Lake City Potential Flooding

[Cygnus X1]

On Fox31 this morning they interviewed a guy at Lake City (didn't catch his name) and he said at one slide, the debris pile is 200 feet deep over Henson Creek!

[San Juan Ron]

On Fox31 this morning they interviewed a guy at Lake City (didn't catch his name) and he said at one slide, the debris pile is 200 feet deep over Henson Creek!

Yeah, one is 200 feet up on Henson and others are 100 feet or so. The pics just don’t do justice to the size of the debris piles and the hundreds of trees just sheared off by each avalanche.

[Otzi]

I don't have an account, but I talked to her and she said it was posted by Ted Mahon. He posts here from time to time as well.

Yep, Ted Mahon's Instagram - I follow him and was blown away the other day when he posted it.

[WildWanderer]

I was out there the past 2 days. The city was like a ghost town over Memorial Day weekend. It's sad. Several people I talked to were on the verge of tears. Not one camping spot is taken in any of the campgrounds, no one is visiting the town or hiking either. Please note you can still access County Road 30 for 11 miles. This is PAST the Mill Creek Campground, and includes several 14er/13er trailheads. Yes, they're worried about flooding, but the 30 is not in an area that will be affected if the city floods, and you can use the 149 South if the city does flood (so you won't get "stuck" in Lake City if there's an evacuation). These guys rely on tourism, and right now no one's there. Let's help them out! (Side note: gas was $3.09 a gallon: the same as in Gunnison and several other surrounding cities. Consider filling up in Lake City if you visit).

[justiner]

I was out there the past 2 days. The city was like a ghost town over Memorial Day weekend. It's sad. Several people I talked to were on the verge of tears. Not one camping spot is taken in any of the campgrounds, no one is visiting the town or hiking either.

Kinda seems a little early for Lake City's high season. I'd be willing to bet a lot of their tourist income comes from the 4WD enthusiast crowds. For them to come, they need open tracks (Alpine Loop). Those avalanche debris piles are certainly going to get in the way. Seems like a pretty big mess to clean up, potentially.

I could also see lots of the CT and CDT thru-hiking crowd not being able to get through the trail, although again it's pretty early.

[WildWanderer]

I was out there the past 2 days. The city was like a ghost town over Memorial Day weekend. It's sad. Several people I talked to were on the verge of tears. Not one camping spot is taken in any of the campgrounds, no one is visiting the town or hiking either.

Kinda seems a little early for Lake City's high season. I'd be willing to bet a lot of their tourist income comes from the 4WD enthusiast crowds. For them to come, they need open tracks (Alpine Loop). Those avalanche debris piles are certainly going to get in the way. Seems like a pretty big mess to clean up, potentially.

I could also see lots of the CT and CDT thru-hiking crowd not being able to get through the trail, although again it's pretty early.

That's fair, and honestly I"m not sure what's "normal" for Memorial Day. Everyone I talked to in the city said they've never seen it like this. Hopefully it will pick up as the summer gets nearer. Just trying to get the word out they're "open"

[painless4u2]

ColoradoRock1.jpg

"The "significant" rock fall took place later Friday afternoon along Colorado Highway 145 about 12 miles north of Dolores, estimated to weigh 2.3 million pounds."
Hwy 145 will remain closed "for the foreseeable future".
Oops.

[gb]

Cottonwood Creek beyond Sherman is completely nuts as well. Debris covered well over a half a mile of that road...

Picture of one of the large Cottonwood Creek avalanches.

Intimately acquainted with those slides. Took a solid hour and a half to go a half mile.

[kaiman]

I could also see lots of the CT and CDT thru-hiking crowd not being able to get through the trail, although again it's pretty early.

As a former CT thruhiker whose still on the CT and CDT Facebook groups, I can tell you that many CDT hikers started in March and bailed in southern Colorado or are flip flopping and planning on coming back to finish their thruhikes in Colorado later this summer. Most CT thruhikers I’ve talked to are pushing their hikes back 2-4 weeks this year to adjust for the snow. So far there is recorded avalanche debri affecting the CT on the Wheeler Trail between Breckenridge and Copper, at the Avalanche Trailhead in the Collegiate Peaks, and near Slumulligon Pass in the San Juans. I expect that list to grow in the next month. Also the crossing of Cochetopa Creek on the CT near Eddiesville in the La Garitas is going to be really interesting until late July.

[timstich]

They have already blown up and fractured that huge boulder on the highway and are hauling off the rubble. They should have single lane traffic going in a few days.

https://the-journal.com/articles/139795

[Candace66]

@ all of this!!

[San Juan Ron]

CR 30 still closed at winter closure

CR 20 still closed at Snowden’s

You can get to Nellie Creek turnoff, but can’t get to TH due to avalanche debris

Ancillary areas (Wager Gulch, Cottonwood Creek) also significantly impacted by avalanches

The campgrounds off of CR 30 are open (Mill Creek and Williams Creek) and the road is good to the Winter Closure and Cataract Creek TH

I don’t think this will change anytime soon. The river runoff hasn’t really started yet and more cool weather with snow forecast this week...