You Don't Have To Be Afraid...

 I have been receiving hourly phone calls at the fly shop from traveling fly fishers asking if they should be canceling their flights to Colorado. The news says the whole state is burning down! Is it safe to come? Grow up people. Parts of this state burn every year. We lose lots of our homes and even a few of our people. It sucks and yes, this is an exceptionally bad year. We had record snowpack and rain last year which allowed the underbrush to flourish. And this winter was very meager. This coupled with almost no Spring rains and high heat has created inevitable fire storms. Between the High Park fire and the Waldo Canyon (both still raging) we have lost over 500 homes on the Colorado Front Range. But the fishing is great out here and these fires should not scuttle your vacation plans. Many industries, to include the fly fishing industry, rely heavily on tourism dollars. If you chicken out...you hurt the state economy unnecessarily.  If you cancel your plans because you are trying to save money, that's one thing. If you cancel them because you afraid of fire, well...that would be lame.

My parents just flew into Denver the other day, through the smoke clouds of the Flagstaff fire threatening the southern limits of Boulder. Then they drove into the mountains to stay with me... merely five miles from the little 300-acer burn with zero containment. We can all just stand on the roof, drink beer and pee on the roof, I told them.

So kick your shoes off, do not fear...and bring that bottle over here...