Allenspark Wind Article for June 2026
Roger Sherman

I have mentioned before that our 1914 cabin is summer only as the main heat source is still the fireplace.  Though sometimes we do make winter excursions and usually someone will go up a day or so early and “pre-heat” the cabin - the large stone fireplace and chimney rocks will heat up and radiate nicely after a few days so we can turn the water on.

So this year in early May, my son and his family went to the cabin and opened it up - it was early but this year was so dry and warm that it seemed fine.  When they left they shut down the water and drained pipes but left the hot tub, which is heated by propane, full but with the circulating pump on.  Of course, temperatures plummeted shortly after they left so I dashed up (we live in Greeley) and drained the pump and heater as we have had issues in the past.

So in mid-May it seemed time to open or reopen for the summer season so I went up and got the water going and heated the hot tub.  We were officially open, but of course May has been virtually our only winter so yesterday May 17 I went back up and did the shut down procedure all over again!  I am not complaining, hopefully we will get the foot of snow promised. 

Still I suspect we will have a very fraught fire season this summer and I have seen signs up and down the valley of mitigation work going on and a big pile of slash already at the Sort Yard. Hopefully these efforts and the recent moisture will help “ensure” the fire danger from the extraordinarily dry winter. 

I used “ensure” because we just received our homeowners insurance bill from State Farm which after last year's big increase is now double what it was just the year before last.  I know, I know some would say that we are lucky to even have insurance and lucky it isn’t even higher.  But for many owners in the valley this increase along with taxes and water issues is rapidly becoming unsustainable.  I think what angers me the most about the increases is that they just do it without explanation or apology or justification.  Just the bill.  And supposedly this bill is discounted for Home/Auto, Claim Record and Loyal Customer.  I am going to talk to them about changes but I am not holding my breath.

I know there are many factors driving these increases.  Insurance rates are going up all over the country and disasters, fire, hurricanes, floods, etc. seem to be bigger, more often  and more devastating than in the past.  Also some of our protections in the uniforms of our public land employees are being stripped away.  The state is trying to bring down insurance costs but the state is financially strapped as well.  But we should be able to get credit for mitigation efforts, for fire department improvements, and perhaps not have to help cover hail damage that occurs mostly on the plains. 

The winter house fire near St. Malo was a wake up call and we were all relieved and grateful that the fire was contained to the house, as tragic as that was (and certainly still is) for the residents and the landowner.   Kudos to the fire fighters for being able to do that.  It is sad that we have to be concerned about all these issues and more when what we really want to do, as summer residents, is relax and enjoy our mountain cabins.

The Tahosa Valley Landowners Association will continue to focus on these issues this summer with a special emphasis on fire mitigation and fire protection improvements.  Please stay tuned.