T he original problem was fire. The flames from the Grizzly Creek fire lasted for five months in 2020, burning more than 32,000 acres in western Colorado. Now, the fire has created another problem, and it has to do with water. Debris and ash from the fire and subsequent mudslides fell into the Colorado River, […]
Grizzly Creek fire
Posted inNews, Outdoors, Outsider, Transportation
The final phase of restoration in Glenwood Canyon turns to debris-choked Colorado River
GLENWOOD CANYON — Andrew Knapp leans over the railing of Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon and scowls at a jumble of rocks clogging the Colorado River. Those piercing piles of boulders — swept down the canyon walls in a cataclysmic rainstorm on July 29 — were rubbing against the retaining wall beneath the highway when […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Economy, Environment, News, Outdoors
Glenwood Springs is still dealing with the effects of a long I-70 closure this summer. Federal aid is a lifeline.
After a year marred by disease and wildfire, Defiance Rafting just east of Glenwood Springs was having a gangbuster whitewater season this summer — so much so that owner Gregory Cowan planned to replace the 26 rafts that came with the business when he bought it three years ago. But the mudslides that closed Interstate […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Hanging Lake Trail will take a long time to rebuild, but there’s clear water on the horizon
GLENWOOD CANYON — White River National Forest ecologist Liz Roberts picks up her pace as she climbs the final, steep steps to Hanging Lake. She’s seen pictures of the pristine oasis clouded by mud and silt after devastating debris flows last week. “Wow the lake has cleared up,” she says at the edge of the […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, Water
It wasn’t just I-70 that suffered after Glenwood Canyon slides. The Colorado River took a blow, too.
When a mud and rock slide buried one of the more important highways in the West on July 29, the dramatic gridlock became a statewide spectator sport. That same historic rock slide, at the same moment, blocked off the most important river in the West. After decades of fierce arguments over damming up more of […]
Posted inNews, Transportation
Passengers rescued after Greyhound bus gets stuck on forest service road in the Flat Tops
DOTSERO — Authorities are warning drivers not to try to find shortcuts to avoid the lengthy detours around a prolonged closure of Interstate 70 in western Colorado after about 20 people had to be rescued from a bus that got stuck on an unpaved forest road. The Greyhound bus had trouble navigating the road generally […]
Posted inClimate, News, Transportation, Wildfire
U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass shut by mudslides, hazmat vehicles must now go through Eisenhower tunnel
A mudslide late Saturday near Arapahoe Basin ski area shut down traffic on U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass which means traffic on Interstate 70 must occasionally stop to allow trucks carrying hazardous materials to pass through Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels. The Colorado Department of Transportation on Sunday evening said the road had reopened. Heavy rains across […]
Posted inClimate, News, Transportation
Mudslides in Glenwood Canyon force more than 100 to spend night on I-70
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — More than 100 people had to spend the night on Interstate 70, including nearly 30 who took refuge in a tunnel, after rain over an area burned by a wildfire in western Colorado once again triggered mudslides in western Colorado. The people were caught with their vehicles on I-70 in Glenwood Canyon […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Transportation
Mudslides and flash flooding along Colorado’s burn scars could cause disasters, or mere travel delays, all summer long. Here’s why.
Areas scorched during last year’s historic wildfire season could pose flash flooding risks through the summer as rain picks up speed along steep terrain in the burn scars, sweeping debris onto major roads. While heavy rain is typical of the summer monsoon season, Colorado is seeing “an abnormal year of flooding events,” partly because of […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Water
Drought-caused Colorado River fishing restrictions lifted, but it may be a temporary reprieve
By James Anderson, The Associated Press Colorado lifted some fishing restrictions along a stretch of the Colorado River on Tuesday, but biologists warn that historically low water flows caused by a drought in the U.S. West, high water temperatures and wildfire sediment that all starve trout of oxygen could force future bans. On July 7, […]