Image courtesy of San Juan National Forest. The Pagosa Ranger District on the discourages recreational travel on Piedra Road (CR 600) north of Turkey Springs (FS 629).
There are a few areas of road damage!
Here are a few reports from today about road damage due to run-off in Archuleta County…
1. From the Sheriff’s Office:
“Members of the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Management team and AC Road and Bridge assisted the San Juan National Forest Pagosa Ranger Dist with flooding and road damage on CR 600 near Jack’s Pasture or Mile Marker 8 1/2. R&B used a high pressure water hose to clear a blocked culvert.
The road still has significant damage so please use extreme caution in this area.”
2. A report on CoTrip that Highway 151 south of Chimney Rock is closed for “safety reasons”. Someone else reported that run-off is close to taking out a section of the road.
3. The San Juan National Forest relayed more info and mentioned at least three other areas of this road that are flooded:
” The Pagosa Ranger District on the discourages recreational travel on Piedra Road (CR 600) north of Turkey Springs (FS 629). At least three separate areas past this point are flooded. Residents will be allowed access; however short-term delays are expected as crews work to unplug culverts. When driving on the road vehicles are advised stay within the boundary of the cones. Road crews will be on-site working on road, but currently the flooded areas are difficult to navigate. Please avoid the shoulders of the road as there are steep drop offs in excess of 5 feet.”
“Some of the roads that are clear are heavily damaged. Please don’t drive or hike on muddy roads – it causes extensive, long-term damage.”
We are just beginning run off season!
We did a snowpack Snow Water Equivalent report on CoCoRaHS on Monday – station CO-AU-53, 8.5 NW of Pagosa Springs at 8,000ft elevation. We still had 12.2″ of liquid locked up in our 31″ snowpack. We’re just getting started!
What we are seeing at this time is run off from the mid-elevations. The high country above 10,000 will not start for a few more weeks.
