After setting up camp on the first day, we walked down the McCalla Creek trail. We were surprised to see the first quarter mile of the trail already cut out and were wondering if we had been sent to the wrong place….. It wasn’t long before the party started!
It was pretty clear that this trial had not been cleared for a good long while.
We were going to need to cross McCalla creek every day for the next few days so we built a makeshift bridge to keep things safe.
After a warm afternoon, we headed back to Moose Meadows for the evening.
What a beautiful place! No moose though.
The next morning, things were cool and frosty. We were anxious to head over to the sun.
After an ever lengthening commute, we were at the work site. I had been assigned to the old white guy team, probably just to keep the three of us out of the rest of the team’s hair. I pretended to help out Herbert and Tom but mostly I just let them work and I took pictures!
What a beautiful spot in the world!
We all came together for lunch where any thoughts of frost had long past. We where all fighting to get into the shade!
After lunch, things moved much slower in the sun and heat.
Later back at Moose Meadows……. just as I had predicted, more adversity. After first intensely debating whether this was a cloud or smoke plume, it became apparent that our old friend fire and smoke had returned. Cue that dramatic music again! Is this a new fire? Is this the same fire we saw a week ago? This time there was no panic as everyone was starting to know the drill out here.
After some satellite communication with central command we learned that the Elkhorn Fire we had seen last week was making a run up the Salmon River. No worries here. In the morning we did however wake up to the inevitable smoke. Fires out here always lay down over night and result in a blanket of smoke over the entire area.
Nothing like going to work in the heat and smoke.
As we commuted to the work area, the scene was quite eerie. We had the beauty of the flowers with the gray of the sky.
The group powered down to the tool stash as I faded off the back to shoot photography.
I quickly caught up and joined the party as we prepped to work.
Before, after, rinse, repeat!
At one point, Herbert, Tom, and I had just cut out this tree then Pam and Sissy bumped past. Pam used some dirt to sign the cut which she correctly pointed out looked like a heart. Just to be clear, Pam did not cut this tree but when the boss says take my picture one does not ask questions! I will point out that her brown shirt clearly indicates that she is the crew leader!
A few more steps down the trail and we found this jumble.
We decided to take lunch instead of tackling that mess. You can see that the heat and smoke was taking its toll. This crew had worked their butts off the last few days, we were tired, dirty, and hot! By the end of the day we will decide to take another rest day tomorrow. I will also point out with this image that dynamite comes in small packages… These women are amazing!
After our smoke break, back to the jumble. Before….
During…..
After!
Not too much farther down the trail, job security. As you can see, portions of this trail were faint at best. There are many clues that help guide our way, old cuts, tree blazes, old tread, and here, looking down the way, you can clearly see the trail corridor.
Tom and Herbert sit for a spell prior to the now hour plus commute back to base camp. I think that here Tom was discussing the nuclear physics of crosscut shavings while Herbert and I stared off in the distance with a glazed look in our eyes. We had now got to the point where we were going to need to bump camp. However, we would be getting much farther away from the Chamberlain Airstrip and our flight out was only a few days away. Decisions would need to be made.
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