Estes Park Evacuees
Janie and I have written some on facebook, but I thought I'd write this with some photos for those who are interested. Janie and I were at the cabin in Moraine Park from about the end of August and were planning to leave today 9/14. I happened to take this first picture on Wednesday, as I had noticed that a sandbar had been covered in the river. Apparently the rains Wednesday morning added to the river. It was nice to see water there.
I used my phone to email that picture to two of Janie's brothers to show the increased water flow. The next picture is what I shot from the same spot with my phone, the next morning in a steady rain. We had gotten over 6 inches of rain according to the gauge. A small herd of elk had settled in for the night right near the side of the first river picture. As we looked at them the next morning, they seemed quite shocked at the change of events. They made no attempt to cross the water, although they did look at it for a bit.
Here are a couple more photos of the flooding high about the village of Estes Park.
The later photo was taken as we were leaving the cabin. Earlier, the ranger came by and informed us we were under pre-evacuation notice. Then 20 minutes later he let us know that we needed to evacuate the area. We got what we could from the cabin and went to the motorhome and moved it up to the visitor center/museum parking lot to organize. One ranger said that might be a good place to park until the evacuation was lifted. It wasn't too much longer from then that another ranger approached us to let us know that we couldn't stay there and we'd have to move to the Moraine Park Campground where all of the other campground residents had been relocated to. We spoke with a couple of different rangers and finally complied with this. They would let us park there for free. We finally settled in the campground and about three hours later, another ranger came and told us we were evacuating again to the Beaver Meadows parking lot. The following two photos were taken the next morning. We had RVs and tent and car campers in the parking lot overnight. Janie and I offered coffee around to those who couldn't prepare their own, and fed breakfast to at least one chilly car camper.
This morning of the above photos 9/13, we were told there would be a briefing for the campers at 9:30. We went to the briefing and were told that the only way out of the park was on Trail Ridge road and that the rangers were encouraging people to take it. The briefers told us that it would be weeks before any of the other highways would be repaired. This is what we needed to hear for our decision to leave. We could wait days and even a couple of weeks but not several weeks. We got permission and an escort back to the cabin to "close" it for the season (winterize it) and we gathered the rest of our things , locked the door and by 1:30 or so Friday afternoon we were back at the camper and hitching up for the trip over the mountain. The trip over the mountain was easier than we thought, then the following Berthoud Pass and within a few hours we were fighting traffic and rain in Denver. We spent a few hours sleeping in Limon, Co and then headed in the wee hours toward Amarillo. We made it to Amarillo by morning. There's more to write but I'm tired. I am thinking of the many people who are still there in the foothills of the Rockies cleaning up a business, looking at salvaged photos, grieving a loss, putting a family back together or just helping a neighbor. Thanks for reading.
This shows the river slightly up from the days previous
I used my phone to email that picture to two of Janie's brothers to show the increased water flow. The next picture is what I shot from the same spot with my phone, the next morning in a steady rain. We had gotten over 6 inches of rain according to the gauge. A small herd of elk had settled in for the night right near the side of the first river picture. As we looked at them the next morning, they seemed quite shocked at the change of events. They made no attempt to cross the water, although they did look at it for a bit.
This is roughly the same spot only a wider angle.
Here are a couple more photos of the flooding high about the village of Estes Park.
As we're leaving the cabin and the valley
The later photo was taken as we were leaving the cabin. Earlier, the ranger came by and informed us we were under pre-evacuation notice. Then 20 minutes later he let us know that we needed to evacuate the area. We got what we could from the cabin and went to the motorhome and moved it up to the visitor center/museum parking lot to organize. One ranger said that might be a good place to park until the evacuation was lifted. It wasn't too much longer from then that another ranger approached us to let us know that we couldn't stay there and we'd have to move to the Moraine Park Campground where all of the other campground residents had been relocated to. We spoke with a couple of different rangers and finally complied with this. They would let us park there for free. We finally settled in the campground and about three hours later, another ranger came and told us we were evacuating again to the Beaver Meadows parking lot. The following two photos were taken the next morning. We had RVs and tent and car campers in the parking lot overnight. Janie and I offered coffee around to those who couldn't prepare their own, and fed breakfast to at least one chilly car camper.
Campers at the evacuation site at Beaver Meadows parking lot.
This morning of the above photos 9/13, we were told there would be a briefing for the campers at 9:30. We went to the briefing and were told that the only way out of the park was on Trail Ridge road and that the rangers were encouraging people to take it. The briefers told us that it would be weeks before any of the other highways would be repaired. This is what we needed to hear for our decision to leave. We could wait days and even a couple of weeks but not several weeks. We got permission and an escort back to the cabin to "close" it for the season (winterize it) and we gathered the rest of our things , locked the door and by 1:30 or so Friday afternoon we were back at the camper and hitching up for the trip over the mountain. The trip over the mountain was easier than we thought, then the following Berthoud Pass and within a few hours we were fighting traffic and rain in Denver. We spent a few hours sleeping in Limon, Co and then headed in the wee hours toward Amarillo. We made it to Amarillo by morning. There's more to write but I'm tired. I am thinking of the many people who are still there in the foothills of the Rockies cleaning up a business, looking at salvaged photos, grieving a loss, putting a family back together or just helping a neighbor. Thanks for reading.
