I walked the North Foothills Trail on an organized hike Saturday with naturalist Dave Sutherland through an area heavily burned by the Olde Stage Fire 23 days earlier. Sutherland pointed out that the area north of town along the hogback is known for its occasionally swift, intense fires. Sutherland is a great guide, and I learned a lot even though I didn’t do the entire loop. The trail begins off U.S. 36 just north of the Broadway/36 intersection and crosses under the highway heading west.

Here are some photographs and comments from the hike. Click for larger versions of the photos.

We saw a lot of burned yucca plants. Some would break off while burning and become airborne, which is one way the fire jumped U.S. 36.

Sutherland pointed out that the fire in this field just north of the subdivision was set by firefighters, called a backburn, to keep the main fire away from the homes.

This view from higher on the trail shows that backburned area and the erratic nature of the fire's destruction.

This wooden post along the trail shows the intensity of the fire in some places.

A piece of firehose was burned by the fire. Next to the rock on the left, however, are plants that will bloom again in the spring.

Other posts on the fire here and here.

I was out on my bike awhile ago, and as I was crossing Foothills Highway on the bike path near Eisenhower Middle School I noticed the tell-tale signs of white smoke moving from east to west across the southern sky, most likely in Jefferson County. As I turned north there was a cloud of black smoke drifting west toward the foothills. From my low elevation it looked like it could be near Lyons.

Smoke from a controlled burn near Lyons drifts westward about 1 p.m. this afternoon in this photo taken near the East Boulder Rec Center.

Fires are serious business in the West, and it has been relatively quiet in Colorado on the wildfire front this fall, coinciding with a spectacular, memorable autumn along the Front Range. So seeing two fires at the same time put me on caution, especially the black smoke in the north. First thought is “controlled burn,” but it was also coming from the direction of the Cemex plant southeast of Lyons, a notable county polluter whose idea of making a buck is burning tires in the midst of a rural residential area.

But Cemex is innocent this time. When I got home I dialed up the website of the Daily-Camera, which had a story that said both were controlled burns.