My favorite place in Oregon is on fire.
Waldo Lake. The fire burning there is named the Cedar Creek fire.
Wasn't it enough that Opal Creek burned two years ago in the horrible Santiam fires? Opal Creek was my second favorite place in Oregon.
I hiked the Opal Creek loop trail, from the parking lot on up through the bewilderingly beautiful old growth and huckleberry forest, into the walk in village of Jawbone Flats, on to crystal clear Opal Pool and back the far side of Opal Creek every year. Somewhere along the trail, each hike, I'd stop, to find a way down to the creek, drop my day pack, hold my breath, get up my courage and jump into the ice cold waters of the creek. I'll not be able to hike the Opal Creek loop again in my lifetime. Jawbone Flats is gone, too.
Now Waldo Lake is burning on the east side, down to the lake. The fire map for today shows the fire has reached the lake just north of the little island I'd row to. The campgrounds on the east side have been evacuated including Shadow Bay, where I usually camp, once a year, in late August or early September.
The north end of the lake burned awhile back and is a stick forest now and may help, along with the lake, to stall its progress. Plus, this weekend, at least in the gorge, we are getting an east wind event. These events can be very dangerous if the weather is hot and dry, for fire spread. I don't know if the east winds will extend down as far as Waldo. If the wind came from the east, maybe it would push the fire back on itself and maybe help contain it. The fire's spread, since it began, has been to the northeast thus far.
I obsessively check the fire map perimeter daily.
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| Cedar Creek fire map as of today |
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| You can see the burned out north end of Waldo, in this photo I took from my raft on one trip. |
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| This is my raft, pulled out on the west side of Rhododendron Island, on another trip. The island and the shore just to its west have so far been spared from the fire, according to the fire map of today. |
I will return to Waldo even if the forest all around it is destroyed by the Cedar Creek Fire.
Sending prayers for an end to the fire.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathy.
DeleteOh no. These fire seasons are getting worse and worse every year. I hope they're able to save some of it.
ReplyDeleteMe too, on saving some of it at least. The hike around Waldo lake was beautiful, despite the north ends stick forest from a previous fire. There are so many trails on the east side too, all over, very popular with mountain bikers also. Oregon will lose a great deal if the east side of waldo also burns.
DeleteI really, really hope that the fire is extinguished quickly.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteI hope this and the other forest fires will be contained soon. It is a bad situation for all involved -except for nature which sometimes uses fires as a way to clean up and start over. But that's difficult for us humans.
ReplyDeleteMuch of nature, birds, animals, insects, trees, die in the fires. The animals and birds often die horribly. I hate that about the fires. Yes, its very difficult for humans to rebuild after fires. My friend who owned the motel in Detroit, by the lake, lost her beautiful little motel, her home and ten cats in the Santiam fires and now has moved to Tennessee, where she has family.
Delete