I would like to get folks thoughts on what has happened at
Maroon Lake. I was there yesterday and saw the results of a winter
avalanche that carried hundreds of evergreen trees into the lake. The
“ranger” I spoke to said they were going to leave them and let nature
takes it course. That sounds ok but I think the trees could damn up the lake
and cause it to overflow into the meadow closing off the whole area.
The small tributary closest to the walking path is already damned up and has no water in it. It has always had water in it even when the lake is low like it is now.
I have added an upcropped pano taken where Maroon Creek exits the lake
My thought is that if the avalanche was a natural occurrence, then let what happens happen. The one exception would be damage to buildings or roads.
Sometimes changes in nature take a lot of time to take place. If might not happen in our life time, but eventually things will settle down, and a new landscape will take root there.
Kevin,
I don’t know if you have even been to the Maroon Bells area but it is so heavily used in the summer that the NPS does not allow one to drive their own car; buses are used to take people there. At the Bells area, the permanent restrooms and parking lot are all down stream and below the level of the current lake. If the tree damn closes the opening of Maroon Creek the water will obviously go somewhere, probably into the restroom and parking lot area. Thanks
