A group of hikers may have prevented a potential disaster from breaking out Sunday at Rocky Mountain National Park in Boulder, Colorado.
Rocky Mountain National Park, which boasts 300 miles of hiking trails, is open year-round. If you plan on visiting this week though, you’ll have to deal with Stage 1 fire restrictions. That’s because smoke was spotted near a popular trail on Sunday morning.
Officials for Rocky National Park confirmed the fire and opted to temporarily close the park to take care of this situation. As of now, the cause of this fire is unclear.
“Rocky Mountain National Park fire crews responded this morning to visitor reports of smoke in an area above Mills and Jewel Lakes close to treeline. Crews hiked to the area below the smoke and confirmed the location of the small fire,” the park said in a statement released on social media. “Due to steep and technical terrain where the fire was located, air resources were requested. The Mills Lake trail was temporarily closed while Northern Colorado Helitack dropped buckets of water, dipped from Jewel Lake, on the small fire. The trail has reopened.
It is currently raining on the fire and is forecast in the area today and tonight. Fire crews will continue to take appropriate suppression efforts on this 0.10 (1/10th) acre fire. The cause is currently undetermined.”
This week’s weather should help contain the fire.
A spokesperson for Rocky Mountain National told Newsweek on Monday that the fire wasn’t actively burning on Monday due to significant precipitation. Well, another round of showers are in the forecast for this Tuesday.
“Another round of showers and thunderstorms is expected to develop across the higher elevations early this afternoon, and gradually spread eastward towards the I-25 corridor,” the National Weather Service said. “Locally heavy rainfall will be possible from the stronger showers and storms this afternoon and evening. Temperatures will remain fairly cool, with highs in the upper 70s across the Denver metro and plains.”
Rain is in the forecast for Boulder until Monday, Sept. 1. Hopefully, that’ll ease some concerns about Rocky Mountain National Park.
What’s next for Rocky Mountain National Park?
While some park officials are making sure the hiking trails are safe, others are focused on removing non-native fish from Rocky Mountain National Park.
“Beginning today through Sunday, August 31, Rocky Mountain National Park will be implementing the Poudre Headwaters Project,” the park said. “This project involves the removal of all non-native fish from the Grand Ditch and upstream and downstream tributaries inside RMNP. Once removed, native Greenback cutthroat trout will be reintroduced into its native range in the headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River.”
It doesn’t sound like Sunday’s fire will impact the Poudre Headwaters Project. That’s not a huge surprise considering we’re talking about a park that spans 415 square miles.
