Tour de Fat and Wild Basin Wind

Saturday, September 4th, 2010 was the Tour de Fat parade from New Belgium Brewery and back.  My Brother, Weldon and his wife, Bev, were visiting and wanted to see the parade this year as they had accidentally sen it a previous year.  We agreed to meet at Loomis and Mountain after much discussion on the phone.  Wires were crossed as I thought they were going to call me as they were entering town to let me know they were on their way.  As a result we didn't get together until 10:20 while the parade was in full swing.  They had found a shady spot on the median to watch and we spent most of the hour and a half there.  Costumes of all sorts abounded, lots of fairies, pirates, plants and flowers were just a few of the choices.  Bike trailers were decorated as boats, a personal grocery cart, and large umbrellas were all part of the mix.

Monday we arranged to go to Wild Basin to hike to Calypso Cascades.  At the early, for Bev, hour of 8:45 we left my house to drive to Longmont and up Route 7 to Wild Basin Ranger Station in RMNP.  It was a beautiful scenic drive with a bit more wind then I would have liked.  I was sure that the trail was sheltered enough in the trees that it would be an enjoyable hike anyway.    I hadn't anticipated that the gusty winds would whip the dirt from the trail around and throw it into our faces.  As I listened to the trees creak in the wind I decided to warn Weldon that we should be careful and watch the trees when they were creaking.  Bev was behind us and did not hear me so Weldon told her as well.   No more than five minutes later we heard a loud CRACK! It was a dead, gray Lodge-pole Pine falling toward us and the trail.  I leaped to the left and Weldon leaped back and to the side as it fell between us onto the trail.  My only thought, "It better not hit me on the head!"    As it hit other trees and the trail it broke apart and showered us with debris.

As we were staring and I was taking a picture (see above) a family from a branch of the trail came around the bend and asked us if we had heard the noise.  Weldon responded that we had and the tree had fallen between us.  We continued to Calypso Cascades, ate lunch, and returned home through Estes Park all without any more incidents.