The Pioneer Fire has been raging for at least four weeks. The roads were open to the cabin, so we decided to see what was happening and go home for the weekend. We had been up briefly three weeks ago, and been evacuated out. But the rating where we are was at a level 1, and the fire was headed in a different direction from the house.....
So, we headed out and decided to go the Banks/Lowman Highway. It is our favorite route, very scenic, very rustic. Once we got past Danskin Station and headed into the canyon, we knew .....the canyon was charred all around us. No wonder the road had been closed. The fire had jumped the river, and then crossed the highway into the steep sides of the canyon. Closer to Lowman, there was more devastation. Pine Flats was taken out, and they had closed that camp ground. There was evidence of the fire right down into Lowman proper, but no structures had been compromised. We did see some places that were still smoldering. It saddened me deeply.
The cabin was fine, but you could see where the forest service had been in and cut down some of the trees, cleared some of the brush in the lots around us. Our neighbor was having a wedding at their property, and there were people in campers and RVs all around.
It was raining so the smoke was minimal. To our surprise, the neighbors started a fire in the fire pit and kept it going all weekend long, despite the evidence of fire. Definitely added to the smoke issue.
On Saturday we headed to Stanley to check out how they faired in the recent events. The fire there was not as bad, very little smoke, and a large crowd of campers in the area.
The Valley started to fill with smoke on Saturday afternoon, and stayed with us to our departure. Needless to say we did not go out much, and were not able to take the Jeep into the back country....probably will not be able to until next spring.
All in all it was a good weekend, a little crazy with the festivities, and the noise, but we were home, and grateful the area had been spared.
