Let's Start a Fire!
We weed whacked the firing range on Friday. The ammunition house had
blown over during a storm so I climbed into it to clean out the
empty shells and broken glass. Shingles and bits of wood were strewn
everywhere around it. It was definitely too big for us to try and
turn back right side up, but we put up a good fight with a few rocks
and leverage planks.
On one of our hikes, we found a “hazard tree”, which is basically a
snag hung up in another tree. We tried throwing rocks at it to knock
it over, which was obviously useless, but we had a good time with
it. We were all pretty tired so we didn’t gettoo much done
especially under the unrelenting burn of the sun.
Friday night was the park’s annual Solstice Party. It was a lot of
fun. We ended up playing an intense game of ultimate Frisbee in
which I fell at least three times trying to catch it because we were
down so many points. Plus the fact that it was basically dark and we
were running barefoot through grass pot marked with various thorny
weed probably didn’t help. Not pleasant, let me tell you.
We had a ton of severe thunderstorms this week! It was awesome! And
the best part is the hail! We went into Hot Springs for some ice
cream at the Blue Bison when it started to rain golf-ball sized
hail. Saturday was blistering hot again. I couldn’t even touch
myself and I was absolutely soaked. It was great. Haha. Tom and I
bought some water guns at Toys R Us, which later turned into a
massive lower housing water fight that switched over to cups and
pans. It was so much fun and a great way to cool off.
Sunday was the hottest. It reached over 100 degrees. Yikes! Soooo
hot. We decided to head down to Cold Canyon Lake (a reservoir) to
swim. It was a blast! I ended up in a mud-slinging fight with Tom.
Then we went to the Blue Bison for their Mammoth Dig - a huge ice
cream sundae. But the four of us wolfed it down in only a few
minutes. Our picture should be up on the wall as the first customers
to order it. Yes! I’m making a name for myself out here already!
Hehe.
Monday morning started out great until we actually started our day.
We got to the Fire Cache to pick up the weed whackers, but the fire
crew wasn’t there and we didn’t have the code to get in. We searched
for the maintenance guys who were finally able to pry their way in.
Lesson: If all else fails, a maintenance guy will fix it. So with
our weed whackers, we hopped into Moby and went cruisin’ down 387
with a warm breeze and blue skies – until we were stopped by a road
block saying the entire road was closed. There was no way to get
where we wanted to cut the regen. So we hauled it back to the VC to
pick up the posting equipment before we finally headed out on Plan B
through Highland Creek Trail. Everything was going smoothly after
that until we reached a hill crest and met almost face to face with
a full grown bull. It staggered to its feet because he was just as
surprised as we were. His back tail shot up and a slow trot turned
quickly into a full-out gallop. A few curses later, the three of us
were high tailing it over the hill and down the gully – equipment,
packs and all - with a 2 ton beast 10 yards behind us. He finally
must have been satisfied so he stopped. We reached the next crest
completely out of breath – my heart pounding in my ears and legs
shaking. It was exciting, but terrifying at the same time. We
stopped to catch a breath and find the next trail marker, all the
while saying how good a buffalo burger would taste right now.
Sometimes bison are beautiful and other times I dreadthe sight of
them. We only chilled for a few minutes before we turned around and
the stupid bull was at full speed again heading directly for us! So
I found myself again off and running, not stopping to catch a breath
until we were a good distance away. They are scary animals.
We took a lunch break in a few shaded tree areas to get out of the
blistering sun. Our brief break was interrupted by a huge cloud of
billowing smoke rising in the air, maybe 12 miles from where we
were. Before we knew it, the radio started crackling as tower
dispatch began rounding up the fire crew. It was awesome to listen
to their process on the radio. By the time we got back to the car,
the fire had grown substantially, so we packed it up and headed out
to Lone Pine – a lookout point off of 5 that is on top of a crest
over Red Valley. What a fantastic view! That’s where the picture
below is taken from. We watched as planes released red chemicals to
contain the edges of the burn area and watched in amazement as huge
red-orange flames shot up into the sky. Monday was probably the most
exciting day so far.
For the past two days, we finally were able to weed whack some regen
up in the northern end of the park, which I have to admit is pretty
fun except when the blade clips a rock and dulls the blade. At the
end of the day, sharpening those blades is areal chore. It’s
supposed to cool off for the rest of the week, which is good for
work, but this weekend looks like another killer. Otherwise, great
week and can’t wait to see what next week brings. Fourth of July
plans look promising.
