I was surprised, but I _was_ able to convince the people I work with to drive quite a bit out of their way in going to from the GEM conference in Telluride back to Denver International Airport, to see a mine fire! Fire!! FIRE!!!! (Um, heh-heh. Heh. -Sorry about that. :) ) near Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
We traveled west from Glenwood Springs on Interstate 70. We took the second exit (I believe) for "South Canyon." There was only one way to go--under the bridge, and then veering left. We crossed some railroad tracks, and eventually, the entrance to a landfill of some sorts. After 3 miles, the mine fire! Fire!! FIRE!!!! (Um, heh-heh. Heh. -Sorry about that. :) ) was up on a hill to the left.
Imagine our surprise, when we encountered a rather largish black bear: (!) ( :) )
And here are some pictures of the fire. (I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get some "close-ups," but I was having a bugger of a time with the altitude--and the bear was still a bit of a . . . concern. :)
On to some really cool pictures of the fire.