Just before 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Boulder residents in the area of Hawthorne Avenue were told to evacuate due to a wildfire that had sparked overnight. Dubbed the Goat Trail Fire, the blaze has since been contained at about two acres and those evacuations were lifted, though local residents are surely concerned about whether or not this could be a sign of a trend following another fire that sparked days ago, late on Sunday night – also in a hiking hotspot.

The Wednesday morning fire, dubbed the Goat Trail Fire, sparked in a popular outdoor recreation spot on the northwest side of the city and beneath Mount Sanitas. Numerous trails are present in the area and have been impacted, with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks announcing that Goat, Sanitas Valley, Dakota Ridge, Sanitas East Ridge, and Sanitas West Ridge trails have been closed as a result (a map of these closures can be found here and will be updated when trails reopen).

At this time, no information related to the suspected cause of the fire has been released, though it could be said that it was presumably human-caused given the lack of thunderstorms in the area at the time it sparked. The same could be said about the Sunday fire that sparked a few miles south of the Goat Trail Fire in the area of Chautauqua Park and the Enchanted Mesa Trailhead.

As noted, the cause of both fires appears to still be under investigation. Either way, both incidents show that fire risk is to be at top of mind while exploring Colorado. It’s also worth mentioning how the timing of these fires could ultimately end up impacting general access. Fire risk has been cited as a reason for nighttime closures of outdoor recreation areas in the past. One local Boulder example is the recent nighttime closure of Panorama Point, which was closed to vehicles at night amid concern of illegal activities and increased fire risk.

STAY INFORMED: Get free Colorado news with our daily newsletter (Click here)