Treasured Traditions: #ProjectAlaska: Flesher Pass, Canyon Ferry Lake, and Earthquake Lake

Now that I have mentioned a few of the risks of traveling in the mountains; and you have seen the haze from the smoke of forest fires, I will share my growing anxiety with you as I continued south towards the western side of Yellowstone National Park; where I knew there were fires burning.

I had stayed in Lincoln, Montana and was leaving from a picture perfect campground there located right next to a babbling brook which was soooo relaxing. This is what was right outside the van:

I had no idea what lay ahead as I took off, heading over a mountain between Lincoln and Helena. I arrived at Flesher Pass to witness this scene:

As you can see in the first two pictures, the smoke and haze makes for beautiful pictures. The picture above shows precisely one of the many reasons there are so many wildfires year after year - millions of acres of dead trees; many of them pines killed by pine beetles courtesy of climate change.

As I moved on, I came upon this scene at Canyon Ferry Lake. The second picture shows just how smoky it is here, as one can barely see the mountains in the distance:

A friend mentioned something that brought my attention to another issue about this trip that I found rather glaring as well. This was how quiet it was in the woods and forests. I am used to hearing the scampering of small animals like chipmunks, squirrels, and birds. Don't get me wrong, I still heard them; but I'm used to hearing far more of these critters. I'm talking about areas I have been to several times over the years; and the result was the same across the board. Despite having actually watched videos from Bernie Krause showing evidence of this, I had never experienced it for myself. This trip really was turning out to be one of the most joyful but also one of the saddest trips I have been on.

One of the places I had wanted to see on my trip with my dad in 2012 was Earthquake Lake west of Yellowstone National Park. I'm not exactly certain of why the road to West Yellowstone was blocked off the day my dad and I came north from Old Faithful to head west, but due to this we had no choice but to continue north along US 89 through the park to Livingston, Montana. Park Rangers were directing all traffic to the right at the intersection where US 20, 191, and 89 split on the west side of the park. Unbeknownst to my dad and me, waiting up the road on US 89 was a huge wildfire that had US 89 closed south of Livingston with a detour on SR 540 on the east side of the Yellowstone River...some wild times that year for sure! So I was making sure to visit Earthquake Lake this time around. Due to the fires last summer, the pictures are a bit hazy and smoky.