Colorado, USA
Fort Collins, CO -- We rolled out for a quick BTGTWR (Before Tim Goes To Work Ride) about 11 am, just over the dam and back. As soon as we headed up the dam I spied a plume of smoke on the northern horizon. I had said earlier that I smelled smoke in the wee hours of the morning and there it was... filling the valley below the dam with brown yuk just hanging over everything. We barely had a breath of wind today. No rain is in our extended forecast... and we are dry here in northern Colorado. The state is also about to go up in smoke. Wildfires have sprung up all over the state since Labor Day, including one this week just a few miles east of here that scorched over 2000 acres of farm and grassland.
As it turns out, the road we chose to go home (the one we usually travel) went right beside the source of the fire. We would have swung a little wider on the way home had we realized that. The fire destroyed a huge stack of hay bales and was still burning when we rode by. Fire crews were on hand. Fortunately, the wind was out of the east so we didn't ride through more than residual smoke. That was enough.
Smokey dam ride
Smoke hanging in the low areas
The source of the fire, a huge stack of hay bales beside the roadOther than being bone dry, the forecast for the weekend looks like perfect riding weather. The mountains are calling. The colors are changing. The S-word has been invoked (snow fell in the Rockies last week) and I fear there's no stopping it now... perhaps ol' man winter will content himself with dusting the mountains with snow for now. Meanwhile, we ride while we can and keep our fingers crossed for a really long Indian Summer.
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