In the previous blog posting, we mentioned the Missionary
Ridge fire that occurred in 2002 near Durango in southwestern Colorado. Recently, we learned that the statistics we
quoted were wrong. We have since verified
that the data we used was erroneous and is corrected here. The MR fire, which ran from June 9
through July 28, burned more than 70,000 acres at a cost of about
$41 million. The Vallecito Valley, where
we are currently staying, was hit particularly hard during the fire losing 28
of the 58 houses that were burned. A tribute
to the firefighters and others was the commissioning of a series of wood
carvings by a local wood carver depicting actual scenes from the fire. The result is 15 carvings (standing about 18’
tall and weighing some 2,600 lbs.) that have been placed at various places
around Vallecito Reservoir—usually where the sponsors do business or live. We took the Tour of Carvings and enjoyed the
rustic artwork one day while exploring the area around the lake.
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| Missionary Ridge Fire Remains |
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| Missionary Ridge Fire Remains |
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| Tour of Carvings |
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| Tour of Carvings |
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| Tour of Carvings |
We’ve been dodging afternoon rains most days, but have managed
to get out and about some, including a drive up Middle Mountain Road and then a
hike from the old ghost town of Tuckerville to a beautiful overlook some three
miles from the town site. The forested
region we passed through was notable because of the large number of huge trees
that had been unceremoniously snapped off in the violent winter storms that
frequent this place. The “trail” was a closed 4 X 4 road that was
almost vertical having been used for mining operations in the 1920s. The road ended at the Weminuche Wilderness
boundary. There was just a very short
hike to the overlook. Unfortunately, as
you will see below, the view was less than spectacular as afternoon clouds and
rain had set in obscuring what undoubtedly would have been stunning views of
the San Juans. On the bright side, we
were able to field test our ponchos once again…actually, we are getting close
to wearing them out.
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View from Middle Mountain Road to the West
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| A couple of drowned rats! |
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| Bully Bully -- Our only "wildlife" on this outing |
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| Tree broken by winter storm |
When we drove to Vallecito from Montrose last week we
stopped in Silverton, but couldn’t find a good place to park our
motorhome. We promised ourselves we
would return someday for a good look around.
Well, that day was yesterday.
Although it was cool (we had an overnight low of 40°),
the skies were clear and it looked like a great day for a road trip. We had a pretty good look around town
(meaning we darkened the doorstep of almost every store), enjoyed a fairly good
lunch, and acquired the obligatory T-shirt before working our way back to
Vallecito. The Durango & Silverton
Narrow Gauge Railroad is still running two trains a day and so town was packed
with touristas. Apparently, the train
runs three times a day in peak season, but students have resumed classes so
they’ve cut back to two. We had planned
to take a four wheel drive road for part of the return, but a mile into it the
road was closed for repairs. It seemed
kinda odd to us as 4 X 4 roads by definition need repair or they would be autobahns. Oh, well.
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| Silverton from Molas Pass |
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| Downtown Silverton |
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| Durango & Silverton Railroad |
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