Coming into Yosemite, we were excited to see whether or not this park would blow us away in the same manner that Yellowstone had done. Pulling into the ranger station, collecting our map and starting into the park, we were immediately taken by the massive clouds hanging in the sky. They looked extremely unusual, and Adam immediately identified them as not clouds, but smoke. No more than 15 minutes into Yosemite and we were already pulling off into a turnout where a small group had assembled at the top of the hill, staring at what was an actual forest fire. A sign was helpfully positioned next to the turnout, explaining the blaze for curious and nervous visitors. This fire was a planned burn, a typical practice meant to eliminate natural kindling and hopefully prevent future runaway flames. According to the dates listed, this fire had clearly lasted longer than intended.

Now, I had never seen a forest fire before in my life, and the sight was overwhelming. We scrambled between some trees on the edge of the cliff, trying to elbow out a position to take pictures and attend the ballet of wood, fire, metal, and water. Amongst the towers of billowing smoke, planes and helicopters swung in large, trapeze arcs, trying to suffocate the dragon's breath with retardants and water. Each aircraft seemed to have chosen a particular poison; planes bloomed with rippling sheets of cayenne powder, adding a fiery scar to the already ignited land. Helicopters soared across the blaze dropping liquid punches of water that unfurled over the scorching ground like new ferns.




Soon we grew restless at our distance from the fire, and decided to continue driving closer in search of better vantage points. Fortunately it was not long before we came upon a much larger group of cars, crowded on the edge of the road like a small herd. We quickly pulled in but unfortunately did not realize how severe the dip aside the road was, and a group of about 13-15 people smirked as the bumper to the car loudly announced New Jersey's arrival in unison with the pavement. From here we had gained a considerable upgrade; we could see the burning hill much more clearly.





When we briefly spoke about you guys running into some forest fires I had no idea it was this close - really enjoyed the pics and words - brings new meaning to the power (and beauty) of Earth, Fire, Water, Winds..
ReplyDelete