I need to be really careful about how I report what happened next after seeing the smoke plume the previous evening. I will say that there was not consensus in the group about the final plan. Also, I will say that fire is part of the Frank. I have spent what is approaching 100 days and nights out here and during that time fire and smoke have never been far away. We dawned our full packs, grabbed all the tools and literally squished through the swampy Dillinger Meadow. We are falling back to Stonebraker Ranch.
The view as we walked out looking towards Campbell’s Ferry.
It was a gorgeous day.
Keep in mind that we had just been re-supplied so our packs were stuffed to the brim and the tools which we had been bumping ahead of our packs on transfer days now need to be carried out.
It was about 11 miles with heavy packs and tools in the blazing heat, did I mention the flies? A quick check of Inciweb today, nearly a month later shows that the fire still has not risen over the Salmon River Breaks – Something I predicted at the time. I knew that there would be challenges to a three week trip into the Frank, I had no idea what form where those challenges were going to take but the next few days were going to test my mental resolve in ways I could have never predicted….. Stay tuned.
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