Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Colorado Cameron Peak Fire

It's the first 20 years after the fire that is the roughest for deadfall. Makes for good wildlife habitat tho - if a mosaic burn, based on my experience with the 1969 Swanson River Fire here. That resulted in moose habitat that had the highest recorded moose/sq mile (7, I think) of anywhere in the world. I should look that up again. For nearly 20 years, I had dynamite moose hunting!

As dry and hot as this CO fire seems to be, that may not be the case. If it is hot enough, it sterilizes the soil, and it may be that long before stuff regenerates enough to be useful. When we moved into our current house in 1988, the second growth was only about 10 feet high from the 1949 burn. That was a hot one!

It is up to about 60-70 feet now. The big pampered tree right in front of the deck is going down within a few months - got hammered this summer by beetles, as did 8 trees I already removed from our rental property lot. Likely going to be more in the next couple years.

We are carrying the maximum fire insurance we can, thinned the trees around our house, and removed lower branches to 8 feet. The tree line is still too close to the house. Probably not going to help much if it comes to that. I wanted to clearcut to property line of our 1.6 acres - wife wouldn't hear of it. She started crying when I cut the first tree - so we "compromised" - and still have 80% of the fricken trees.

I hunted an area a couple years back like that. It had burned several years before. Soooooo many charred deadfalls stacked up on top of each other. Walking across the top I was looking for deer beneath me. Lol.

Hoping people stay safe but Mother Nature is gonna do her thing. With no forest preparations to help control this stuff happens. Edk

I just saw some news on the E. Troublesome fire, looks like the Troublesome basin is evacuated, all trailheads closed, likely to hit 125 soon from the photos I just saw. I pity Samuelson, and Dave Parry outfitters having to scramble to get hunters out of the basin as they have camps all over. Parry's camps(if he is still outfitting) are the closest to the fire right now as they hunt the corral peaks, ethyl creek area....Sad deal all the way around, some beautiful spreads in that area with nothing but massive amounts of fuel in the path.

Ranch foreman just texted me. First two words. "Not Good"

Next text “ we’re packing stuff. We’ll talk Sunday"

Not looking too good. Made a few friends up there. Hoping the best for all those folks in Grand county. Hate seeing this happen to them.

Ya, there is no way of combating this fire if the winds are steady, too much standing and floor fuel, and probably resources spread thin already . Hope all can get themselves and livestock out of harm's way.

They lifted the road closure today and we got to see that our cabin survived the Mullen Creek Fire. It is sad that we, so far, lost 176k acres on top of the 30k we lost two years ago.

The Cameron Peak Fire looks like it took a run today. My sympathies to my neighbors to the south. Here is a picture of that one from I-80 in Wyoming.


We also think that we saw the smoke plume from the East Troublesome Fire while driving just north of the WY/CO border. If we are correct on that, it looks like it took a run, too. My sympathies also go out to the people impacted by that one.

Glad to hear about your cabin Cheyenne!!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍

Glad to hear some good news!

Good insight. Thanks! We have been seeing a lot of moose and some mule deer in the burn scar from the fire two years ago. (No elk, though.) There is a lot of grass in the area of that fire. We do have to be careful, though, if the wind is blowing, because of the burned standing timber.

Thank the firefighters! They have redeployed some from "our" fire to Cameron Peak. We gripe about the feds, but these people really know what they are doing and care!!!!! The Type 1 Team we have here currently is from the south and has firefighters from as far away as Puerto Rico. Stay positive!

Over 205,000 acres now.

East Troublesome Fire has jumped the Continental Divide!!! Grew 100k acres in a day. There may not be any stopping it from rolling right into Estes Valley.

Predictions are both fires will combine unless these snows help put it out

That is truly catastrophic. I was surprised to learn this. I was in the woods this morning near our cabin north of the CO/WY border and a cold front was beginning to move into the area. Lows tonight will be in the teens with some light snow, with more to follow over the weekend. I hope that folks impacted by these fires can catch a break.

If Cameron Peak and East Troublesome combine it would be the fire from hell. That entire section of CO will get wiped out. Praying for all those in the path. All we have to worry about is a house and “stuff” - many others lives and livelihoods are being destroyed.

Fire in RMNP and Estes Park evacuated . My heart goes out to so many folks . God help those many affected and so many beautiful places that are and may be gone for so long.

How many homes lost so far? Is this mostly burning timber and grasslands or urban interface?

There will not be anything definite till the area is safe enough to get back into and authorities can make a definitive assessment. Many , Many homes and ranches have been destroyed though.