Prayers Up for Rye

The photo at the top of this page was taken yesterday afternoon from my home base in La Veta, CO. Look closely at the very top of the “cloud” and you’ll see a small amount of white. That’s the real cloud. Everything else is smoke from the Aspen Acres wildfire now burning about 40 miles from here near the town of Rye.

Rye was the subject of Gravelogue’s very first adventure and since then Lannie and I have been back to the area several times, usually for a great meal at the Three Sisters Tavern, which I mentioned in my original post.

In just 24 hours, the Aspen Acres fire has grown more than tenfold — from 2,481 acres on Monday to an estimated 28,362 today. Rye, Beulah, and San Isabel have all been evacuated, as has Bishop Castle, the 160-foot-high, hand-built wonder. As of this writing, more than 155 homes and other structures have been destroyed.

We’re sending our thoughts to the people of the Greenhorn Valley — and to the firefighters who have responded from all over the region (including a crew from La Veta).

Many of those La Veta firefighters were called back home later yesterday to battle another smaller fire that just started north of La Veta Pass.

We may be in for a tough summer.