Buzzcut1
While I still work fire line on my local volunteer department, like you, I leave that heavy work to the young men and women that chase fire all summer. I now spend my time making sure that those firefighters get what they need when they come off the line. I now set up and run the large fire camps with a few hundred to over a thousand firefighters in camp.
This is our camp at the Entiat High School in Washington two weeks ago. Columbia River is about a ยผ mile east. My job was to shut down this camp down and return the property back to the school to prepare for classes. I then rebuilt it about 6 miles up the Entiat River at the Entiat National Fish Hatchery. The school is in the background, from left to right, little yellow thing is part of our supply cache, the semi with door is a shower unit, the funny army green tent is where the camp crew prepared up to 1000 sack lunches a day. The circus tents are the eating area with semiโs just right in the distance are refrigerated semis for food and ice. Yellow flyโs in background are the kitchen trailers where breakfast and dinner are prepared and served. Green box in middle is a 100KW generator to power the show. Tents and trailers to right are camp crew and kitchen help. Throw in a few porta potties and hand wash stations and it is just like home. Firefighters slept on the football field behind the trees. The new camp was set up with the idea of it being used until the fall rains or snow come. May be back up that way in a week or two.
While I still work fire line on my local volunteer department, like you, I leave that heavy work to the young men and women that chase fire all summer. I now spend my time making sure that those firefighters get what they need when they come off the line. I now set up and run the large fire camps with a few hundred to over a thousand firefighters in camp.
This is our camp at the Entiat High School in Washington two weeks ago. Columbia River is about a ยผ mile east. My job was to shut down this camp down and return the property back to the school to prepare for classes. I then rebuilt it about 6 miles up the Entiat River at the Entiat National Fish Hatchery. The school is in the background, from left to right, little yellow thing is part of our supply cache, the semi with door is a shower unit, the funny army green tent is where the camp crew prepared up to 1000 sack lunches a day. The circus tents are the eating area with semiโs just right in the distance are refrigerated semis for food and ice. Yellow flyโs in background are the kitchen trailers where breakfast and dinner are prepared and served. Green box in middle is a 100KW generator to power the show. Tents and trailers to right are camp crew and kitchen help. Throw in a few porta potties and hand wash stations and it is just like home. Firefighters slept on the football field behind the trees. The new camp was set up with the idea of it being used until the fall rains or snow come. May be back up that way in a week or two.
trust me guys, as a recently retired wildland fire fighter I stay well informed on fire conditions and weather forecasts.
training in my younger days ( me on the nozzle)
training in my younger days ( me on the nozzle)
If the weather isn't great on the west side, I'd be tempted to go up to Alturas. Just west of town on 299 is a county road #73 (aka Crowder Flat Road). 50 miles of gravel through the Modoc NF into the Fremont NF of southern OR. Lots of pot hole lakes for fishing. NF Lofton Reservoir CG is a nice area. A lot of the development roads in the Fremont area are paved, so nice road bike riding. Most CG in this area don't have water. Plenty of back routes to get you to Bend.
2x Newberry Crater National Monument. A very large obsidian flow hike inside the crater is really amazing. Little Crater CG on Paulina lake is very nice if you can get a spot.
After all the usual activities in Bend and Sisters, consider heading west over McKenzie Pass (Hwy 242 out of Sisters) very pretty, with an impressive lava flow at the top of the pass. Narrow curvy road, but very doable. Take some FS development roads to the south and east through the Willamette and Umpqua NF back over to the Diamond lake area. Time will go fast, jump on 97 south but when you get to Klamath Falls consider taking 39 SE toward Hatfield, or just north of Doris head east on 161 toward Hatfield. Then back route it to the Lava Beds National Monument Caves before heading home.
If you use a charting/mapping program on a laptop, like Delorme or MS that can import waypoints, I have an excel file or text file you can PM me for which will locate 566 NF, State Park and National parks and monuments in Oregon by GPS position. Makes free form trips in the region easy.
Everybody on the west coast should be checking out central / eastern Oregon as the last total eclipse of the sun in the US, until almost 2050, will happen on 8/21/2017
2x Newberry Crater National Monument. A very large obsidian flow hike inside the crater is really amazing. Little Crater CG on Paulina lake is very nice if you can get a spot.
After all the usual activities in Bend and Sisters, consider heading west over McKenzie Pass (Hwy 242 out of Sisters) very pretty, with an impressive lava flow at the top of the pass. Narrow curvy road, but very doable. Take some FS development roads to the south and east through the Willamette and Umpqua NF back over to the Diamond lake area. Time will go fast, jump on 97 south but when you get to Klamath Falls consider taking 39 SE toward Hatfield, or just north of Doris head east on 161 toward Hatfield. Then back route it to the Lava Beds National Monument Caves before heading home.
If you use a charting/mapping program on a laptop, like Delorme or MS that can import waypoints, I have an excel file or text file you can PM me for which will locate 566 NF, State Park and National parks and monuments in Oregon by GPS position. Makes free form trips in the region easy.
Everybody on the west coast should be checking out central / eastern Oregon as the last total eclipse of the sun in the US, until almost 2050, will happen on 8/21/2017
