I saw on the news the other day that Estes Park in Colorado had to evacuate due to wildfires. For those of you not familiar with the area, Estes Park is the town right outside Rocky Mountain National Park, and where you stay if you want some sort of amenities during your visit (a bring your own solar shower place is about the height of luxury inside the park). I've always called it the 'Gatlinburg of the Rockies' because it had the same tourist trap vibe as Gatlinburg, TN, it seems to be further imitating that town by flirting with wildfires...
I originally intended to do a post on Estes Park and the area that's on fire because I spent a good bit of time in the area a few years back but that didn't quite work out. While looking for photos to go with that topic I happened across these photos from the alpine tundra in RMNP and got distracted editing them instead.
This was taken near the end of summer, as the temperatures grow colder the elk migrate to progressively lower elevations (these are from about 11,000ft above sea level). One of the little ones was trying to nurse but momma didn't seem too happy or cooperative. There were probably 50 or more in total hanging out above treeline and blocking traffic on Trail Ridge Road, they seemed quite indifferent to humans and vehicles but occasionally cooperated for photos.
When I was there it rained just about every single day, hopefully the fires are treated to equally wet conditions, I'd hate for a place as lovely as this to burn. Yellowstone did that back in 1988 and thirty years later you could still see the scars from that.