It appears I got the wind warning dates confused. About 4a, the winds started blowing. I thought we were clear when we went to bed, so I didn’t secure the tent stakes as well as I should have. The corner stake by my head came loose. I opened the tent, put another rock on the corner, and pushed all the gear in the corner to hold it down. This helped, but I had to keep pushing the gear above my head to keep the tent taut. I didn’t sleep much from that point on.
The wind was coming at my side of the tent, so I leaned across Bunny to make the coffee out her side. Charcoal and Struggles left by 7:15 and Bunny had been awake since I started the coffee. We said we’d catch them as soon as we could. We hurriedly ate and packed. I skipped the hole digging routine to save some time. As soon as we got out of the tent, it started to blow down because the winds were so strong. I’m guessing 40 mph sustained with gusts above 50 mph. This can’t be good for the fires.
We were out of camp before 8:15. Bunny did not get enough rest for a full recovery last night. It didn’t help that I made her carry a liter and a half of water out of camp. The winds were brutal to walk through. They were so strong, they even blew our hiking poles when we lifted them off the ground. It was a relief to get on the leeward side of the mountain to get out of the wind.
We started off with a nice ridge walk alternating sides of the mountain. At one point we could see a plume of smoke to the west. It could only be one of three things, all of which scared us: 1) a volcano erupted, 2) a nuclear attack, or 3) some sort of temperature cline that is keeping the smoke from a fire in a single column. Whatever was happening, I was glad not to be heading towards that.
We caught up with Struggles and Charcoal at high point trail and walked a couple miles together. We all stopped for lunch at Cold Spring where the yellow jacket bastards joined us again. As we were getting ready to leave, one flew in Bunny’s hiking glove and took a piece of meat out between her fingers. She always gives me a hard time because I hate to have the things around me. I’ve been bitten multiple times by these demon spawn. I’ve have them fly in my ears and bite, had dozens get in my hair and bite me (one of the reasons I keep my hair cut off when hiking), and I’ve been bit 3 times on this trip. I hate them with a passion. This is the first time she’s ever been bitten by one. Now she’s starting to understand.
With the longer day planned for today, we wanted to get going. We agreed to meet in a camp a bit further than they normally hike in a day. The hope was that we’d be over the highest point between here and Belden and that we’d be able to drop down enough to get out of the wind. Not long after we took off, we saw an even bigger plume to the south. As soon as I saw this, any thoughts I had about being able to get around the fire were eliminated. This thing was massive. My guess is that some sort of temperature strata holds the smoke in place. A few weeks ago, the Bear Fire was just 30 acres and the NFS decided to just let it go. It wasn’t a threat to any structures or infrastructure and 97% of fire fighting resources were already committed. Now this was huge, frightening, and in our path.
Even seeing this monster fire, I still felt relatively safe. The winds were not blowing our direction and the sky above was clear and blue. We needed to get water from a spring a couple miles before camp. After the camp, there will be plenty of water tomorrow. We just need enough to get there, cook supper and breakfast. We Got water at stream thought was the spring, but wasn’t. It was still good. Charcoal did the same thing.
Camp was not as protected as we hoped even though we had dropped 1500’ to get to it. Bunny and I scouted out 2 spots that were somewhat protected from strong winds. There were a few widow makers about along trail, but we did find some spots further off trail. We set up camp and cooked while we waited for Charcoal and Struggles to arrive. I wasn’t taking any chances with the wind tonight. I put rocks on all the tent stakes and put Bunny’s side vestibule in storm mode (down and closed). We’d be ready if the winds picked up again.
I had calculated what time I expected them to show up, so I put on my crocs and headed out to the trail. As soon as I stepped on the trail, I could see them coming down hill. My calculation of their movements was spot on. I went out at 6:55 expecting them at 7. They showed up at 6:58. As always, they were happy.
Bunny got out of the tent and we showed them the spots we had picked out for them. There was a nice spot in a corner of some bushes that seemed pretty protected from the wind. We talked for a while, but we’re starting to get chilled. We retired to our tent to eat and go to bed while they set up their camp. It was still light. Too early for them to go to bed, but already past our bedtime.
EFG