After a groggy start trying to find an Exxon service station and stopping to get some cash, Dave and I left Salt Lake City and headed north on I-15. Our destination for that day was another one of America's beautiful national parks, the Grand Tetons. Leaving I-15 near Brigham City, Utah, we traveled north on US-89 along the edge of the Wasatch Cache National Forest. It was another beautiful drive through pine covered hills and the snow capped Bear River Range to our east.
Our mid-day stop was at the alpine watershed of Bear Lake which is split by the Utah/Idaho border. We had lunch at a rest stop and information center overlooking the lake. Couldn't ask for a better place for lunch even though the fare was simple bologna and turkey sandwiches. Heading down to the lake, we crossed into Idaho and noticed that development on the Idaho side of the lake was much less than on the Utah side. This is similar to the development on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe compared to the California side (which is much less). We passed through a series of interesting small towns in Idaho, cutting across it's extreme southeast corner before crossing into Wyoming and heading north to the Tetons.
When we got to Wyoming, Dave was very excited to be back in the state where he had lived in the early '70's. He recounted stories to me about the harsh winters working on the oil rigs when they could only work outside for fifteen minutes at a time before returning to warm up in forty degree below zero temperatures. Organizing his work so that they could get something effectively accomplished in each of those short time frames. The loneliness of waiting in hotel rooms on call for the driller. Summers when his friends would visit and they would travel up to the Tetons and Yellowstone.
The Snake river was swollen with rain and rafters. Much more snow lay in the mountains than I had seen on earlier trips which were later in the season. But it wasn't too early for visitors who packed the road in Jackson strolling the streets and visiting the shops. But our destination was not the city, it was the wilds of the Tetons and we as yet had no campsite so we hurried on to the park. Upon entering the park just north of Jackson, the Tetons rose out of Jackson Hole. It is these two geological features that give the Tetons their unique beauty. The mountains were caused by uplift and at the same time, Jackson Hole sank to the east. There are no foothills on the east side of the Tetons as they rise directly out of the valley bounded by the Snake river at the foot of the Tetons and the Wind River range to the east.
The sun was beginning to sink behind the Tetons casting shadows across the sagebrush in Jackson Hole and casting a glow on the Wind River range. After setting up camp on the Lake in the middle of the park and Dave decided we should treat ourselves to dinner at the ??:?: ??? Mountain Lodge. We sat on the deck and watched the boaters and fishermen come in while we feasted. Dave traded tasks eating and snapping pictures of the lake and mountains beyond.
After dinner, as the sun set, Dave crawled into the tent and settled down for a quiet evening of sleep undisturbed by man made sounds. Only the night birds and a few mosquitoes disturbed the quiet of the woods. I decided to attend the ranger talk at the nearby amphitheater and strolled down the park road to the site. It was right on the bluff overlooking the lake and seeing the view of the lake and mountains in the fading colors of the day. I rushed back to the campsite to grab my camera which turned out to be a mistake at this altitude. Soon, gasping for breath, I had to be satisfied with a quick walk to get my camera before all the light had faded.
After filming the blue gray scenes, I walked back to the amphitheater where the ranger had a roaring fire going to offset the gathering chill. As soon as he started to speak I knew it was going to be good. He had the perfect appearance for a park ranger, a full gray beard, weather roughened face and crinkled eyes. A Santa Claus in brown uniform and broad brimmed green ranger hat. He was a professor emeritus from the University of Colorado who now spent winters in the Everglades and summers in the Tetons and Yellowstone as he had done for more than forty years. Just hearing the professional and mellifluous tone of his voice inspired confidence in the accuracy of his speaking. The topic was fire in the national parks and forests and especially the great fire in Yellowstone in 1988 and the changes that resulted in a major change national fire policy. The fire started as a proscribed burn that quickly got out of control in the exceptional conditions of the summer of 1988, dry and high winds. Despite the fact that more than 10,000 firefighters and a proportional amount of equipment including fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, none of their efforts had any effect on suppressing the fire. A little over an inch of snow fell in early September and this quelled the fire completely.
The ranger was a Vietnam veteran. He said that the noise of helicopters, smoke and fog of fire battle reminded him of the fog of war in Vietnam. Further cementing the memory of this time in his memory was that his youngest daughter was born, in Yellowstone, at this time. Imagine how this heightened his sense of danger in this critical time.
The immediate result of the fire was a ban on all intentional burns in national parks and forests. The second was the appointment of a blue ribbon committee to study the effects of this fire and required changes to national fire policy. Several findings came from this study. The first was that efforts at fire suppression in the wild are ineffective. 100 years of complete fire suppression has resulted in a build up of deadwood fuel in our national forests that makes further suppression of fires that start either naturally or man caused almost impossible. Only heroic efforts around the historic Old Faithful Lodge had proved effective in the Yellowstone fire. This finding had a dramatic effect on the firefighters and their families considering every fire suppression effort puts lives in harm's way.
Another result was a new fire policy that includes a three pronged decision map, evaluated daily during fire season. Depending on weather conditions, terrain and human habitation o the area, fires may be let burn or limited intense suppression.
Lastly, a recognition of the natural role of fire in the ecology of a pine forest. Both the fir and pine trees of the high forests and the Aspens on the high plains are resistant to fire and depend upon it to periodically clear out plant competitors and activate fresh seeding in the nutrient rich ash left from the fires. The fire that burned 40% of Yellowstone has resulted in an explosion of new, young pine and fir that make a green carpet, 10 to 12 feet high, that fills the space between the blackened poles of their forebears. Wildlife too has benefited. Elk, who found it impossible to travel through the deadwood choked tees have returned in greater numbers to the high forests. Countable bear population has tripled since the fire yet human-bear problems have lessened due partly to good compliance by visitors with “bear-aware” policies and the return of larger prey population in the remote areas of the park.
Complete darkness had fallen by the time the ranger talk was completed and I returned by flashlight to the campsite. Although tired, I stayed up for a while enjoying the quiet and letting my eyes to open up to views of a vast star field above.
Next: Rainy Nights, Snowy Days: Yellowstone
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