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Stuff is on fire


olyclimber

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Archer mountain...so just west of Beacon. BE SAFE BEATARDS.

my second year in a row of getting skunked on opening day of school n' not being able to get my beatard on - closed the park - it's death to go down 14!!!

 

beatards don't die, they just burn down to their roots, n' burst back out later like the fawk'n poison oak filth they be :)

 

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Was on the Tooth summit Sunday afternoon through Monday morning, could see about 7 fires. Was clear on Sunday then by Monday morning the wind had changed and visibility went to about 500 ft.

 

One fire was just West of Stuart and the peak was going in and out of the smoke. Two fires to the NNE, then Stuart, Vantage, Wenatchee, Crystal

 

Then at night you could see the orange glow from the fires.

 

The Tooth was encouraging in that there was a Gazillion tourons going to Snow Lake but when the trail cut off towards the Tooth it went to just a handful of people. Over a day and a half on the Tooth only saw 9 other climbers which is about the same as it's been for over a decade. So the real climbing back country is not getting inundated at least from this small sample perspective.

 

The Tooth was plan C and it was as good as ever. Plan A was the South route on Garfield main, aborted because forgot key gear and had to go back to the house and return which put the South route out of the time window. Plan B was Garfield East and that got aborted by some black bears. This is like the 3rd time I've been shut down by bears, maybe need to start carrying flares again.

 

Going up a gully and then an intersecting gully and saw a black bear crossing and going into the woods. So sat still observing and the bear came back out of the woods across the gully and into the woods on the other side. So waited again debating whether to wait and cross paths if it stayed in the woods. Then a cub comes out of the woods into the gully.... oh sh*t. I'm outa here. They were only about 100 yards away but luckily the gully I was in had running water that was masking my noise and I was downwind, I don't think they ever knew I was there.

 

So driving back and forth from the trailhead twice and then 1000 vert ft of gully never even getting out of the trees, batting zero so far, and it's already noon on Sunday so the holiday weekend is already 1/4 done. (had to work Sat)

 

So on to the Tooth which I haven't done in about 5 years. With overnight gear and no rock shoes, only sticky hikers. The cruxes kind of got my attention more than I remember but it was easier downclimbing the next day. And at the summit bivy late that night I'm wondering, can bears climb the Tooth?

 

And wonder of wonders no night snaffles on the summit. But then two stoned Portlanders came up about 4:00 am and the leader made a sound just like a mountain goat and I'm thinking when did goats start climbing the Tooth? Oh wait it's got a headlamp.

 

Had to work extra hard at it but this year I did not get skunked on Labor Day. Yeeee Haaaa!!! And to think we work all year and we're only worth one day? How come it's not labor week? And if the BeeZose types could have their way it would only be labor hour and then back to the toothpicks out of logs factory.

 

And I had the Android and got into a really good distopian postcyberpunk scifi ebook as the moon crossed over.

 

A few fires and some big hurricanes and floods? The earth is like a giant Honey Badger, it just don't give a fu*k. If you look at geological history it started as a ball of molten rock and also had a 20 million year period where it was a ball of solid ice with glaciers 1500 ft thick at the equator. The ice was so heavy it crushed down the land so when it melted the land had to spring back up. And to think life started before this cooling period and survived in the deep oceans during that time. And if the earth gets pissed it's going to eat man up like a poisonous snake and if we bite it it'll just pass out for a while and then wake back up.

Edited by Buckaroo
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A few fires and some big hurricanes and floods? The earth is like a giant Honey Badger, it just don't give a fu*k. If you look at geological history it started as a ball of molten rock and also had a 20 million year period where it was a ball of solid ice with glaciers 1500 ft thick at the equator. The ice was so heavy it crushed down the land so when it melted the land had to spring back up. And to think life started before this cooling period and survived in the deep oceans during that time. And if the earth gets pissed it's going to eat man up like a poisonous snake and if we bite it it'll just pass out for a while and then wake back up.

 

the earth never sleeps

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A few fires and some big hurricanes and floods? The earth is like a giant Honey Badger, it just don't give a fu*k. If you look at geological history it started as a ball of molten rock and also had a 20 million year period where it was a ball of solid ice with glaciers 1500 ft thick at the equator. The ice was so heavy it crushed down the land so when it melted the land had to spring back up. And to think life started before this cooling period and survived in the deep oceans during that time. And if the earth gets pissed it's going to eat man up like a poisonous snake and if we bite it it'll just pass out for a while and then wake back up.

 

:tup:

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Out at Beacon both Sat and Sunday. Smokin ash. Lots of it both days although it let up some here and there. Kind of came and went. Paid the $2 to cross Bridge of The Gods and drive back on the newly opened 1-84. Lots of little smoldering spots yet. Was happy to get out and have a great weekend as the forcast is rain Monday, ie today, until forever. I pulled up the rain radar and it looks like Eagle Creek area is getting good and moist, so hope that fire season just ended. Last week Ujahn and I did a lap on Wednesday at Beacon and the smoke pretty much stayed away for the most part. Went to Skamania for a beer and entertainment. Loaned the waitress my Steiners and she was pretty surprised and happy. The flames were directly across the river, appeared to be shooting up hundreds of feet.

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Was out early Sat morning for a lap on FFA and did the same loop as Bill.

 

It wasn't quite as bad a burn as I expected though still plenty bad. The stretch between just east of Multnomah Falls to the Ainsworth exit is probably the most completely burnt due to the high, steep ravines turning into blast furnace chimneys. The ravines all through the gorge took the biggest hits for the same reason, but there's still a lot of green over much of the burned areas.

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It appeared to me that the firefolks had backburned all along I-5 JH, that's why it looked so good. Basically they concentrated and positioned their forces, bulldozed firelanes where needed, waited for a favorable wind, then started a fire from the road and it burned uphill. That results in the underbrush burning and significant fuel reduction and it's usually quite some time uphill until the trees crown out and start to burn. The Clackamas fire of 2 years back is an example of that. From the road the trees are green, once you get to where the backburn either flashed into the tree tops or met the oncoming wildfire, it looks like a charred desert. Then the rains come and eventually the underbrush the next years starts in looking green again.

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