It was only a matter of time...

Until the tinderbox that is Green Mountain, went up in flames. Today, I witnessed the entire north face of the beautiful Tertiary age (less than 65 million years old) Green Mountain go up in flames, smoke and ash. It was a terrible sight to see since there were such high winds and so many homes potentially in danger. I had been quipping for some time that one of these days, Green Mountain would no longer be green, but scorched black, since this summer has been so dry. It was only a matter of time, and so far, we've been lucky. Now, luck has run out. All it took was a singular bolt of lightning.

I was drawn to the maelstrom. We drove up into the thick of the smoke near Red Rocks Community College when the wind was blowing north east and it was a powerful sight. To be nearly enveloped in smoke from a fire that is less than a mile away was stupefying. "My god," was the phrase of the moment. I was compelled to capture the atmospheric fury of the event with my camera and so our adventure took us back and forth along 6th Ave to find a good spot for pictures. We found a couple of good spots. One was in the Staples parking lot off of 6th Ave and Colfax Blvd, another at the entrance to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

After taking quite a few pictures, some artsy, but most were just normal sights captured from the perspective of a spectator to natures anarchy. I've selected the best photos and created a gallery of what we saw today. Some of the photos may seem bland, some may seem striking. Look at them and create your own experience out of what I've captured. Sharing what I saw with my eyes is what I wanted to accomplish. This is what a photographer does. It's a pity that moments like these can test a photographer's nerve and ability. I feel I could have done better had I unfettered access to the area, but I did the best I could with the resources I had at my disposal.

Green Mountain Wildfire Gallery