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bluedigger

(17,077 posts)
Sat May 19, 2012, 10:20 PM May 2012

Time has run out for the frozen cows of Conundrum Hot Springs!

[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0.3077em 0.3077em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Time has run out for the frozen cows of Conundrum Hot Springs![div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3077em 0.3077em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Time has run out for the frozen cows of Conundrum Hot Springs, the immensely popular, 11,200-foot-high stopover for hikers in western Colorado’s White River National Forest. According to the Aspen Daily News, the cattle jammed themselves into a Forest Service cabin this winter, apparently to get warm, though unfortunately they were unable to figure out how to build a fire. After a while, they died inside, “piled up,” and eventually, they all froze solid. The cows apparently belong to a Gunnison area rancher with grazing permits on the other side of the Elk Mountains, who reported 29 cows missing last fall. With spring thaw, the ice-cows began, and the hot springs were at risk of contamination.

At first, Forest Service officials said they’d blow up the cows with explosives, then they considered burning them, but both operations would require lengthy analysis and would have impacts of their own. Meanwhile, snow on the 8.5-mile trail ruled out using horses to haul the corpses away, and a helicopter was said to be too pricey. So the rancher sent up three workers with handsaws to help the local wilderness ranger divide them into “appropriate-sized” pieces to be dispersed around the area.

“Nature will take it from there,” the News reports, “between decomposition and hungry wildlife.” Since the latter includes bears, the agency is asking hikers to stay away for at least a month.
http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20120519/COLUMNISTS16/705199916/-1/News01


You'll have to go to the source for the story about the bear that saved the hiker from the mountain lion.

6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Time has run out for the frozen cows of Conundrum Hot Springs! (Original Post) bluedigger May 2012 OP
Holy frozen bovine, Batman! NV Whino May 2012 #1
They considered explosives? So soon they forget about Oregon's exploding whale? pinboy3niner May 2012 #2
That was a lesson learned, wasn't it! bluedigger May 2012 #5
a month? Kali May 2012 #3
Well, they have almost thirty carcasses... bluedigger May 2012 #4
good point Kali May 2012 #6

Kali

(54,990 posts)
3. a month?
Sun May 20, 2012, 11:36 AM
May 2012

shit a carcass lasts about 3 days around here, this time of year (ok that is a bit of an exaggeration - say a week or so, although pelvis, skull, and long bones can hang for a year)

bluedigger

(17,077 posts)
4. Well, they have almost thirty carcasses...
Sun May 20, 2012, 12:38 PM
May 2012

It takes bears a while to spread the good news about the bounty, eh, Boo Boo?

Kali

(54,990 posts)
6. good point
Mon May 21, 2012, 12:09 AM
May 2012

in a pile, that could have some contamination potential, and "feed the bears"-type consequences

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