Coming soon!

A new feature I am going to have on here soon is going to be what I will call "Mountain Commentary". It will be of random topics. I will discuss different topics. Some controversy and some not. The intent isn't to make anyone mad  but to give a different perspective on things and perhaps some fun things as well.

The first one coming maybe this week is going to be called: Propaganda or Reality? I have research to do before I present this topic so it may take longer then this week, however stay tuned.....

Fall Adventure

We have a unique hunting trip this fall. I am going to tag along with a friend elk hunting. But what is different is we are leaving the truck and hiking into the unit. We will hunt and then when we feel like it we will stop and set up a camp. Our camp may be without the comforts of a tent. We want to keep our packs light as possible. Hopefully we will be carrying out an elk. So our shelter may consist of a tarp and a sleeping bag.In the morning we will get up and hunt again.

We are going to be hunting the Minam unit. It is rugged country but there are likely to be good size bulls in there. For those of you who know about the area, we plan to hike into the Red's Horse Ranch. The only way into it is to hike or by plane.

So as usual I will take pictures and have a daily running log. It is likely though I wont be able to post live. Most if not all of the unit is out of cell range.

I also plan to go out in August when the bulls are starting there rutt and try to call a few in to get some great pictures.

Stay tuned I hope to have some product reviews coming soon....

Shingle Fire Pictures

Valley near the fire

Watch out for the hazard trees

When the rain fell to the ground the soot bellowed up into the air

This house was painted red by a retardant drop. It was also used as a lookout for all of us firefighters.

Bucket drop

Close flyby

Seaman Canyon

Down in Seaman Canyon

View from DP 10 Staging area

Mop up

E-661

A free meal. Corn nuts

A log roll with the Apache crew

Cedar Banks Ski resort

Mega condos

Ski lift

Seaman Canyon

Quick Turnaround

Were Baaack! We were demobed this morning. Yesterday we sat in camp all day with our engine. We were staged waiting in case a new fire starts. We tried to catch up on some sleep throughout the day but it's hard to do when its hot and your in a truck. It looks like the fire scene is quieting down for now but it is only a matter of time before we get called again. At any rate it's been a good start to the season. i have had 12 1/2 days of fire work. That is good considering I haven't worked more then 2 weeks since last November. Good to work again.

I want to give a special thanks to the people from the Dixie National forest. The residents treated us like hero's and were very hospitable. Thank all of you for that. Also I want to thank you also for the parting gift you sent us home with. Thank you again.

It's been  a tiring go of it. When we were called to this last fire we left @ 8:40 pm pacific time and we mad it to the fire camp at 2:30 am. So as you can imagine we are tired.So with that thanks for following fire season 2012. We will likely be out again this season, so I will keep you in the loop and give you the inside scoop as I am able. Until the next fire.......

P S  I will put up more pictures of our fire adventures and also have the normal blog tings going on. So please keep checking back. If you like my blog please tell a friend.....Later
Travis

Staging for IA

Here we are in Mcdermit Nevada. Our assignment is initial attack. So if there is a new start we will go after it. They are expecting lightning. We have a huge area to cover. From here to Burns jcn to Rome to the Id border and along the Nevada border. It could be really boring or real exciting. For now I have cell service but if we move we may be out of service for a couple of days. Stay tuned..

Dispatched Again

We just got a dispatch to Mcdermit. We will be on the Long draw fire. I doubt we will have a signal but if we do I will keep you up to date.

Zion National Park

Here is some shots of the park. The pictures don't do the park justice.

    

   

Temporarily Home

We made it home late last night. The fire was good. It's good to be home, however we are washing  getting ready for the next run. We may be gone sometime today [provided we can get ready] or tomorrow to the next fire,.

We had a detour yesterday. We were so close we passed through Zion National Park. It was amazing! If I have time I will go ahead and put some on later.

I am sorry I didn't have an update every day but the cell phone signal was poor at best.That is usually the case on a wildfire incident. I hope you enjoyed following along. I will continue to bring about mobile updates as I can on the next one.

Progress on shingle fire

We are making good progress on the fire. I dont know what the containment is officially but we have been mopping up to 300'. There is going to be some rehab work done on the fire lines a d they have opened roads. They are also letting people back into their homes.

The picture is of drop point 10. This is where we meet before we get to the fire and after for a while breifing