Skip to main content

More Photos From The Carlton Complex Fire, Pateros Washington


Life is different right now, I have been on a few hikes. Mostly short ones when family is visiting. It's a nice way to get away from the constant busyness of life after a fire. We are making progress on the home front. We now have a bright red three sided barn up and the sweetest part is, it is filled with hay for the winter. One less worry to consume the mind with. The area for the house has been cleaned and we are getting ready for the footings. All kinds of construction terms I am totally not familiar with. Looks like trenches with lots of stakes in the ground to me. I helped hold the tape and get it marked off. I don't think I did the best job, I heard a lot of hold it here, no hold it there, no closer to the ground, do you have it right on the stake. I made the comment that it appeared like my help wasn't needed and I just assumed since it wasn't perfect it was going to be done all over again, why again was I holding the tape. But we survived the measuring and I am sure since I wasn't there when they started digging the measuring was done all over again. We are adjusting ourselves to living amongst neighbors, sometimes noisy, strange neighbors. We were a little protected and felt like we lived almost by ourselves on the hill, it's very interesting. The pictures of the sleeping bag are a special thanks to Sierra Designs I purchased this exact sleeping bag a few weeks prior to July 4th weekend to use on our backpacking trip. I used it two nights in the Pasayten Wilderness, Horseshoe Basin, Iron Gate Trail area. It was so comfortable, plenty warm, roomy and I never once felt restricted or claustrophobic. I had never sleep so well on a overnight stay in the woods. I lost all my hiking and snowshoeing gear during the fire that took out our house. Sierra Designs went out of their way to replace my sleeping bag, I can't thank them enough. Receiving the new sleeping bag was a bright spot in my day. I am slowly replacing items that were lost as needed. I need to start looking for some trail and flower books to replace my collection, it's hard to believe how much I used them for references. We are slowing moving forward, sometimes it's pretty mentally exhausting. So much to do when you start all over. I think I am almost used to the bare hills as I drive into Pateros now, can't wait to see them change and things start growing back on them.  Two pictures from our July 4th weekend backpack trip and more of the fire's destruction.
Labels:

Comments

  1. EmmaSeptember 1, 2014 at 5:46 PM

    Love the pics. That is so neat about the sleeping bag.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cutthroat Trail.......Snowshoeing North Cascades Highway

I have a confession to make, I have been having some winter blues. Not sure if they can be officially called winter blues due to we have had little to no winter. I have been very impatiently waiting for the snow to arrive, it comes, blows through, makes the ground white, then its gone. The last few days we have been sitting at temperatures in the 40's. What is up with winter. One thing I can say for sure is I am very thankful for the few trips we made up highway 20 before the silver star gate was closed. Our trip to Cutthroat Trail was back in November, when we had visions of winter coming to the valley very soon. The snow was nice and fluffy and deep. Pleasant day to get out and enjoy it, one of those days where your not sure if the clouds where going to allow the blue sky to show it self or not. We parked right off the highway with a couple of other cars and Snowshoed up the road to the trail head. Wasn't very long and more hikers, cross country skiers, and furry
3 comments
Read more

The Places We Can Go

Life goes on, things change, storms of life come and go.  One thing that always remains the same is the feeling and quiet peace I feel from being in the mountains.  This was a spur of the moment overnight trip.  It was so needed and such a beautiful time.  Left the house around 2:30 PM, traffic was so slow heading up Hwy 20, lots of folks heading out of Mazama.  Arrived at the trail head a few minutes before 4 PM, and we were off down the trail in a few minutes.  Three quarters of a mile down the trail a bee or some kind of flying ant decided to bite my nieces eye lid, talk about hysteria for a moment.   I was pretty sure our trip was over, but we were able to move on with a very cold creek soaked multipurpose face mask.  The sun was sinking fast and the wind was howling by the time we reached the top.  Made some quick decisions on the best place to park the tents, and we set up camp.  It was truly an incredible evening, hiked around a bit and watched the sun slip behind the mountains.
Post a Comment
Read more

Carlton Complex Wildfire, Pateros Washington

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. I spent last weekend moving my animals back home to a mostly burnt out barn yard. We had a small patch of trees and garden space that escaped the fire, which was where my dog pens were located. So they were able to return to a fairly normal life. The horse pen was kind of a hit and miss burnt area, since there wasn't a whole lot of vegetetaion in it the fences took most of the heat. The metal panels got a nice rusty color to them, with some serious scorch marks. Besides my horse having red smudge colored marks on his nose from the fencing he seems to be adjusting to his return home. We have found temporary living close by so it has made taking care of my animals easier, and a stress off of where we be this winter. The town is slowly getting the debris removed and homesteads cleaned up. Lots of piles of rubble and cut down trees piled up in the city lot areas. I understand that Okanogan County and the Confederated Tribes Of the Co
1 comment
Read more