There are fires burning in the mountains north and west of us this week, and air quality alerts have gone up all along the front range. All week long, we’ve awakened to an ever increasing acrid scent and smoky haze in the air. We don’t have central air at our house, so we usually sleep with the windows open at night. In the mornings, we’ve been closing the windows and blinds for the day, to keep the house as cool and as smoke-free as possible. But even so, I have a constant metallic taste in my mouth, and a slight ever-present headache.
Two of the fires are actually in locations we’ve visited recently, on social distanced camping trips, so it’s strange to think that places and roads we just drove through are now closed and under evacuations.
Just last weekend, we snuck off for a weekend camping trip, our last before we had to drive our oldest back to Denver for college, and since we were close by, we drove to the top of Independence Pass, just to show the girls. But we didn’t stay long up there because it’s 12,000 feet up, and that can make us feel a little… odd… being up at that altitude, but also because it was damned crowded up there, and we didn’t want to be around so many people, masks or no. So, we drove back down the narrow and winding roads, back to our quiet little campsite, and kept to ourselves.
And now, Independence Pass is closed, I think. Not because the fire is burning up there, but because truckers keep trying to use the road as an alternative to I-70, which is partially closed due to fire. The problem is: big trucks can’t make the narrow hairpin turns that Route 82 is full of. There are signs all over the place warning large trucks and RVs to NOT TRY TO DRIVE ON THIS ROAD. But still… people have tried. Image a tractor trailer or Class A RV navigating this turn:
Now imagine that going on for miles and miles, 12,000 feet up endless narrow roads, no guardrails, switchback after switchback after switchback. Now imagine it super crowded with truckers and several dozen cars of varying size, trying to find a way around the I-70 closure, with heavy smoke in the air.
Not the best of ideas.
But given different circumstances, Independence Pass is beautiful. Here’s a picture of the top of the pass, taken a year ago, when we passed through there briefly, before the pandemic, before the fires, before everyone under the sun decided to take up camping as a hobby.
It’s worth the high altitude drive up there, provided you’re in a car that can handle the road. Five stars. Highly recommend.
It looked similar when we were up there last week, except for the crowds of people wandering around.
Two days ago, we drove our oldest up to Denver, to move into her apartment before her semester starts at CU. She texted us this picture later that evening:
So, yeah. Fires are burning this week. And we’re all staying in as much as we can.
Still.
fern-seed 