Friday, September 27, 2013

South Fork Burn Area

Wednesday we got a wild hair (hare?) and drove up to South Fork to see how Big Meadows and Shaw Lake came through the West Fork Complex fire.

Big Meadows and the campground looks quite good.

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yes, that it snow on the mountain….

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however, as you go up towards Shaw Lake you are met with a totally different scene

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…..click the photo to enlarge it and see it better

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These trees are all lying down in a circular pattern…force of the burn
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Then you get up to Shaw Lake and it looks untouched

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but as you drive up towards Hunter’s Lake you get the same burn scared landscape.

With all the black “sticks” of trees you still have the beautiful colors of fall….

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After our drive we stopped by South Fork Campground and visited with our buds, Terri and Rich Deacon.  They are closing down the campground for the season.  It certainly has been a challenging year with fire evacuations and reopening.  But they came through it smiling!

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After having lunch with Rich and Terri we spent time sharing how we were going to spend our winter. The Deacons will tour around Arizona for a month staying at time shares.  Then Rich becomes “Propane Man” again doing delivery and installations for the propane company. Terri will enjoy being back into her home.

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We ended our day by stopping by Ken’s Auto Service in Del Norte to have four rear tires put on our duly Chevy.  Ken’s wife, Alice, is Jim’s cousin. Another cousin, Phyllis, came by to say “hi”, so we had a mini family reunion.

We had initially went to Big Meadows so Jim could have one last chance trout fishing, but it was way too windy.  But we certainly had a great time seeing the sights and visiting with friends and family.  That’s a good day in anybody’s book!!!

Here’s our closing photo of the beautiful Catholic church in a meadow in South Fork.

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Remember, you are loved

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7 comments:

  1. SusieSeptember 27, 2013 at 8:10 AM

    Kind of hurts your heart to see those burn pictures, especially when you know what it use to look like. Glad you ended the post with a pretty picture.

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  2. Doing It On the Road(Part II)September 28, 2013 at 5:01 AM

    Another really great post. All that burned area means a ton of morel mushrooms next spring.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownMarch 8, 2014 at 7:49 PM

      What time of year should we look for morels? The burn area is 9-10 thousand feet. I live in South Fork and I've never been lucky enough to find morels. Our other mushrooms show up in the late summer.

      Thanks in advance

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    2. Bobbie and JimMarch 11, 2014 at 11:21 AM

      Sorry, Carole, I have no information on harvesting morel mushrooms. Maybe you could stop by the Visitor's Center and ask them.

      Delete
  3. carolyn troutSeptember 28, 2013 at 5:44 AM

    Thanks Bobbie, it brought back memories of our time visiting with you two, but so sad to see such damage to such a beautiful place.......Love to the both of you, Roy and Carolyn

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  4. mountainbornSeptember 28, 2013 at 7:31 PM

    Thanks for the photos. We had been wanting to see something from the area.

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  5. Chuck and Jan MooreOctober 9, 2013 at 8:43 AM

    That's a pretty church and prettier inside! Sorry to see all of the burned forest in that area. That is such a lovely area and will be again. Hugs, JC

    ReplyDelete

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