Another Campfire Left To Burn...

[John]

Get a load of this.

We were out at Chilkoot for two days this weekend and smelled smoke on day one. Figured there was a camp around but never saw people. Second day we smelled smoke again and spotted this burnt-out area obviously started from an unattended fire left burning. We spent almost an hour digging the burning ground out and never got it to stop. It was burning up to about 15" below the ground! I picked up big chunks of burning ground with my bare hands that was very much like peat moss and it was only warm to hot and wouldn't go out until I smashed it to tiny pieces. Probably still burning now.

Keep in mind it has rained all week there and was even raining the morning we first smelled smoke. I can't believe this is burning at all in these conditions. We called the Forest Service and hope they finish putting it out before more trees catch.

[mungeclimber]

Whoa

[NateD]

Ultra lame. Right next to the lake. Glad you did your best and reported it to the FS.

[mungeclimber]

wait a sec, Chilkoot? Isn't it freaking cold up there? How did you climb?

[John]

The weather was perfect. Too cold to climb before the sun came out but dry and comfy mid day.

[daniel banquo merrick]

The first weekend of October at Courtright we saw a plume of smoke off the the southeast when camped at the slabs across the dam. We hiked down and found two smouldering logs. With an axe, saw and some water jugs we worked for an hour or so and got it contained. I have no idea how it started since it is in an area where I wouldn't expect people to be and there was no campsite. Perhaps somebody dropped a butt. We had to hike a fair ways down the creek to find a pothole of water.

[NateD]

What did you get on, John?

[John]

What did you get on, John?

Went to Half Day for a half day and then Runnel Diaries/Paradise/Hidden Eagle and climbed random stuff here and there. Did some exploring out there too. Very beautiful area for running around and exploring.

[susan]

Similar to Dan, we used what we could to dampen it. This part of the lakebed had no water, but there was a snow bank not too far off. About a half dozen refills later of icy snow in helmet, hat, water bottles, thermos... and with what John was doing the smoke much improved. In retrospect, emptying backpacks to use for snow would have worked best.