We went to visit Royal Gorge Bridge (as we so often do) on June 11, 2013 and on the way we saw a small plume of smoke. By the time we got to the park (not far away) fire had exploded and emergency vehicles were responding. The park was being evacuated. Emergency vehicles had to also divert to the south side which I believe is where the fire started and is much more difficult to access. I had never wanted to see destructive fire again. We left and drove up to Monarch Pass and then back again (which was our original plan except we had hoped to be able to visit the park not witness fire). We could see the smoke from many, many miles away. Stopped to take pics of rafters and it was sad seeing their joy and knowing that fire was ahead of them and would impact their happiness. We had planned to go home by way of back roads starting at Hwy 9. We got Twitter connection for long enough to find out it was open. The road block was set up there but we could still access it. We got home and learned of Black Forest Fire near us to the north. I haven't copied phone pics yet. CLICK ON THUMBNAILS TO OPEN LARGER IMAGES.