Saturday we headed out on a hike around the Park. As we got to a pipeline clearing, we could see smoke passing up the hill. We decide to detour and see what we could see. It’s not like we wanted to be walking into a brush fire.
There was a lookout where we could clearly see the area where the fire was burning about five miles away. A Park employee came by and assured us that we were safe continuing on our hike. The fire was burning in the other direction.
By the time we looped back around 2 hours later there were dozens of cars stopped and people watching the fire from the overlook. Some said they had houses in the area but didn’t know what was happening. We saw at least one guy evacuating his horses.
We didn’t hang around long because it was pretty depressing. We watched the planes and helicopters drop water and flame retardent for a while and then headed back to the campsite.
Our neighbors told us that the Ranger had come around and said they would give plenty of warning if we had to evacuate but it didn’t look likely.
The only scare came when we made a quick trip out for ice (we had used the last two bags to keep the back of the truck cold the day before.) As we came back into the Park, there was a Sheriff who didn’t want to let us in. We told him we were camping in the Park and our Trailer was in there. At first he didnt want to let us in. Then he relented and said you better go get your stuff and get out now.
When we got to the camp site, no one was packing up. We went over to the Park Host. He called the Park Superintendent who said there was nothing to worry about and they weren’t evacuating. The Sheriff was confused. The road where we had been looking out over the fire did go into the burn area and they were keeping people off of it.
Sunday, we headed to Elgin for more barbecue. We drove right by the remnants of the fire. There were houses totally untouched but completely surrounded by charred brush and grass. We did see a couple of burnt out structures. The news was reporting 25 homes lost and 700 acres burned. It looks like they’ve got it pretty much under control today.
The command center was right off the highway. It was still hopping as we came back from Elgin.
