The Canyons

Monday (Labor Day) we decided to take a short ride thru some nearby canyons and stay in town and rest up in the afternoon. We ate dinner out at "Serious Texas BBQ" You order and pick up at the counter. We got the sampler platter to share which included several "salsas" they make including pineapple cilantra (which is great).

So our last day here we drove several canyons. One was Risk (??) canyon. This is a smaller quiet canyon with practically no traffic except the locals. We found lots of it burnt from the fires this spring. Most of the damage looked like the fire swept thru burning all the underbrush but left most of the trees with their trunks charred and only a few lower branches gone. There were some large patches completely gone. We rounded a corner at one point and looked across a valley at a large foothill completely blackened from fire. All the houses had signs at their driveways thanking the firemen. Many of them had burnt patches with burnt trees within 3 feet of the house. One the burnt tree was about 6 inches from the house. One badly burnt section had a row of about 20 mailboxes on the road and you can only wonder if the houses survived. It didn't look good. All the houses we saw that survived were on the main road and easily accessible.

The second canyon is Poudre Canyon and very popular so much busier. It has a river running thru it and is a main route over the rockies. There were lots of small Natl Forest Service campgrounds along the river. People canoe, whitewater, kayak and fish the river. Very dramatic scenery along this one.

From here we go to Oregon. It will take us 3 days to get there.

Sep 3, 2012

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