A bit of a powerful, sad image for Moose Monday.
Taken last August in the burn area of the East Troublesome Fire. The late-season blaze started on October 14, 2020 and would go on to burn nearly 194,000 acres in the Colorado high country. To say it was devastating would be an understatement.
We have always spent a lot of time camping in the area and it was truly sad to see so much forest reduced to ash and burned hulks of trees. Much of the wildlife survived but the foliage that the critters rely on for food and cover was virtually entirely gone.
Early one morning I spotted this moose cow as she worked her way across one of the burn areas below our campsite. The forest will recover but it will be many lifetimes before it returns to its former glory.
