Fourmile Fire (more photos)

Better pics today as we learn the new camera. We decided to go up one more time and spend a few more hours looking around. Tomorrow (or Friday) we will head up to Breckenridge and relax a few weeks

Here is the drive up from Boulder on Sunshine Canyon Drive. I count 44 houses on this road destroyed between miles 4 & 8. First, what Sunshine Canyon should look like the entire way to Gold Hill:



Homage to the great fire fighters (and Sheriffs)





The red - fire retardant dropped by the slurry bombers. I think this was the fire perimeter that was held. The bombers didn't get up until Day 3 if I remember - Day 1 too smokey, Day 2 a weather issue. The fire perimeter was so close to our house...



Road block - but a good one. I'm not following the news (the news sucks - more in the next and final update) but I think for several reasons all in the "burn zone" (within the red perimeter line) must have passes from the sheriff. One, it's still hot as hell. Two, power lines are down. Three, the communities up there need some space. Love the Sheriffs



Just across from Bald Mountain is a house we are thinking about...it is ok



This structure in front not as lucky (don't remember what it was)



Heading up Sunshine Canyon



How lucky will this person feel - so many houses barely escaped. No idea why



Random pics over the next mile-and-a-half...









Looks more like a haunted New England winter scene



This home (sadly) is on the news quite a bit, which would drive me crazy - see the car dangling? It was a fireproof garage



Just before CR-83 on the southwest side



One last time turning onto CR-83. We will miss it



The 1/4 mile driveway...



Feels like we lost our own home...



Yesterday I said I thought these holes were once trees. I was wrong. I guess now being an old mining area, these may have been old "digs" searching for gold and were merely weaknesses opened up by the fire. Happy to be corrected



The home one last time. That isn't smoke - winds now sweep up ash



Me looking around in the ashes. The Sheriff who came by yesterday to confirm our address suggested in much nicer terms that we were dumbasses for not wearing a mask (kidding - he was awesome and said we should wear one)



Propane tank. I think someone did this yesterday after we left



This was an outhouse...



Stove...



Fridge...



Dryer and washer...



Satellite dish...



Here is what we found in the ashes...generally heavier metals (such as stainless steel water bottles)





This was taken in the hotel room - Maureen's engagement ring. It was an antique. It is fused to the rubble



And...our cameras! Nothing to lose...will anyone be able to recover our pictures (we had large memory cards)



Neighbours (in the mountains neighbours can be far away) - destroyed. The first is Sunshine Canyon, I believe the second is Misty Vale Court





Towers from our house. If you see pics of the fires from town and see smoke behind these...it was probably our neighbourhood...if the fire had made it over this ridge - it would have headed for Boulder. That's why on Day 3 (?) they had parts of Boulder prepared for an evacuation. Winds that night were reported at over 50mph

Fourmile Fire

I'll do a written blog later, going through our experiences the past 8 days. Incredible. We were "lucky" we were renting and lost maybe $11,000 worth of "things" - the sad losses were tangible memories of Bill & Henry (Corgie mix and Maine Coon), photos of the past 13 months (thank God for this blog), shirts from races across the country, healing dirt from Santuario de Chimayo outside of Santa Fe and so on. But Hudson was saved - the written blog will detail the first rescue attempt, the new plan which would have had me hike 6 miles round trip and then his eventual rescue by a hero before the new plan was put into place

Today CR-83 residents were allowed back into the burn area - for us back to the house that has been home for 6 weeks this summer. It was an awesome house - I was going to do a blog with pics of the 18 acre property (but our cameras were lost in fire). It was so cool. We were talking about seeing if the owner Mike was interested in selling. We found very little - at the last minute we found my wife's engagement rings

First, are images from the VRBO link we snagged and some after views:

The house was built in the 1970s. We actually met the uncle - a fellow evacuee and great guy - of the folks who built the house. Here it is from the side...



...similar angle (not exact - that big tree survived)



...hot tub...



Entering the front door...



...and today



The view from the second floor master porch...



...view today



Here are some other views of the garages (first pic) and the house:











Here is what was found in the home thus far...



We gave up on electronics. This looks like a phone



This was a small shelter. Looks like Mike's kids would come down and read here. Nothing remains



There are a number of "holes" - where trees once were (near the top of this photo). I'm not sure if the fire crews tore them out as there was a fear of burning roots



We were told this was an old mine shaft...



This was a large yurt (maybe 600 sq ft) on a wooden deck. It was about 500 yards down a hill from the house. Best we can tell the fire came from Fourmile and crossed Sunshine Canyon to CR-83 - the yurt would have been taken out as it moved towards Misty Vale Court



A shelter near the yurt



A cave - hopefully animals were able to use it as a safe place. The property was always visited by foxes and deer. Just before the fire we found bear scat



Back at where the house stood. This was a house we would see off in the distance when we sat drinking and smoking on the porch, looking out towards Boulder. Incredible how many homes had fire so close - from what we saw, this is not that close. Our neighbours lost their sheds - and that was it.



Heading up the driveway. This used to be pretty dense



We were told this was a miner's shack. The neighbours called it an illegal dwelling. Regardless - it had it's own address



Here are some shots of Sunshine Canyon, the road we took up to CR-83. It was a 10-mile road up to the historic town of Gold Hill and a favorite for bicyclist. Probably more meaningful to folks who know the area:













Bald Mountain, a place Hudson ran many times:



Very sad