Borne of Fire

Thursday, 5 October 2023, Rocky Mountain NP

Far more people visit the east (Estes Park) side of RMNP than do the western side. Often overlooked are the two trailheads tucked into the edge of Grand Lake CO, at East Inlet and North Inlet. Case in point: despite the number of times over the years that Bill and I have visited the park, neither of us have taken either trail. Something new!

We started with East Inlet, on the eastern shore of the lake, as our warm-up. The trail quickly gained elevation, climbing 0.3 miles to Adams Falls. The ranger had suggested it yesterday, saying the trail got truly scenic after a couple of miles.

We only allotted enough time to take one long hike this morning, and the other ranger-recommended hike - 3.4 miles from North Inlet to Cascade Falls - appealed more to us. Even better - an elevation gain of only 500', much less than the grade on East Inlet. So after a photo at Adams Falls, we moved on.

The North Inlet Trail follows the park boundary for the first mile or more, with a private ranch to our right. The rail fence provided a reminder not to trespass.

We soon realized this hike would take us from the perimeter of the East Troublesome Fire area into the midst of it. In October 2020, that fire exploded from a late-season hot-spot into Colorado's second-largest wildfire ever.

(It raged the same time as Colorado's largest-ever blaze, the Cameron Peak fire.)

The private property to our right looked largely spared, a wide grassland reaching to the hills south of us. To our left and in front,

blackened sticks stood (or fell, for some) as a testament to the force of fire.

We walked along the wide, flat path, viewing the destruction.

But even now, three years on, we saw signs of hope, with ground cover brushing the slopes with a coat of orange.

The animals had recolonized the land. We saw squirrels running about, preparing for winter. On the tip of one blackened tree perched a bald eagle, calmly surveying the area. We cautiously approached for a closer look, and it patiently waited until I got close enough for a good photo before it winged away.

Eventually we left the boundary line, curving into the park.

Everywhere the sentinels of char, those baton noir, surrounded us - on the flats, on the slopes. The ground cover grew, adding their colors to the palette.

New aspen seedlings, their leaves an electric yellow, sprouted everywhere. [A note about aspens: if you see a grove of aspens, their leaves will all change color at the same time - because they are all one living organism! Their root system spreads under the ground, pushing up new saplings at multiple spots. As long as the fire did not bake the ground, those roots quicky pushed up new saplings.]

We continued up the wide trail, which mostly presented a smooth surface.

So nice to not have to constantly watch where to place your feet! (As we neared the falls, that changed, gaining most of the elevation, getting more irregular.)

The further we walked, the more the scenery improved. Yellow tallgrass

turned into cattails.

Burnt trees presented intriguing geometric patterns.

Ground cover in a plethora of colors sprang forth.

The phrase 'stark beauty' came to mind, but I rejected that description. 'Stark' implies austerity, a beauty deriving from few elements. Instead, I settled on 'a desperate beauty', with nature eagerly grasping for purchase on the hellscape which the fire left behind. Colors abounded - red,

orange, yellow, green, maroon, and white, with pinpoints of blue berries,

filling the gaps between the white and gray rocks **

and the charred ghost-forest of trees. Some of those standing relics sported a checkered mesh of black bark woven with the light brown of the cambium below.

The land, indeed, was on its way to recovery.

At Cascades Falls, we chatted with another couple enjoying the park.

"Did you see the moose?" they asked. "They were on the ranch, not real close. We saw them twenty minutes after the eagle." Unfortunately, we missed them - but we did see their tracks stamped into the dirt of the trail.

On the hike back, we passed close to a group of deer, grazing on the new growth.

They paid us no heed.

That desperate beauty lingered as we traipsed along, leaving us hopeful for the rest of the day. After a quick lunch, we drove further west, venturing into some of the most brilliant fall foliage I've seen in many years... Stay tuned!