Wildfire Season in the Colorado Rockies

Colorado has had a number of forest fires start in the past couple of weeks. This image shows the Cow Creek Fire ( http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2003/ ) on last Friday as viewed from Stove Prairie Road while it was undergoing rapid expansion.

The Cow Creek fire is burning in the West Creek drainage, my own "special place" since I've been a boy. I'm quite anxious to see the aftermath once the trails are open again.

As of June 30th, the fire has burned 911 acres and there are 228 people supporting the fire. Based on mapping it seems the fire didn't get below the falls on either Cow or West Creeks and no structures are threatened at this time.

Image Notes: a blend between a non-HDR single exposure (foreground is nearly all this frame) and a 7-exposure HDR (mostly sky).

FireForestWildfireRockiesRocky MountainsCOColoradoLarimerCow Creek FireCow CreekNatureLandscapeHDRSkySmokeForest FireRMNPStove Prairie RoadStove PrairieRocky Mountain National ParkNot taken in the parkNikonD300Nikon 17552010Michael MenefeeNational Park

From The Variety Collection