Mike Lewis
Staff Member
My wife Claudia and I headed over Trail Ridge Road last Sunday. The trip had 2 objectives, see and photograph some scenery and end up eating dinner at the Sagebrush BBQ in Grand Lake for dinner! (YUM!) Both objectives were met 
No matter how many times doing that drive I find that there is always something interesting to see. This time, on the way over it was the extensive burn areas on the western side approaching the park exit and Grand lake. The amount of burn damage is impressive - you really get a feeling of how extensive the fire was. The burn area extends all the way from the curve shown below for miles until the park exit and beyond. Burned slopes come all the way down towards Grand Lake, amazing the town was not engulfed. Here are a couple of images from the start of the burn area. This is the scene as you come around a bend in the road and see the start of the devastation:
I walked off to the left out into the meadow and caught the contrast between the barren and black peaks and the bright green new growth grasses that are already renewing the burned area. This is a stitch of 2 images:
On the way back from near the highest point of the highway I caught the last reds of the sunset. First as a closeup image:
And then as a wider view. This second one looks like the "Fires of Mordor" are in the distance
Comments and critiques welcome.
ML
No matter how many times doing that drive I find that there is always something interesting to see. This time, on the way over it was the extensive burn areas on the western side approaching the park exit and Grand lake. The amount of burn damage is impressive - you really get a feeling of how extensive the fire was. The burn area extends all the way from the curve shown below for miles until the park exit and beyond. Burned slopes come all the way down towards Grand Lake, amazing the town was not engulfed. Here are a couple of images from the start of the burn area. This is the scene as you come around a bend in the road and see the start of the devastation:
I walked off to the left out into the meadow and caught the contrast between the barren and black peaks and the bright green new growth grasses that are already renewing the burned area. This is a stitch of 2 images:
On the way back from near the highest point of the highway I caught the last reds of the sunset. First as a closeup image:
And then as a wider view. This second one looks like the "Fires of Mordor" are in the distance
Comments and critiques welcome.
ML
