Chat
08-19-2019, 10:02 AM
This summer has been a whirlwind and I think it's only just now starting to slow down--just in time for fall madness to start! The weekend after the NAPga Rendezvous, Phil and I were in Creede, CO for a family reunion on my dad's side. We had a great time seeing everyone in Creede. It was the 45th anniversary of my Aunt Jenny's business called "Rare Things," so she had organized some fun celebratory events involving a lot of the colorful Creede locals. One of the highlights of the trip was the cannon at the museum. It was a homemade job that shot bowling balls. My aunt actually attended its inaugural firing back in the 1990's. They thought it would go a few hundred feet but instead the bowling ball flew more than half a mile over the ridge. Afterwards, the owner set the cannon up on one side of the Creede valley and would shoot bowling balls over the town to the mountainside across the way. Eventually the sheriff had to put a stop to it after some hikers nearly got hit by mistake. My aunt says they once took the cannon down to the local dump and shot a frozen pig's head at a dead VW bus. It knocked the bus clean over! I wish I could have seen it fire, but alas, the cannon's owner and builder is dead and the cannon is now a museum piece. It hasn't been fired in probably 15 years.
After Creede, Phil and I hopped on over to Lake City to visit old friends and take the "avalanche tour." This past winter, Lake City was buried under an incredible amount of snow (I believe 400% of average was the number I heard). In late winter and early spring, that snow began to slide! It took out one house completely (the sheriff and his two daughters were lucky to be alive after their home was turned to matchwood). Many other homes were evacuated due to the danger. Some folks south of town were cut off when a huge slide covered the highway. It took five days to clear a path. One couple I know was grocery shopping in Lake City and they had to make sudden, unexpected arrangements to stay with friends. They were worried about their dog left at home, but he was ok. After that, many folks found friends to stay with in Lake City as more snow kept coming down and burying the road. Homes along Bluff Street in Lake City itself were also evacuated.
By the time Phil and I got there, the snow was all gone from the lower areas, but the river was only just peaking at the end of June. This is at least two weeks late and there was lots more snow still left in the mountains, ready to rush down. There were so many ice and log dams across the two rivers that many folks were concerned about flash floods. Lake City was covered in sandbags when we got there and the museum had been packed up and evacuated, ready for flood. Phil and I drove up both valleys south of Lake City and surveyed the avalanche damage. How they managed to clear as much as they did was amazing to me. The snow had brought down huge trees to the point where it looked like entire forests had been uprooted and tossed over the road and into the river. The passes to Ouray and Silverton did not open this summer and tourism took a pretty hefty blow. Apparently there was one slide up near the top that was 150 feet deep of packed ice and trees.
Here's the road near Snowden Meadow where we held the 2017 NAPgA Rendezvous.
The Alpine Gulch Trail that we worked on during that Rendezvous was closed due to flooding concerns, but Phil and I ventured up it a short way to see if there was anything left of our handiwork at the first big crossing. Alas, our log bridges were gone, but the rock work we did was holding up marvelously! Herb's dam was still diverting water away from the trail, and the rock that Finn and Merciless hauled to rebuild the trail was still high and dry. Woohoo!
After Creede, Phil and I hopped on over to Lake City to visit old friends and take the "avalanche tour." This past winter, Lake City was buried under an incredible amount of snow (I believe 400% of average was the number I heard). In late winter and early spring, that snow began to slide! It took out one house completely (the sheriff and his two daughters were lucky to be alive after their home was turned to matchwood). Many other homes were evacuated due to the danger. Some folks south of town were cut off when a huge slide covered the highway. It took five days to clear a path. One couple I know was grocery shopping in Lake City and they had to make sudden, unexpected arrangements to stay with friends. They were worried about their dog left at home, but he was ok. After that, many folks found friends to stay with in Lake City as more snow kept coming down and burying the road. Homes along Bluff Street in Lake City itself were also evacuated.
By the time Phil and I got there, the snow was all gone from the lower areas, but the river was only just peaking at the end of June. This is at least two weeks late and there was lots more snow still left in the mountains, ready to rush down. There were so many ice and log dams across the two rivers that many folks were concerned about flash floods. Lake City was covered in sandbags when we got there and the museum had been packed up and evacuated, ready for flood. Phil and I drove up both valleys south of Lake City and surveyed the avalanche damage. How they managed to clear as much as they did was amazing to me. The snow had brought down huge trees to the point where it looked like entire forests had been uprooted and tossed over the road and into the river. The passes to Ouray and Silverton did not open this summer and tourism took a pretty hefty blow. Apparently there was one slide up near the top that was 150 feet deep of packed ice and trees.
Here's the road near Snowden Meadow where we held the 2017 NAPgA Rendezvous.
The Alpine Gulch Trail that we worked on during that Rendezvous was closed due to flooding concerns, but Phil and I ventured up it a short way to see if there was anything left of our handiwork at the first big crossing. Alas, our log bridges were gone, but the rock work we did was holding up marvelously! Herb's dam was still diverting water away from the trail, and the rock that Finn and Merciless hauled to rebuild the trail was still high and dry. Woohoo!