measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire memories Colorado's burning. It's all over the news, and all I can think is It's only June. Three more long months until snowpack really would make any sort of a damper on fire danger. With how little rainfall and snowpack there was this winter, I wouldn't doubt if most of the western US is on fire by the end of August. Seriously. Forest fires, despite their destructive natures, are good things for the environment. It's Nature's way to scourge Herself. Natural weeding. Probably one of the more dramatic reminders of how everything in Nature is interwoven-- destruction leads to rebirth. In that sense, it gives me peace to know that Nature's still going about her business, despite the efforts of the colonies of annoying humans that spread across the landscape. Of course, the modern society human in me would give two shits about Mother Nature if I had a fire roaring near my house. I might be Pagan. But dammit, there are limits. :) Anytime I hear about one of these huge forest fires, it triggers "where were you when..." memories of Yellowstone's fires in 1988. I can still smell and see the smoke that moved into Yellowstone Valley, trapped by the Rimrocks (a long line of sandstone cliffs that border the northern edge of the valley). I think that was my first real encounter with the power of fire. I began to respect it then. Before then, fire was one of those forbidden things to kids-- cigarrette or propane grill lighters were forbidden toys , and the largest fire around was in the fireplace. The summer of 1988 was the first one where my parents had separated. My mom had decided to move to California, and while she was getting moved out, my dad took my brother and I down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (probably to get us out of her hair while she packed-- I was an oblivious 13 year old at the time). It was the first (and only with my father) road-trip style vacation we had ever taken. Since we were so far out of the way, we always flew for vacations-- relatives were in Pennsylvania. Timeshare was in South Carolina. Driving would have been insane. But if we were to fly to Jackson Hole, we'd have to fly from Billings to either Denver or Salt Lake, and then fly back UP to Jackson. Stupid, eh? My dad rented a car, since at the time he only had the Mazda RX-7 (three people and luggage? Riiiight), and we drove down through Cody and into Yellowstone Park. We didn't stop in Yellowstone at all, but did see a few things as we drove-- hot springs, mud flats, geysers, tons of elk... etc. And then as we got closer to the South Gate, we saw tons of smoke and state police directing traffic through a blockade to get OUT of the park. There weren't a lot of cars behind us because apparently we'd timed things to where we were one of the last cars allowed down the road to the South Gate. I watched out the back of the car as they closed the South Gate of the Park. We went through it in early August. It wouldn't open again for months. We were in Jackson for a long weekend-- four or five days. We had a good time, did a lot of exploring. Jackson Hole really is a beautiful place, and back in '88 it wasn't quite the posh location that it's become now for Hollywood types looking for a non-Aspen getaway in the Rockies. But then the vacation was over, and we had to figure out how to get back home, since the closest way was now closed off. This brings up a point that East Coast (and to an extent, West Coast) people don't have to deal with very often. On the East Coast, there are a bunch of little state routes, side roads, and other highways that can be taken when a highway is shut down for whatever reason. Out there, you're screwed. In a major, major way. To illustrate this, here is the route that we took from Billings to Jackson. Now, if you eliminate any way of going through Yellowstone Park whatsoever, getting back from Jackson to Billings becomes a nightmare. We had to do an unexpected trip into Idaho. The trip back took us five hours longer than it had going down. And yes, there are a lot of potatoes in Idaho. In fact, I never want to see a potato field ever again. So we get back into Billings. Scott and I are then put on a plane to Mom's for a couple weeks. We return home in late August, flying over Yellowstone. You could smell the smoke in the cabin of the plane (and the pilot announced as such as we flew over). School in Billings started the last week of August. For the first three weeks of school, I walked down to my bus stop in the morning in smoke. An overpowering smell of burning wood filled the air, as if everyone in Billings had lit a fire in their fireplace at the same time. The smoke clouded the sun, giving the sunrises and sunsets an intense red color, both beautiful and ominous. Despite being over 100 miles away, I was afraid that the fire was going to come up to Billings anyday. And then a blessing of Nature came-- snow began to fall on Yellowstone in September, finally closing the chapter of the hellish summer that had preceded it. In 1997, I went back to Yellowstone for the first time after the fire. Nearly ten years had passed. The amount of damage was astounding. Mountainsides covered in burned toothpicks. That's all it looked like in places. And the majority of the damage isn't even visible from the roadways. It was incredible. This is what scares me about these fires in Colorado. It's drier in the Rockies this year than it was in 1988. And it's only June. Gods knows what's going to happen this summer out west. If you're going that way, please be careful, okay guys? Don't toss cigarettes out your car window. In tinder-dry situations like there are out west, they can (and will) ignite the brush. A cigarrette butt caused the largest fire in 1988. Be responsible. And pray that they have an early snowfall. --Mel. Yellowstone Fire info can be found here, here, here (dated 1998), and this, which is probably the most fascinating photo I've seen of Yellowstone, where you can actually see the smoke from space. 2:25 p.m. - 13 June 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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