The Great Wind River Mudslide of 2013, Part 1

Okay guys. This is going to be a HUGE post, because I've been taking pictures practically nonstop since everything really started happening on Thursday. We have been flooded, mudslided twice, evacuated ourselves, evacuated horses...it's been an exciting weekend, to say the least.

As of today (Sunday) Estes Park is a flood zone. Longmont, Lyons, Denver, etc are all underwater, and we staff members have been evacuated to Estes. We're staying with some very generous people that are connected with the ranch, and all of us are safe. But let's just get started with the pictures.

Thursday morning I had set my alarm to get up and go to the barn, but woke up to the sound of rain slashing against the window. So, after a few moments of debating the merits of getting up vs. going out in the wet, I decided to stay inside. XD It turns out none of the wranglers got up anyway, so I didn't have to go down to the barn and come back in disgrace.

After breakfast we were put on flood duty...(read more after the break)

This was outside staff housing, on the way to the kitchen...I remember going 'wow, that's so deep!' at the time. And now it looks tiny and miniscule.

Shop-vaccing the flooded kitchen basement...

A crew of us was sent down to the rec hall to redirect the water and barricade against further flooding.

Barricading the girls' bathroom...

Wranglers, aka bosses.

One of these does not belong.... 

(also, look over Cody's right shoulder to see an industrious individual known as David Payne that insisted on a shout-out. Ya happy?)

The seats in front of the arena, while wet in this picture, are completely buried now under sand. >.<

We were trying to sweep out the water that was pooling in front of Ranch House, and spent HOURS working on this. 

The main road, as seen from outside the gift shop area...

Our sweeping crew, looking like bosses. (Wet bosses, but bosses nonetheless.)

After 4 1/2 hours of working in the rain, I felt like I had just crawled out of the pool--the phrase 'soaked to the skin' definitely applied here.

We (meaning the guys who could work heavy machinery) were putting up burms and barriers for the water, because it was sweeping down into the kitchen. Said kitchen is sandbagged for now, and thank goodness for backhoes to keep the water from completely overwhelming us.

The above picture is before the first mudslide. Below, we have the aftermath of the first slide:

Notice the increase of the water. O.o

The upper meadow--or at least half of it--is trashed. We've decided to rename it the Upper Boulder Field.

Overflowing pool...

Alijah isn't REALLY vacuuming here....it's just a photo op. But after this point we did clear out the pantry, and all the food is currently occupying tables in the dining hall. 

Oh, storytime! Chris and Luke were up in this area with a couple of guests checking the pump house when the mudslide happened. As Chris told it, they had just gotten done checking the pump when they heard a crashing, cracking, rumbling noise, looked up to see the mudslide barreling towards them, and took off running ahead/to the side of it. They managed to stay out of its way (enough to tell the story, anyway), and ran into the kitchen to warn the others. 

I, on the other hand, was in staff housing waiting for my coat to be done in the dryer, and missed the whole thing. -.-

More burms...

I started going up the back way to the upper meadow to avoid the majority of the mud, and met Will on a 4-wheeler. He offered to give me a ride up, and aside from some momentary terror from going over some iffy terrain it was much appreciated.

Fireside is totally gone. :C 

For a point of reference, that blue water line is supposed to be buried 9 feet. 

A. This is a perfectly safe picture that should be imitated by everyone.

B. This is what happens to Will when he gets let out of the kitchen. 

And here we have David, relaxing in the face of total destruction. He also would like for me to say that he is single, seeking for divine intervention, and you can contact him at....

Just kidding. I mean, he IS single and desperate, but I'm not going to put out contact info. That makes it too easy.

Dislodged stump...

I'm not sure how they convinced me to take this, but they did. Don managed to photobomb it with the 4-wheeler.

Oh! The gift shop has been sealed in with mud and sand, and the inside is completely dry. Don't ask me how that happened, but it did.

Beasts.

There were a few hours' interim here, but we spent several hours shoveling sand and trying to keep the water from attacking the rec hall again. My arms and shoulders were so tired at this point that it took almost everything just to keep going until the tractor came to rescue the day.

With that, it's storytime again! XD

Thursday night, after eating supper and having our evening meeting in staff housing, we arranged for which people were to keep going all night in machinery and flood shifts. The first set of people went out at 9 PM, and the rest of us went to bed to try and get a decent night's sleep.

At 10:50 PM, I was woken from a dead sleep by someone bursting into my room and yelling, "Get up! We need to go now!" I had slept in my clothes and packed my backpack in preparation for potential evacuation, so it only took a few moments to grab everything, throw on some boots, and hustle with the other staff members to the dining hall.

All the guests were in the dining hall as well, and Don explained to all of us that there had been another landslide. Since we didn't know the extent of the damage Don and Rob decided to evacuate to Aspen Lodge next door. Within the next few minutes it was discovered that Aspen Lodge was covered in two feet of mud and water, so the guests were taken to staff housing and put up with us for the night.

The next morning I wandered around looking at the destruction, and ho. ly. CRAP. Basically....we shouldn't have survived. But look at the pictures to see.

The road again...

This is High Meadow, our second-to-the farthest cabin. That car has a ditch running under it, but the wheels are on dry ground. Go figure.

There was a tree that narrowly missed Cottonwood...

...and we had to cross the raging ravine by way of a picnic table.

The edge of the slide missed Base Camp by less than 10 feet...

The horse fence is torn out, but the horses are fine.

My first view of the slide--well, from the middle of it, anyway.

Somehow all of our hammocks made it through the slide...go figure.

Flooding downstairs...

Getting ready to evacuate--at this point we weren't sure if we would see each other again, so it was a very sad departure. >.<

A bus came up from Covenant Heights and took us down the road as far as the road was washed out at Lily Lake.

David, derping it up in the face of destruction. XD

The culvert washed out, and it was terrifying. 

Josiah has been interviewing everyone for the purpose of documenting the Great Mudslide of 2013, including but not limited to: staff, workers, reporters, and random passers-by.

Fish Creek Road...

Twin Sisters, looking deceptively innocent as if it didn't just drop its face all over us. O.e

This reporter, while interviewing us, kept snapping random pictures. So Josiah and I flanked him in order to dish some of it back.

Our group outside the Red Cross shelter, before dividing up and leaving for our respective houses. *sniff*

In the back we have: Chris Lash, Andrew Chesney, Terry, Josiah Jones, Marissa Williams, and David Payne.

Middle: Amber Sauls, Sheena Zimmerman, Vanessa O'Neal, Annie Stewart, and Molly Chretian

Front: Kassandra Rodreguiz, Emily Brown, Charissa Glander, Britany Filson, Gabrielle Nelson, Abi Bitner, me, Lindsay Baker, Moriah Williams, and Tess Pfohl.

Tess and I got bored and braided each other's hair.... XD

I didn't know when I would see Chris again, so I insisted on a picture.

And then David had to creep in on us. O.e

Tess's hair!

After we (Tess, Lindsay, Moriah, and myself) got to the house we were staying at we left to go find elk.

There were a lot of babies, and they were ADORABLE.

The road less than a block away is washed out.... :/

This catches us up to Friday! I have pictures from Saturday and (hopefully) will have some from Sunday, though we spent most of the latter sitting around doing nothing because of the rain. There's a plan for bowling and then hanging out with some of the guys in the Caboose, so we'll see.

All I can say now is, it's a miracle that we escaped with our lives, much less completely unhurt and undamaged. God's hands are on this ranch. Keep praying, and I'll keep updating when I can!