No more cows – or people – expected at Conundrum cabin
ASPEN — It’s unlikely there will be people partying or cows dying in the old cabin near Conundrum Hot Springs any longer.
The U.S. Forest Service removed the tin roof from the structure over the course of the summer and recently finished the job, according to Andrew Larson, lead wilderness ranger in the Aspen-Sopris District. For now, the plan is to allow the wooden frame of the cabin to deteriorate in the harsh weather at 11,200 feet.
The cabin gained notoriety last winter when it was discovered that six cows froze to death inside after apparently seeking shelter during a snowstorm. The cows were among 29 that wandered into the Conundrum Valley from the Crested Butte side of the Continental Divide. They wandered off a Gunnison-area rancher’s grazing allotment. The rancher’s efforts to find them, by air and ground, were unsuccessful.
The cabin doesn’t have doors or windows, but the roof provided shelter from the elements. Long before the cow catastrophe, Forest Service officials debated what to do with the cabin, which once served as a guard station at the popular hot springs.
Read more about the cabin and its fate.
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The U.S. Forest Service has removed the tin roof from the old cabin near the Conundrum Hot Springs where six cows froze to death last winter. Officials plan to allow the wooden frame to deteriorate in the harsh weather. Photo by Max Vadnais, The Aspen Times