After a long hard day getting back to Stonebraker Ranch, we were greeted by Dave and Beth the caretakers there and had a wonderful meal and evening relaxing and regrouping. I don’t have enough good words to thank Dave and Beth for welcoming us to his slice of civilization. Two more amazing people you will not find!
Although having a hot shower, warm home made meal, and even an actual bed to sleep was quite nice, I had signed up for this trip to get deep into the wilderness. It was hard not to feel a little defeated and I think many in the crew felt the same way. All that being said, this ranch may be one of the most beautiful places in the world and I have always wanted to spend a week here shooting photographs. I was up early and decided to go into full photographer mode.
As the sunrise progressed, a wave of cold air poured over the ranch and created mist in the meadow and a good chill throughout.
Lots of subject matter here! I was really missing my tripod and specialty lenses which would have been nice for these low light conditions.
Trying to stay true to the adventure, several in the crew opted out of the beds and in for sleeping under the stars. It is at this point that I tip my cap to Melodie who is just getting up….. She is a true evening person mixed in with mostly morning people. Every day I saw her struggle with our early morning schedule but she did so with a giant smile and bubbly personality…… well mostly!
The old barn has seen better days but sure is interesting to photograph.
Sunrise!
The crew has breakfast with an amazing sunrise behind.
We had been in communication with the central command who had come up with a revised plan for us. We were falling back to Chamberlain Airstrip for a couple of days where we would have two new people fly in and joining us for week three. We would also get our week three re-supply then head south away from the fire.
As we bumped the half mile or so over the hill to the Chamberlain Airstrip I took one more photo of the ranch.
The crew were all good sports as I came up with silly photograph ideas.
We set up a base camp there at the airstrip then worked the trail down Chamberlain Creek. Just a little busy work to pass the time. I told the crew the story about clearing this section of trail two years ago….. you can check that report out here.
It was clear that I was not the only one struggling with our plan and current situation. Hanging out at the airstrip for a few days then once again full packing two more days to a new location was not why we were all here.
Back in camp we worked on cleaning and sharpening the tools. Pam, our crew leader was doing an amazing job keeping people focused and boosting our moral. For me, the weight of the outside world was returning and I was contemplating jumping onto the plane bringing in our two new crew members and bailing on the last week. One thing I knew for sure is that more adversity was ahead whether it be another smoke plume or something else and I want interested in falling back to the air strip for an extended camping trip.
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