I know I said I’d get some pictures this weekend of what we did and get them on the blog… but our little camera, which has served us faithfully for six years has gone to the great darkroom in the sky. It sort of still takes pictures but they are heavily pixelated and have a weird purple tint to them. You can just barely make out what it was you were taking a photo of and only if you know what it was to start with.
So for the time being, we’re without a point and shoot camera. I’ve still got my digital SLR but it’s a bit inconvenient for hikes and other activities.
Jess and I went out Saturday and climbed St. Mary’s peak. I posted about doing it earlier in the summer without Jess. This time I took her and we did it together. We got kind of a late start but I figured we’d be fine. Then Jess wasn’t really feeling up to it. Being the former challenge camp counselor that I am though, I encouraged her and literally pulled her up the mountain.
We got up to the top and the wind was blowing like crazy. Probably 40-50 mph winds. Now here’s where it gets interesting. The peak adjacent to the one we were on was on fire. This fire has been burning for a while but Saturday it really blew up. It spread over 1,500 acres on Saturday. It’s now burning over 4,000 acres total. The smoke looked like the end of the world. It was crazy. We weren’t in any danger because the wind was blowing the fire away from us. It was an unreal sight to behold.
We didn’t stay up top long though because it was getting late. We dropped back down the trail to the truck and headed for home. Well wouldn’t you know it, while driving down the trail we run into Jess’ dad. He was out bear hunting in his truck. What are the odds?
Anyway, we could see the mountain that was on fire glowing in the dark. Sunday the Forest Service closed off the trail we had hiked and the access road into it. Not because of fire danger but so the fire crews would have easier access in and out and wouldn’t be fighting traffic. So we were the last ones to come out of there for a while.
All in all it was a fun day. Jess didn’t think she could do it but she did and I was proud of her. We got to see something up close that few people ever get to see. If only the camera had lasted a bit longer so we could have gotten a good picture of it.














































