We decided to go sightseeing today, but at a lower elevation since I had a bad headache the last two days. We took a lovely trip from Estes Park to Glen Haven then on into Ft. Collins via backroads. We wandered through a valley and crossed over a creek a number of times. It was classic Colorado backroads – mountains, ranches, hills, creeks, pines, willows, cottonwoods. Just as we got to the Cache le Poudre river (highway 14) we saw lots of smoke and then an active wildfire. Fire trucks from volunteer departments and the Forest Service passed us on the road, including a big van with Pike Hot Shots. When they bring out the Hot Shots, you know a fire is getting serious work. We pulled over and watched for quite a while. Here are some pictures and video. As usual, I apologize for not having the video in a easy format, but it is worth it.
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The Fire is known as the Seaman Lake Fire, and it is already partially contained according to this source: https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2018/09/12/seaman-fire-prompts-voluntary-evacuations-threatens-poudre-river/1280800002/
While in Loveland for lunch, we found we had a fire going flat! Walmart changed the tire, but I wasn’t willing to buy any of theirs. We ended up going to Big O Tires in Estes Park, and we get four new tires put on tomorrow. Painful price though.
After the pain there, we decided to head one more night out to RMNP for the elk. This time we decided to go to Horseshoe Park, and what a good choice it was! We first saw the young buck with his small harem of 3 we had seen in Morraine Park. Then came a much bigger buck with a large harem of 13 cows, yearlings, and calves. We watched while the big buck ran off the younger and stole his little harem. Of course there was much bugling involved. It was wonderful.
Tomorrow will be new tires, a leisurely breakfast in town, just goofing off, and a Chuckwagon dinner. Then home on Friday.