Smokin' HOT

From 9/8/04:

I got to burn stuff today. ;)

We went over the burn plan - two units, 7 people. I was assigned to the engine while two other people used drip torches to light. The first unit didn’t burn great, except for some 15-20’ flames on the tall grass. My main job was to hang out in the engine and watch for spot fires.

Then they handed me a drip torch. Heh heh heh.

The way a drip torch works is that you light the end of the torch, and when you tip it over, the diesel/gas mix sends out a stream of fire. Looks simple enough. I walked around with it, lighting some grass and occasionally some greasewood that burned pretty hot. It’s kindof strange surrounding yourself voluntarily with fire! At first, it was no big deal. But with the temps already in the upper 80s, the heat from the fire, the weight of my pack and the blazing desert sun, it is definitely tougher than it looks!

Once we finished that up, we were going to burn another unit to make 300 acres total for the day - but after we spun the weather, we realized we were out of prescription - too hot, relative humidity too low - and we had to sit and wait it out to see if we could do it later. In the meantime, we had a few duck blinds to protect. They handed me a drip torch and I set fire to the grass surrounding it. It still was weird spreading fire around yourself but fun nonetheless. I put some fire to the ground… and it burned fast and hot! I was a little surprised at just how quickly it burned, and it became incredibly hot. My eyes burned and my ear felt like it was burning, the hot and smoky air hit my face. But we got a good black line around each blind and I got to play with fire, so everybody was happy.

Once again, we spun the weather to see if we were ok on humidity… not quite, so we waited until we finally reached our magic number and we were good to go!

This is when it got a little tricky. The grass was taller and more continuous and promised to burn better than our scrubby area. One break was an incomplete plow line; we had to use the engine to keep the fire from getting outside the unit. Not much incident there; a few shots with the hose and we were all set. As they continued, they ran into more flammable phragmites, which went up quickly and threw a lot of embers - flames 20-25’ at times, too! It looked wicked cool, and as they lit perimeter of the unit, the fire sucked in towards the middle, sending the smoke in and up as a big bellowing column. White, gray, black smoke, short flames and sudden flare-ups… it made for a good show. :)

Nathan and I were in the engine, watching the smoke get sucked away from the road… and then suddenly it was headed right in our direction. No problem at first, but the fire intensity increased and so did the smoke. Nate touched the windshield to see how warm the truck was getting… warm but not hot. No problem there yet, but we couldn’t see the road or even the sun for that matter. Daylight faded and only an ambient glow from the flames and the now-hidden sun illuminated the sky. We couldn’t move because we couldn’t even see 2 feet in front of the engine. We weren’t in danger from the flames, but the smoke was just engulfing us. For a while, the AC still pumped out fresh air, but our eyes started watering and our lungs burned as smoke whisps began appearing in the cab. We did our best to stay out of the worst smoke but for a while, we were red-eyed and coughing!

Our truck was parked behind the progress of the drip torches, perched upon a narrow 2-track road that sat above the wetlands on either side. It was either forward or backard, and forward wasn’t much of an option while the flames licked over the road. We couldn’t see, but suddenly we got a call on the radio - a fire started across the line in some tall grass, and we needed to catch it NOW or we might not stop it at all!

Nate drove into the nearly impenetrable smoke barricade and told me to be ready to jump out and grab the hose. It was hot and smoky and I could hardly keep my eyes open, but we jumped out and hit the quickly spreading flames with water. Tall flames burned on both sides and we moved fast to stop a little problem from becoming a big problem - exhilarating and crazy!

This happened once more, but we did catch it, in part thanks to Ben’s crazy-man attack on the spot fire. It was a good time.

As I took my hair down from a long day’s work, I realize - somehow, somewhere - I had singed my hair, which had been up in a bun! No doubt about it, I was playing in fire!

Tomorrow, we’ll do it all again!

Just what the doctor ordered

From 9/5/04:

Bart and I hit the road early Sunday morning, expecting an all-day drive to northern Colorado. As we drove south, the landscape got drier and hotter but we were chillin’ with our constant stream of satlitte-delivered music. That evening, when we turned down a lonesome road out of Rock Springs, Wyoming, we knew we had just left the last hint of civilization for a long while. Mesas and canyons, nearly barren save some sagebrush and dead grass - the only sight for miles and miles. The view was great, if you like dry, dead, and desolate. We drove down the road to nowhere…

Hours went by and the sun set. We crossed from the paved Wyoming border to the gravel continuation of our never-ending road into Colorado. This day, we drove through 5 states - Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. Keep driving, keep driving… Soon it was pitch black, without a single light anywhere in sight. In fact, the only lights we saw were so out of place, we thought it was more likely a UFO than a human structure. “If I were an alien, I’d hang out here…”

After a few hours we finally reached a T in the road. The girl that had worked there last year had given us directions that contradicted the instructions on a road sign. Following instinct, we followed the sign and drove through the night some more. We saw a few massive bull elk, but none of the landmarks that we were told to look for; confused, we turned around and decided to try the directions we had been given.

Lesson learned: Follow your first instinct. Especially when following somebody else’s directions.

We went in the other direction. Still didn’t make sense with the directions we were given and finally arrived in the town of Maybell. Hmm, something isn’t right. I called the bunkhouse from the only payphone we had seen for hours and asked where we went wrong.

Go back exactly the way we had come from, to nearly the exact spot where we had decided to turn around originally. He told me how far it was. “Did you say fifteen miles?”

“No, FIFTY THREE.”

Oh, shit.

A 2-3 hour detour when all was said and done and we finally rolled up to the bunkhouse at Brown’s Park.

I think their version of “remote” almost beats Red Rock Lakes version of “remote”. At least they can buy beer at a small shop down the road.

There were 3 guys plus Bart at the bunkhouse, so I had my first experience living in a trailer camper. It was better than I thought and I had it all to myself. Luxury! The next day, we toured the refuge - it’s right next to Dinosaur National Monument and has some pretty cool canyons. It’s too dry for my tastes, but it was worth visiting. That’s when I got the good news that I was going to help with a prescribed burn at Fish Springs NWR in Utah. Bart had to stay and I would be going with a guy from Browns Park. Sweet!

And 24 hours after I had left Montana for Colorado, I was sitting in another truck on my way to the most remote refuge in the lower 48. Another 9 hours sitting on my ass. J And once again, we turned down a dirt road that led to the middle of nowhere, passing a danger sign warning of extreme desert environment. It seemed weird that there would be a wildlife refuge in the middle of the desert… And it really was more remote than anywhere I have ever been. Sand, scrub, grass, heat mirages sizzling over the salt flats… A few hours of this and then at last - water! A true oasis in the middle of this sunbaked land.

The headquarters/living complex was a welcome sight - attractive homes with green grass and trees. We toured the refuge and saw the burn units - lots of marshy areas, tall Phragmites and scrub. A few guys from Charles M Russel were also helping out - Mike, Nathan and Ben - and somebody mentioned another guy was coming from Bison Range. Hey! That’s the guy that we went to the gay bar with! Reunited already. All of us, including some contractors, crammed into the ghetto bunkhouse. One bathroom for 10 people… not comfy or homey but at least there was cable TV, and I got to tease Kevin about his choice of bars some more. ;)

"Are you sure I'm a polar bear?"

This morning, as I frantically piled my stuff into my car in Yellowstone National  Park, I knew I was going to be late for work no matter what.

Good thing I came to terms with this fact before the blizzard hit.

Snow. Lots of it.

I don't have the time to explain what I was doing, leaving Yellowstone at 6:30am on a Monday morning, except that I was late and it was snowing. It wasn't really quite a blizzard, but it wasn't just snowing and melting - it STUCK!

Snow piled up on the road as I drove the 2 hr trip back to Red Rock Lakes, making the last 28 miles of dirt road pretty slick and sloppy. It's now 1 pm and not only are the roads white, but so is everything else.

Winter comes before the first day of fall in this part of town I guess.

Can't wait to drive back out to Yellowstone and do it all over again this afternoon! :)

Fire is cool

Left to right: Mike (CMR NWR MT), Amy and Kevin (National Bison Range NWR. MT), Ben (CMR NWR MT), Lisa (Red Rock Lakes NWR, MT), Joseph (Browns Park NWR, CO), Nathan (CMR NWR MT)

I'm back from Fish Springs NWR, Utah. Click on the photo of our crew to read about our burn and see another picture of me and how gosh-darn good I look in Nomex. I'm still at Browns Park, and Monday we are going way down to southern Colorado to do that burn at Alamosa. I'll do a better update when I can, but we'll just say we had probably a little too much fun. ;)

Go Blue!

I had totally forgotten that college football started until I read Heather's away message - "At the game. Go blue!" Why'd she have to remind me of what I'm missing out here?? ;)

Gregg and I woke up early to take him to the airport, and guess what? He actually had to scrape ICE off the windshield. Frost. Ha. It's not even Labor Day yet. Guess what else? At least half the aspen trees just spontaneously decided to start changing color TODAY.

Don't tell anybody, but I think it's fall.

Gregg and I had a sentimental and emotional goodbye. Yeah right!! Ha! I think we picked on each other right up to the end. He'll hopefully visit my journal and read all the wonderful things I have written about him... Ok, so I haven't actually written anything nice about him yet (nor have I actually acted nice to him) but he does deserve an ego stroke. ;) I had a great time working with him and he was always good for conversation and for fighting - I hope the jackasss keeps in touch and maybe we'll cross paths in the future?? And next time, my 12:30 mission is ON! I'll send you some hotpants with that book, ok Gregg? (inside joke, don't ask) Ha!

As for Colorado - first I was going, then I wasn't going, then I was going by myself because Bart was stuck in Florida, and now I'm waiting to pick him up after his plane was delayed at least 2 hrs and we're leaving as planned tomorrow. Won't be surprised if it gets delayed longer. Now, it looks like we won't get to Utah but we might travel to another place in Colorado.

Who knows where we'll end up. It's all part of the fun and adventure, eh!