Estes Park Update
This is just an update. Have talked to friends who are able to communicate with family in Estes Park - we have been unable to contact any friends in Estes. As you know, Estes Park is the Gateway...
Forum Discussion
Hi, Ken -------
I am presuming you mean - or it is talking about Highway 7 between Hwy 72 and Estes Park.
That is the route coming up from I-70 via Blackhawk and Central City on the 119. That is one heckuva long way to get to Estes but will be the only route for quite a while. The next one to open - my guess - is Hwy 36 coming up from Boulder - but many bridges out and Lyons is about halfway and it was so bad there was a mandatory evacuation and God only knows if and when they can recover or when the road comes thru. Hwy 66 to the 36 in Lyons is an option from the I-25 but you still have the section of the 36 going to Estes that has, as I understand it, bridges out.
People, take a minute and think of this. Hwy 34 - the Big Thompson Canyon - is by far the main access to Estes Park. It is about 19 miles long. There is a spin off road - the 43 - but you have to go halfway up the canyon to get to it.
The bottom of the canyon is The Narrows and is canyon wall, river and highway - that is all. As you go further up it widens some and there are / were homes along the river and also roads / drives going up to homes a little higher up.
Highway 34 is shut down completely - end to end. Some homes and cars and whatever are in the pile of rubble at the bottom.
These people - living on the river or up higher - will not be able to get back to their homes - if they are still there - for months or even perhaps a year or two while that road is once again being re-built.
I have driven that highway hundreds of times, as has Thunder Mountain (and his former home area in Estes was also isolated within Estes due to bridge washouts - as I understand it - as well).
Estes Park will be dependent on supplies coming a long way - food and fuel the main issue - for a long time. Think of the pricing, perhaps rationing, that will be in effect. They are isolated - yes, isolated.
CO - that drop dead beautiful state where we loved living - has been ravaged by wildfires and now floods in this last year.
Be grateful it was not you; and say prayer for those it was.
It rolls over and over in my head and truly hurts me.
I am presuming you mean - or it is talking about Highway 7 between Hwy 72 and Estes Park.
That is the route coming up from I-70 via Blackhawk and Central City on the 119. That is one heckuva long way to get to Estes but will be the only route for quite a while. The next one to open - my guess - is Hwy 36 coming up from Boulder - but many bridges out and Lyons is about halfway and it was so bad there was a mandatory evacuation and God only knows if and when they can recover or when the road comes thru. Hwy 66 to the 36 in Lyons is an option from the I-25 but you still have the section of the 36 going to Estes that has, as I understand it, bridges out.
People, take a minute and think of this. Hwy 34 - the Big Thompson Canyon - is by far the main access to Estes Park. It is about 19 miles long. There is a spin off road - the 43 - but you have to go halfway up the canyon to get to it.
The bottom of the canyon is The Narrows and is canyon wall, river and highway - that is all. As you go further up it widens some and there are / were homes along the river and also roads / drives going up to homes a little higher up.
Highway 34 is shut down completely - end to end. Some homes and cars and whatever are in the pile of rubble at the bottom.
These people - living on the river or up higher - will not be able to get back to their homes - if they are still there - for months or even perhaps a year or two while that road is once again being re-built.
I have driven that highway hundreds of times, as has Thunder Mountain (and his former home area in Estes was also isolated within Estes due to bridge washouts - as I understand it - as well).
Estes Park will be dependent on supplies coming a long way - food and fuel the main issue - for a long time. Think of the pricing, perhaps rationing, that will be in effect. They are isolated - yes, isolated.
CO - that drop dead beautiful state where we loved living - has been ravaged by wildfires and now floods in this last year.
Be grateful it was not you; and say prayer for those it was.
It rolls over and over in my head and truly hurts me.
