| Another old fire area. |
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| This was the second fire
my crew fought. The rangers couldn't use dozers due to terrain, so
it was entirely hand fought. We had to scale those
cliffs to get to some of the fire. Worked 18 to 20 hrs per day for days and nights. We were so covered in soot that we
bathed in the ice cold Kootenai River at the base of the cliff.
We saw
an antique Ford Trimotor, a WWII Grumman Avenger dropping orange
fire suppressant near us and on us, observation planes, and helicopters.
We marched single file from the other side of the mountain to the fire with helmets on, shovels over shoulders, and aircraft
flying over our heads at treetop level. I thought "This is like a war!"
Libby dam put this area underwater.
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|
|
This is how we looked after we came in from one fire. Too
bad it's a double exposure. Note the night light on the helmet. |
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| This is just a nice
picture with those lupine flowers in the foreground. This was a starting point from what was to be a new
logging road. |
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| End of the working day,
and getting ready to head for the barracks. One crewman was brave
enough to drink directly from a creek. |
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| This section of road to a
lookout tower was so steep we had to get out of the suburban and walk
up. Had to take a picture of it. |
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| This deer didn't spot us. |
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| That's me. |
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| Our second year motley
crew. |
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| I was just taking a nap
during lunch hour, and these guys write data on a stake and pound it in
the ground next to my head. Then they furnished a
"flower" .... a banana peeling on a stick. |
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| Engineering details. |
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| Beautiful sunset on the
Kootenai. |
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| This was a strangely
pretty scene with road dust hanging over the land and the sunset. |
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| Drove up to a lookout
tower one Sunday just for the view. |
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| The lookout was a nice
fellow. The lady was on the Sunday drive with me. |
|
| A beautiful view looking
east from the side of the lookout tower mountain. The tall jagged
peaks in the far, far background is Glacier National Park. They
can be seen much better when the picture is enlarged. (Click on
picture for enlarged view.)
|
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| And here's Glacier.
Not sure what part of Glacier. We arrived at night, visited some people in a
lodge and then slept on the side of a mountain in our sleeping
bags. Gets really cold and windy in Glacier at night. |
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| This is on the east half
of Glacier traveling west. |
|
| Looking south from road
near summit. |
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| St. Mary Lake. East
shore looking west. |
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