Forest Fires

Fire danger is upper most in the local's minds.  Preparedness for Ready, Set, Go is stressed on the radio, in the paper, internet and at meetings. The Chelan Complex fire has spread to within 15 miles of us though it would have to burn several valleys and ridges before getting to the upper lake that's really near us. The campground had allowed propane ring fires but no wood or charcoal during the burn ban that went into effect in June.  However, at the end of the week, the Ranger banned even those rings due to the excess of 911 calls by folks seeing flames of any kind.   No chainsaw use is allowed and all commercial work in the woods has been stopped.  The National Forest has closed all their campgrounds north of US 2  including the one right next to Lake Wenatchee State Park. It gave us pause for a moment yesterday when we were returning from our day trip to see that campground all locked up on our way into LW.  We wondered if there had been an evacuation that we didn't know about. We passed the horse camp and the horses were still there so we had a clue that LW was still operating.  The Ranger's retirement homestead, however, is in a direct path of the fire within 7 miles. It's pretty scary to see the smoke plumes looking like the fire is just over the ridge. Some campers are still testing the limits.  Today, I found a marsh mellow partially toasted in a fire ring beside two little sticks that had been lit. The campfire ambiance is more important to some than safety of the area landscape, buildings and human life.

Earlier in the week, up to an inch of rain was forecast for the weekend.  There have only been a few drips so far today.  Several inches of rain are sorely needed to help quell the fire and water the poor, stressed trees. It's a double edge sword since rain sometimes brings lightening which starts the fires in the parched underbrush.

I had a few formatting issues with this blog at the end. The pictures got out of sequence.  I don't find it completely user friendly when trying to arrange/insert photos.

Found a large sling shot in #5

Last Friday, this ominous cloud came over the lake.  The day had been
quite nice with blue sky and warm temps.  The wind changed and the
sun was out of sight.  At 6 pm, it was quite dark.

The cloud did drop ash later in the evening.

When the sun broke through the cloud, it cast pretty colors in the sky.

Saturday evening, the "Eclectric Cloggers" came from Seattle to camp and
give a performance. They were accompanied by "Moonshine and Turpentine"
on banjo and guitar.

These three girls showed us a form of hand jive using paper bags and
knees to make music.

At the beach, someone took time to make a stone, twig and pine cone
trail.

A calm, wind and smoke free morning at the lake.

Tuesday, we had our work caught up so I went in to Leavenworth for
a massage on my stressed shoulders.  This was one of the smoke plumes
from the Chelan Complex fire.  A portion of the fire is within 15 miles
of us but would have to cross a couple of drainages and ridges before
getting close. 

Similar looking to Mt St Helens eruption in 1980

The local town of Plain held a community meeting
on Wednesday so the Emergency Management Teams,
 Sheriff and personnel could give a report on their work
to prevent the forest fires from spreading into town. The little
community church was packed upstairs, downstairs
and outside.

"Banner Band" performing for dinner guests.

Once a month, Mountain Springs Lodge in Plain hosts an evening
of food and music.  This month, it was held outside on the
lawn. We met a nice couple from Colorado who are
full time RVers with a 40' diesel pusher, Harley and
a car in tow. They gave us suggestions of a couple of places
to visit in Colorado when we get there at some point.

After the briefing, Emergency Management personnel lead small groups
to hear specific questions the community had.  This leader was on the
team that has come from Arizona to assist in the fire battle. The Complex fire
is now the largest in State history, over 400,000 acres, I believe, at
last count.

During the day on Wednesday, we went into Wenatchee to run Costco
errands. This is looking West into the valley. Usually, there are
mountains and the city to see but the smoke was so thick,
not much could be seen.

Thursday, the sky cleared.  We drove over to Waterville to the
North Central Washington Fair. This was the kitty petting cage.

One of the children's project displays. It named many things Finnish except lutefisk.

We traveled back to Wenatchee over 4000' Badger Mountain and could see
the smoke plume in the Entiat Drainage blowing East.

Week 3

The campground has been rather quiet this week after last week's full house every night. Spoke to a couple of bored teenagers who fired off a BB gun in the campground. No firearms, even BB guns, can be fired inside a state park. Most dogs were on leashes and owners were being conscientious in clean up. Temps have been over 90* so there was beach activity but not to the weekend level. The lake was flat calm a couple of mornings but we had chores so no kayak time. The Chelan Complex fires are on everyone's minds. The rapid devastation of homes, businesses and now, loss of life, is unbelievable.  For some towns, it's a repeat from last summer's fires. Our area has been blessed not to have burned.  The smoke has drifted into the campground once or twice but within a few hours, the wind has driven it out.

Had an interesting conversation with a gal on the beach one day as I was picking up litter.  She hadn't been here before so was asking questions about the lake and how far was Chelan (she didn't know it was on fire!??), where she had been before. She asked about the water temp, could she go swimming, parking, etc. The best question was: "The park web site says there is a beach. Where is it?" L-"Yes, this is the only public beach on the lake." Visitor-"But what about the BEACH?".  L-" This IS the beach." Visitor-"I'm from California.  The beach is at the ocean.  Where is the ocean? How far?".  I tried not to roll my eyes and said "Well, the closest ocean is a long ways away from here but you can have a good time at our beach!" She got on her bathing suit but left shortly, probably hunting for the "real beach".

We didn't do much with our "Sunday".  Thought we might go see a movie in Wenatchee but we aren't excited to drive very far away from the clean air here. We haven't been up to Mission Ridge in many years but the view wouldn't be much so that was out.  Taking time to chill was okay, I guess.  We visited with the camp store owners who serve great coffee and have funny stories.

Children's creations

Two young campers across the street from our site were giving directions
to the squirrel's home.

The beach has a selection of rocks and when there isn't anything else
to play with, the rocks get rearranged. There was a boxer dog on the
beach one day who would actually go out into the lake looking for
rocks.  He would kick and splash till he got one back to shore. It
was hilarious to watch. The rocks were of significant size, not
pebbles.

Eagle food.  Unpleasant to find on the beach but a fact of life.

I'd say the lake is down 20' from the regular edge.  This part is usually
way under water.  

One day this week, the smoke from the Chelan Complex Fires came in like
fog. There is a mountain out there that can't been seen at all. In a few hours, the
wind came up and cleaned away the haze. It was a very hot so folks took
advantage of the lake to cool off.  Children are usually in the water between
 8 AM and darkness.

After Sonny played golf in Leavenworth yesterday, we sat on the deck at the
club house, watching the golf course deer head towards the lake,
probably to cool off.  It was 99*. During golf playing, I spent time at one of my favorite
antique stores in Cashmere.  I found an outside shower that gave us
some ideas about how to build one outside of our sauna at home.

Leavenworth.  Late afternoon smoke plume from areas north of us.

Late night, we walked the beach to watch the sunset.  People had been
extra creative today!  It takes amazing patience to balance the stones. It's
hard to see but the one in the front here, is an arch.  The upright
one mid photo is a piece of driftwood balancing a rock on top.

Looking from the other side.

This is a new idea.  No one has used driftwood
upright.  The amazing thing is that with the
winds today at 20-25 mph, this was still
standing this afternoon.

Smaller cairns

This morning, we drove over to Plain for breakfast out since it is
our day off.  The winds seem to be pushing the smoke along the ridge
to the East of us.

I expect there is lots of ash falling somewhere.  As the day went on, and the
winds blew, the smoke bank stayed away from us. The radio says the
air quality in Wenatchee is hazardous.

The wind surfers were excited about 25 mph winds on the lake.

We watched this young one try to hold on to his swan in the wind.

He wrestled it to the ground.......

and then tried to walk with it on his head...

A short while later, the swan was tied down to the truck and heading home.

We have seen campsites with children's potty chairs near by, but this
is the first adult potty we've seen beside a tent. Not sure who is going
to tend that equipment.  It's not in our job description, for sure!

Second Weekend

The lake was nearly flat calm and yet, this sailboat found enough air to set sail for an evening ride.  Wednesday promised to be over 100* and we had to make a trip to Costco to stock up.  We got an early start and were headed back to camp by noon before the extreme heat.  I got in the lake that day and floated on my noodle to cool off.

Tuesday, we got the laundry chore
done at Sonny's favorite place.  At
least there was coffee.

The temps were pushing over 100*.

On Wednesday, we had breakfast at the Best Western in Leavenworth before
driving into Wenatchee to Costco.  This is looking north up the Columbia River
which is shrouded in smoke from the fires near Holden Village on Lake Chelan.

Later in the afternoon on Wednesday, the temp pegged out the
thermometer.

Boat rentals were busy since the lake was relatively calm.  Tom and
Adrianna carry up the kayaks at the end of day.

Sonny lent a hand to Tom pushing the 2 person kayaks to the storage
trailer.

Late afternoon at the lake. Usually, we can see the quarry but
smoke from the Chelan fires fills the valley at the
head of the lake.

Saturday was a slow day since most campers
came in Friday for the weekend.  Sonny did
the few sites that needed raking and I
took a hike up Nason Ridge Trail.  It was a pleasant
hike mostly in the shade but continually up.  I was headed for the "Big Tree" and thought I must have passed it many times since there are lots of
big trees but, no, I hadn't make it yet. 

Lake Wenatchee views along the trial were magnificent. This is looking down
on Emerald Island,.  The campground is out of sight and to the right.

I passed this large tree though it may not look so large in this shot. I am
standing 4' away just to get it all in the photo.  It had recently been cut
since it fell over the trail.

Finally, the reached "The Big Tree".  The ranger
said it was a mile to this spot. (Felt like 50 to me.)
The tree must have been a "4 person around" size.  Huge.
  There were several nearly this size in a grove on the
hill side.  I continued on up the trail another 15 minutes
before deciding to turn around.

Looking at Dirty Face Mountain from Nason Ridge.

Peek a boo look at the south shore of the lake and the Wenatchee River.

There were a couple of little streams along the trail that
hadn't dried up.

Thursday, we were blessed with a wind free day on the lake in the early
morning,  so I paddled my kayak  for a couple hours on the North side of the lake.
This cairn was just off the North campground beach.

The lake is very low.  The YMCA camp dock is so far out into the lake that
the kids have to wade out to a ramp to get on the dock.

Forest fire haze over the mountains looking East at Emerald Island.

I got back to shore in time to see Sonny picking up litter on the beach.  

We drove the Jeep up to the Little Wenatchee River at
the head of the lake and stopped under the bridge for this shot.

Usually, there are campers at this site on the river.

The beach was busy and the lake was flat on a hot day.

Evening sunset through the smokey forest fire haze.

The children were busy with chalk art over the weekend.

The wood elves were busy gathering at this campsite.

Friday, the winds were wild and white caps prevailed on the lake.  Lightning
had struck the Lake Chelan area the night before.  That fire has
grown to over 58,000 acres and jumped the Columbia River.  So sad to see
only the fireplaces left of the homes along the Lake Chelan shore. 

Saturday evening in Plain, there was a musical fund raiser for the
fire department.  Huge group in attendance.

Back at the campground, German  folk dancers,"Enzian Schuhplattler", from Seattle
performed on stage.

The grand finale was the "Chicken Dance" with as many people as
could fit on the stage.