PERILOUS PRIMITIVE IDAHO
AS IF SITTING HERE ON OUR MOUNTAIN GUARDING HOME AND HEARTH WITH TREPIDATION WASN'T ENOUGH, WE HAD NOW FOUND OURSELVES DOING THE OUTRAGEOUS IN THE DRAUGHT-RIDDEN SUMMER OF 2000.
AFTER 40 YEARS AS ADJUSTERS WE TOOK CAMERAS IN HAND LAST SATURDAY AND HEADED WEST AND SOUTH TO HANDLE AN INSURANCE CLAIM. MONTANA'S SICK LOOKING BLUE RIBBON "BIG HOLE RIVER" HAD AT LAST BARED HER MAMMOTH BOULDERS AND SKIMPY WARMISH WATERS PLAYING HAVOC WITH THE FISH POPULATION. WE HAD READ THATALL THE RIVERS WERE CLOSED, BUT THE SIGHT WAS, NONETHELESS, HEARTBREAKING. SOME 50 MILES OUT WE OBSERVED A HUGE FIRE CAMP STAGING AREA. IT APPEARED AS A SMALL COMMUNITY THAT HAD SPRUNG UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AS NEW FIRES HAD ERUPTED NEARBY. THESE CAMPS WERE EVERYWHERE.
(CHIEF JOSEPH PASS LOOKING SOUTH INTO IDAHO)
AT 7400 FEET WE TOPPED CHIEF JOSEPH PASS OVER THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE WHERE WE ENCOUNTERED THE HIGHWAY PATROL, FOREST SERVICE VEHICLES, ARMY HUMMERS, TANKER TRUCKS, HELICOPTERS AND CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT READY TO GO INTO ACTION. WE WERE FLAGGED ON AND WE TWO OLD FOOLS RUSHED IN WHERE ONLY ANGELS FEARED TO TREAD. THE SMOKE WAS SO DENSE I COULD HARDLY BELIEVE WE WERE REALLY GOING TO ENTER IDAHO IN ALL HER DEVASTATED MAJESTY. SIGNS ALONG THE ROADSIDE WARNED OF VISIBILITY CHANGES AND ALL SIDE ROADS WERE MARKED "CLOSED". THE NEXT 50 OR SO MILES WE SAW ONLY TWO OR THREE FELLOW TRAVELERS WHICH LEFT US FEELING PRETTY ISOLATED AMONGST THE ENORMOUS TREES THAT HAD BEEN SPARED. AT LAST THE NORTH FORK OF THE SALMON TURNOFF. THE ONCE BUSTLING CORNER CATERED TO HIKERS, CAMPERS, HORSE PACKERS, AND RIVER RAFTING TOURS BY THE DOZENS. NOT THIS SUMMER! THE PLACE WAS LIKE A SMALL GHOST TOWN WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A GAS PUMP AND SMALL CAFE THAT PROVIDED STEAK DINNERS TO ALL FIREFIGHTERS.
OTHER THAN THE FIRE CREWS WE SEEMED TO BE THE ONLY CIVILIANS TRAVELING THE DIRT ROAD TO OUR DESTINATION INTO IDAHO'S PRISTINE "RIVER OF NO RETURN". BUT FOR THE GREYISH MANTLE OF SMOKE AND OCCASSIONAL HUGE BROWN CLOUDS OF ERUPTING FIRES, THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A GLORIOUS TOUR.
FIRE CAMP STAGING AREA AT RIVER
WE PASSED VARIOUS FIRE CAMPS AND THEN SUDDENLY STOPPED TO BE ESCORTED FOR A FEW TREACHEROUS HOT AND SMOKEY MILES PAST ROADSIDE FLAREUPS. SEEING ACTUAL FLAMES DROVE THE DEVASTATION HOME. DRIVING WAS HAZARDOUS AS ANIMALS OF ALL SORTS WERE SEEKING RELIEF AT ROAD'S EDGE NEAR THE RIVER. THIS OLD MOUNTAIN EWE SCAMPERED IN FRONT OF US AND UP THE MOUNTAIN AFTER HER DRINK. "HANG IN THERE LADY!"
OLD SOLITARY EWE
WE WERE ASTONISHED TO SEE A LARGE CONTIGENT OF SINGLE MAN KYAKERS PADDLING THROUGH THE RAPIDS YELLING "YAAA HOOO" HAVING THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES. AS I STOOD ON THE BLUFF TO SNAP PICTURES THEY WAVED AND SAID THEY WERE MARINES TAKING A BREAK FROM FIGHTING FIRES. THEY LANDED AT OUR SMALL RESORT DESTINATION AND WE TALKED ABOUT THEIR JOB. THEY SAID THE HARDEST PART WAS CLIMBING THE NEAR VERTICAL TERRAIN BUT THEY WERE VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE BEAUTY OF IDAHO AND MONTANA AND FIGURED THE DUTY WAS GOOD.
GOD BLESS THEM, ONE AND ALL!
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SOME 40 MILES BROUGHT US TO ONE OF THE EERIEST SIGHTS WE'VE EVER SEEN. WHERE THE MIDDLE FORK MEETS THE NORTH FORK, THICK SMOKE HAD TRAVELED AND THEN hOVERED COMPLACENTLY IN THE GORGE LEAVING A RESIDUE OF CHOKING ASH. MAYBE I'LL
ENTER THIS BABY IN MY PHOTO CONTEST SITE
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KEN AND I ARE VERY GRATEFUL WE LIVE AT 7000 FEET FOR OUR AIR IS COMPARATIVELY FRESH DESPITE ALL OUR WHINING AND COMPLAINING, RUNNY EYES, DRIPPY NOSES AND CONSTANT COUGHING. UNHAPPILY ALL OF WESTERN MONTANA IS NOW ENGULFED IN SMOKE, THE LOWER VALLEYS HEAVIER THAN THE MOUNTAINS. ALL FORESTS, RECREATION AND RIVERS ARE CLOSED. THERE ARE 27 NEW FIRES THIS MONDAY MORNING AND 600,000 MONTANA ACRES HAVE NOW BEEN DESTROYED. FIRE CAMPS AND STAGING AREAS ARE EVERYWHERE MANNED AND MAINTAINED BY PERSONNEL FROM MANY STATES. HUGE TANKER PLANES AND TROOP CARRIERS ARE PROVIDING US WITH THE HELP OUR GOVERNOR HAS REQUESTED.
OUR SON, TIM, OF WEST YELLOWSTONE, HAS BEEN PRESSED INTO SERVICE AS A CO-ORDINATOR ON THE MADISON RANGE FIRE WHICH IS THREATENING THE WORLD FAMOUS "BIG SKY" RECREATION AREA AND PRIVATE CONDOS. SIX OR EIGHT POPULAR HORSE PACKING RESORTS HAVE NOW BEEN FORCED TO ABANDON. HE TELLS ME HE WORKS 15-16 HRS. A DAY AND FALLS INTO BED EACH NIGHT. HE WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO SUNDAY SO HE AND JO COULD SAY "HI" TO EACH OTHER. PRESENTLY NUMEROUS FIRES IN YELLOWSTONE PARK ARE BEING LEFT TO BURN WITH WATCHFUL EYES KEEPING TRACK OF CONDITIONS.
TOMORROW WE WILL AGAIN TRAVEL TO DO OUR WARRANTY INSPECTIONS AND TAKE LOTS OF DIGITALS. THIS TIME TO THE NORTHERN PART OF THE STATE WHERE THE LATEST LIGHTENING-CAUSED FIRES HAVE ERUPTED OVER THE WEEKEND NEAR GLACIER PARK. I IMAGINE CONDITIONS WILL IMITATE SOUTHWEST MONTANA AS WE RUDELY SEND SMOKE AND ASH TO OUR FRIENDS IN CANADA.
IF ANY OF YOU FOLKS OUT THERE ARE RAIN DANCERS, WE WOULD BE BEHOLDIN' TO A FEW DROPS MINUS THE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
MORE LATER AND THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR MESSAGES OF CONCERN FOR ME AND MINE, OUR BEAUTIFUL MONTANA, AND OUR IDAHO NEIGHBORS.
KATH
"THE CONDITION THAT MOTHER-NATURE IS IN IS THE CONDITION
THAT WE ARE IN." ANDREW MAXFIELD
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