While doing dishes at the kitchen sink in our Nederland home, I love gazing out the back window looking at the tops of Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak. It always gives me a sense of awe and reminds me of why I love living in the mountains so much.
But this evening, there were no mountains to look at. Not because of clouds or an impending storm, but rather the thick smoke that covered the area today. It seems that the smoke we saw during our recent trip to Montana, Idaho and Washington has been blown into Colorado, creating air quality warnings throughout the front range.
On a day when many frolic celebrating the last of summer by hiking, or mountain biking, it was just plain gross. The temperatures were hot as in mid-summer hot, with Denver and Boulder reaching the mid-90s. Normally, people flee the plains for the mountains in search of relief. Clearly, many did as Rocky Mountain National Park and Brainard Lake Recreation Area were teeming with visitors. But today, they had to contend with breathing in nasty smoke while doing so. Yuck!
As night descended, the almost full moon appeared as an orange moon, the smoke muting its normal yellow. Tonight, a cold front is coming in, and is supposed to push out a lot of the smoke. But the respite will be brief, with warmer temperatures coming back by next weekend and probably more smoke, as there is no let up in the many large fires burning to our north and west.
I’m done and over summer, and after two weeks of driving and hiking in smoke, I’m done with that too. I’m sure residents of Montana badly wish an epic snowstorm or rainstorm would come in and put an end to their misery. As a former Park Ranger with the National Park Service, it is heartbreaking to see the pictures from Glacier National Park, where the Sprague Fire blew up this past week, claiming the historic Sperry Chalet. The Chalet was built in 1914, and it such an iconic part of the park’s history, it’s painful to see it lost to fire.
It’s days like today that make me so ready for cold weather, snow capped peaks and some clear blue skies, something in short supply right now.
While it doesn’t look like the cool weather is coming anytime soon, there may be some relief in sight as over the next couple of weeks, some wet weather works its way down through the Pacific Northwest. Hopefully some rain can ease the terrible fire situation and move us towards more typical fall weather.
