Dolly Varden Campground to Castle Junction
Mount Sinclair
South of us we could see the mountain of the pass that we climbed through the day before. We had climbed to 4,875 and were looking forward to a climb of 5, 415 through Vermilion Pass
Fire fighter waiting for the next call
Mike, the firefighter, was content to talk to us while his comrades readied themselves for the next battle. He explained that the larger picture of pending fires included the lack of cold winters for the last 5 to 10 years. There has been an influx of pine beetles that are devouring the pines at an alarming rate. It has little or nothing to do with the lack of water. Water is plentiful. The battles have been thriving on the overgrowth due to over protecting the forest from natural fires by man. Then to compound that problem there hasn't been a winter cold enough to freeze the beetles' larvae and control their numbers. There are miles and miles of trees that are red this year and will be grey next year. If there isn't a cold winter this year hundreds of miles of forest will be dead. Then the fires will be uncontrollable.
Castle Junction Mountain
Me with a picture in my camera