September-October, 2021
Flowing water is so wonderful to watch. Waterfalls are exquisite! Let me show you the waterfall we saw today. Yum.
Fire, on the other hand, can be scary. The results of a forest fire are not pleasant for us to see, even a naturally occurring forest fire. But … I’m going to show you some of the results of fires that we saw today. Hang in there with me. This is all part of where and how we live on this planet. And, remember, fire is sometimes good for the forest, necessary even! I’ll end this blog post with some lovely photos so you can breathe easy. 🙂
Ok, let’s go! (Click on photos to enlarge them.)
First off, I got up this morning to find a little Casita trailer had pulled into the campsite right in front of me late last night. They were quiet as field mice. 🙂 They stayed there a couple of nights/days and were the nicest folks. Of course, since both of our trailers were fiberglass, we chatted quite a bit. Excellent neighbors.
After breakfast, the Escape-trailer-owning friends of mine (Finn’s family) and I decided to jump into one of our vehicles and drive out into the country (without our trailers) to see what we could see. We had found a small campground online and wanted to check it out. Gosh, this country is so different from western Washington … and so beautiful, just in a different way.
We walked through this small campground. It was right on a small river, really pretty. But you could not make reservations so we probably would not be back here with our trailers … just too far to go to risk not finding an available campsite.
When we arrived at this campground, we saw signs on the other side of the road pointing to a short walk to a waterfall. We looked at each other for just a fraction of a micro-second and then we headed over to the waterfall. It was magnificent.
Here are two videos of the waterfall …
And the second video here below …
Look at the rocks in the water in this video … they are here naturally … put here by the earth we live on.
Pretty cool, huh?
We talked about walking over that log “bridge” in the photo above, but not one of us was brave enough to do that.
On the way back to the road, we took a little different route and ended up walking through the area below. The fire damage seemed relatively small and contained … at least in comparison to most of the wildfires that we’ve had here on the west coast of the USA in recent years. And yet, I noticed that all three of us were silent as we walked through this area.
As mentioned, forests truly do need fire at times. But still it hurts to see the damage.
So then we headed a bit south and west of town to see Sun Mountain Lodge that we’d heard lots of great things about. We got to the bottom of the road that led up to Sun Mountain Lodge, only to find that the road was closed because the Lodge was closed because of the smoke damage from the forest fires. They were in the process of cleaning every nook and cranny of the Lodge and the cabins and all other buildings. So we parked and looked around for something else to do here.
It was gorgeous here! The trees were stunning … the sky so blue … let’s find a trail to follow.
And so we did. It was a marked trail, advertising a beaver pond and other stuff. It took off to the right through some trees and along a very nice, wide path.
But … it soon turned into another location where there had been a fire. Still, we continued on, wanting to see and learn even though it was hard to do that.
Notice that the fire is mostly on only the lower few feet of each tree. The upper portions of trees are still intact. But not for long will the upper parts of these trees be intact. Look at the photo below. Only the bottom three feet or so was burned, but look what that did to the entire tree … it kills the tree.
Further along the trail, we found holes in the ground (see photo below). When I looked online later that evening, I found out that there are underground fires in forests that burn using “ground fuel” or roots and such, under the dirt. Fire can travel from tree to tree through the roots.
We had found a large tree that had burned completely … and the roots had too. There were many holes and they were deep.
Ah, but enough about forest fires and the science of them.
Further on down this same trail, heading back towards where we had parked, we passed through this one particular area of graceful, peaceful, delightful woodland. How refreshing it felt to walk through this greenery. Please DO click to enlarge the photo below so the beauty can wrap around you.
A little further on we found the beaver pond (mentioned above). We were so glad that the forest around the pond had not been damaged by the fire. We didn’t see any beavers, but we wished them well.
We saw and learned about lots of things today … a gorgeous waterfall and forest fires and a wonderful, peaceful beaver pond. Who knows what you will find on your next walk? Keep your eyes open. 🙂
Super blog post! There have been so many wildfire forest fires here in BC, Canada, and in Washington and Oregon and Idaho down in the USA, even though the USA media focuses only on California fires. Still there has been more damage up north than in California. And, yes, there are the natural and beneficial fires too. Looks like maybe you ran into two of those. Great photos, great info.
Jim
I am hoping that the two fires we came across were natural too, Jim. Thanks for the nice words.
Katie and I walked in a part of the Smokey Mountain National Park that had been burned the winter before. It made us go silent too.
It’s a stunning experience isn’t it. Thanks Dawn.
Darn! I wish we were in that little Casita right next door in your campground.
The past few summers have devastated parts of BC with forest fires, not to mention the horrific flooding in the fall of 2021.
Almost every single access highway in and out of the Lower Mainland was virtually cut off. Like that log bridge if you had crossed it!
Well, of course you and Mark should have been in that Casita (or another Escape)! Every time I see another Escape trailer like yours, I remember. 🙂
Ha! that log bridge was probably perfectly safe but we weren’t taking any chances!
Holy smokes! Ok, maybe I shouldn’t have said “smokes”, but my gosh how stunning it is to see the results of a forest fire, even a small one. Can’t imagine seeing the results of a really large one. Thank you for the pretty pictures at the end of your blog post. That helped. But thank you for being real with us and sharing the fire photos.
LOL! No David, don’t use the word “smokes” here, you are goofy. 🙂
Thanks for your comment and nice words.
Catching up on your blogs here. This one was great! Scary but great. Never heard of fire spreading underground but I looked online and it sure does say that forest fires spread that way through like you say “ground fuel”. I hate what it does to the trees. But I liked where youre camped and I like your friends and Finn and I like that waterfall and the healthy part of the forest. Are those pine trees? Thank you!
I had never heard of fire spreading through root systems either, but as long as there is air around the roots then I guess why not? Scary stuff tho. I believe the trees in photos/videos 11, 12, 13 above are Ponderosa Pine. If anyone here knows differently, please correct me. 🙂 Thanks Joe.
Here in Idaho we’ve had our share of wildfires too, and been really frustrated that the news media continually focuses on California. But it is what it is. Really great blog post Ann, great photos, great info, and thank you for those last two really sweet photos. Yes, I did indeed breathe more easily seeing them. 🙂 Great waterfall.
Thanks Susan. I need to get camping in Idaho one of these days!
The waterfall was great. And actually, I liked the info about wildfires since they do happen naturally. Didn’t know about ground fuel, very interesting. You seem to attract great neighbors. 🙂
Well, most campers are great people, especially when they/we are out camping. We’re all just trying to have a good time. But yes, I do find great neighbors don’t I. Thanks Emily.
Your waterfall videos were done beautifully. While we all cope with crazy news, the water just remains steadily at its work, letting its sound soothe us. It is a gift. Thank you.
Oh, Jan, that’s a very nice thought about the water and its effect on us and on the planet. Indeed, it is a gift. Thank you!