Day 75; Tue July 10 2007

(Dr Bug) Had a great nights sleep in the bungalow. Finished the journal entries before 8am, had breakfast at the local dinner (Red Moose) and was on the trail by 11am. Sierra City was a restful stop. There was a three mile climb up from rt 49 to Sierra Butte. We did it in an hour. I was so jacked-up on the 7 cups of coffee and post breakfast pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, I ran up that mountain. When we got to the first saddle there a beautiful view of the town below and the surrounding area. When we got to the next saddle we saw the smoke. I had been watching a thunderstorm approaching from the south and passing on the east. We only felt a few drops of rain, but lighting was enough to discourage us from taking side trail to and all steel fire tower for a nice view.

There was plume of smoke in the distant north - guessing it was lighting at this point.

The trail was spruce, pole pines and white pines; the flowers were still colorful but parched and dusty. The mountains and soil mostly volcanic. Some of the taller volcanic buttes still had some snow on them. They looked wonderful, the white soft snow contrasting with the jagged black rock.

We started to hear and see prop planes in the sky. At first I thought it many, then decided it was only two that were circling. The plume of smoke grew only so slightly. We comtinued to walk toward the smoke on the mountain side. Then we saw the helicopter. It circled, dove and tightly circled the smokey area. We hoped out loud that this was not a fire started by a careless hiker.

We skipped lunch - the Ben and Jerry's for breakfast factor. It rained ever so slightly. The trail carried us closer to the fire. At the closest point we could see two planes circling, copter moving in low, about 20 vehicles on a dirt road about a mile from the blaze. I had wondered out loud if there was proactive procedures for fires this small. This was my answer.

Later in the late afternoon as we hiked over more ridges we saw three more lighting fires. Two smaller fires that were yet to be attended to, and a third which may be about 5 miles northwest of our camp site. The copter worked until dark, then silence in the air. Maybe here in the west, after a very dry spring, lighting storms are very dangerous things.

We hiked about 19-20 miles today. It was good walking; we were energized by the town stop and the excitment in the air.