought. It's very sobering to see how perilously close it came to destroying the Garden of the Gods. For those who aren't familiar, this is recent Colorado Springs history and it resulted in the destruction of over 350 homes, including those of two of my friends. The photo below shows where it breached the foothills and raged downhill (which is practically impossible) into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood. It's hard to describe exactly how traumatizing it was for our city. Nearly nine years later, it still brings painful memories. You can read about it HERE, and if you click on the Waldo Canyon Fire tag below, you'll see every post I've made about it, including the ones I made in real time as the fire started, spread and quickly grew out of control.
5 comments:
The destructive power of nature can be terrible.
The Waldo Canyon Fire happened during my last summer in Colorado Springs before I moved away for my job. I remember it vividly. I cannot believe the hills still look so bare. So sad. I enjoy your photo blog a lot from thousands of miles away; thank you.
Are there any seedlings that have come up? Anything coming back. It's been a while. But it might take a while to recover, but the barrenness of
it is worrisome. Maybe not enough rain? Or maybe I'm just impatient.
Suzanne, thanks for reading! Judith, there are definitely little trees starting to grow, as well as plenty of undergrowth, but it'll be decades and decades before things return to where they were, sadly.
Glad to hear there are little trees starting to grow. Hope you live long and well and can see it thriving again. Ha. (That might take a long time, but we can hope.)
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