Gathering The Umphrey Family Site

Sometimes it was very smoky, especially in the mornings. This is looking down river toward Vinegar Creek.

Once in a while the fire upcanyon even blew up--lots of days with temps above 100 and humidity below 20%--but nobody was fighting fire--just doing point protection--setting up sprinklers, putting foil on buildings, and lighting backfires. The plan is to protect buildings until it snows--no attempt to contain the fire. It was 1000 acres when I arrived and 15,000 when I left.

The smoke and fire didn’t seem to slow the recreationists--there were always lots of rafters and kayakers going on as usual (though they were beginning to close parts of the river about the time I left). They were dressed more sensibly for the situation than we were. No nomex.

I started taking down my tent at 5:30 in the morning on my de-mob day, but it took until 5:00 in the afternoon to make it to Red River, which is only thirty miles away as the crow flies. A river trip to Vinegar Creek. Wait for a truck. A truck ride to Grangeville. Wait for a car. A car ride to Red River.

The Zuni’s seemed to enjoy it. So did I.

They call it “the River of No Return” but I’m already thinking I’ll probably go back. . .