It's been a long time since I have taken the time to write down my thoughts. I have had very bad luck with the local creatures. The drought has them very hungry and the squirrels and other small creatures dined heartily on my plantings wiping out even the oats! Only onion and garlic seem to not be on the menu.....
For the past 6 or 7 years we (the kids and I) have had an annual backpack trip into the wilderness. Almost every year we pack up and drive to the trail head and hike in to find snow or rain or other impediments to a otherwise beautiful experience. This year we waited until the snow season was over. With a dry forecast for what has been months we thought we would have a fantastic time. We set out on a 6 day trip. The first day was a hard hike to the top of Santa Fe Baldy, at 12,632 feet the views and the wildflowers were spectacular. We spent the night at the lake below the peak and set off the next day for another lake a little farther north where I know the fishing is good. We had almost reached the saddle along the ridge where we were to descend to the lake when my son turned to snap a photo and saw smoke rising in the distance. We knew it could be a bad sign. We made our way down to the lake and looking back in the direction of the smoke saw that the fire was growing. The smoke was however traveling far to the south of us and it did not seem to be growing too terribly fast. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening, fishing and lounging about our camp at the lake.
I rose early to great the sunrise and the skies were clear there was no plume of smoke in the direction of the fire from the day before and with the air traffic we had heard we thought the fire had been contained. We spent the day fishing and enjoying the beauty of the wilderness.
Everything changed at about 4:00 in the afternoon..... First the wind began to gather strength. Then I noticed the column of smoke rising high in the air. The wind shifted and the smoke began to filter over the ridge above the lake. In less then 20 minutes the sky was black and orange. We packed in great haste and hit the trail down the mountain in the opposite direction we had come, and away from the approaching fire. The forest was very silent, the smoke muting everything except for the far off sound almost like a jumbo jet at high altitude, but constant and not drifting off into the distance like the sound normally would......
We tied bandanas and t-shirts around our faces and hiked fast as the dark orange brown smoke engulfed the forest and blacked out the sun. Breathing was difficult and seeing the trail was difficult through the eye burning haze. We were hiking at almost a run with our full packs, heavy, not even halfway through our supplies. We managed to escape down to less smoke filled air as we descended rapidly toward the valley. Twelve miles down hill in 4 hours, we arrived at the trail head miles away from our truck, exhausted, with all and everyone safe. The other people we marched out with, who were camped in the area by the lake, were kind and gave us a ride out and back to civilization..........nearly 9 hours after the smoke loomed overhead and began to descend on us, we were home safe.
Thankfully, the ordeal is now another tale to tell to children and grand children. Another trial in the wilderness to add to the many, many others I and my backpacking companions have from a nearly lifetime of wilderness experiences.
It worries me if the number of people and groups of people who had signed the trail logs are all safe. I did contact the Forest Service and asked if everyone on the log was accounted for and was told yes..... I do not know how they could truly account for everyone but I certainly hope no one was caught in the smoke or fire.
The fire that still rages through the area where we were has for my lifetime and perhaps even my grand children's lifetime changed the beauty of the forest where I and my companions had so many adventures. It will be many years before the tall forest reclaims the areas charred by this fire, or the many other areas charred by fires that are raging throughout the west this season. I fear that the many fires and the kind of total forest devastation will continue. It need not be total devastation by the crown fires which kill all the trees and undergrowth and even become so hot they burn the soil. The forest management strategy needs to change. From the look of some areas of the forest we have attempted to suppress the forest fires too long. There are areas where there are more standing dead and dried out trees than live ones. Areas where the drought has weakened the trees and beetles have ravaged them. We have attempted to control so much when we perhaps truly need to step back and allow some of the violent change that moves the planet. We need to allow the natural cycles that help to create a healthy environment. We also need to protect our selves and try to protect our homes and families but the forest has been saved for too long. The fuel has been stacking up for a hundred years and it will go up in flames, flames which will become more and more difficult to restrain if the management practices we presently use in our wilderness areas are not modified.
