The carnage continues

OK, that's about enough of this Moonlight fire. If it burns for a couple of more days it will run out of fuel when it hits Honey Lake. Shortly after I took these pictures it got a little darker in my house so I decided to take another little ride up to Skyline Park. I took a couple more pictures but these aren't them.

It's obviously moving again but there wasn't much wind today. A fire that size generates it's own wind anyway, but it would be nice not to see it gobbling away for a change. I just read an estimate of 40,000 acres. If you compare todays pictures with the ones I took a couple of days ago you can see how far this thing has burned. I hate to think of what might happen if this thing comes off the escarpment behind Janesville. I really think that is unlikely unless we have a SW wind event, which isn't predicted in the next few days. I heard Janesville Grade is closed again so that pretty much keeps me out of my favorite bike riding areas. Come on now, put that fire out!

Out in the Boonies

Man, what a great day! Irrespective of the huge fire burning nearby, I had a fabulous day exploring an area I have never been to and had no idea a road existed in. I was out near Dodge Mine and I was planning on hiking into this little valley I found on my maps and in Google Earth but as it seems, people riding ATV's have opened up an old road back into it. There is a nice camping spot at the end of the road right by Last Chance Creek. This is one of the most pristine spots on the east side of the Plumas and it hasn't had fire in it for a long time, so I hope the monster that is lurking to the west doesn't come this way.

About that, I read this morning that the wind shift had allowed the firefighters to gain some ground, but looking at the column in these pictures I can say for sure that it blew out big time today. Driving down Highway 395 it was so smoky that you had to have headlights on as you can see in the picture. This fire has gotten so large that it has the potential to burn all the way to Honey Lake Valley, taking out some beautiful country with it. I would really hate to see that happen but it's up to the whim of the weather now.

Moonlight Fire

I had a few things to do today and I didn't get out of town... but then that was a good thing. The fire near Moonlight pass really started to pick up late in the day due to the strong winds. I rode up to Skyline Park and sat on the bench for a while and just watched the smoke column increase. I read that this fire was 1100 acres this morning and whether that was accurate or not, it's grown considerably today.

Out Riding

For the last several days I've been out in the woods riding my bike in places I haven't been to in years. In fact, yesterday I took a road that I've never been up before and the road ended up petering out before it got to the top of ridge. Needless to say it was a case of forging ahead cross country or going back the way I came. It was a grand adventure and since I knew the country so well I knew exactly where I was and came out right where I wanted to. Along the way I came across these two lightning struck trees that were blasted to pieces. It's a good thing this lightning strike didn't start a fire because of the heavy fuels and the remoteness of this spot.


After I got back to my truck I had a beer and while I was drinking it I noticed the aircraft flying overhead. It seemed a little odd to me so I thought there must be something going on. I drove up the road a little way and looked back to see this smoke coming from well inside the Wheeler fire. I've been up on that road and happen to know that there isn't much left up there to burn. In fact the area this smoke is coming from is surrounded by nuked zones.

Today I went out Gold Run and up on Diamond Mountain for one my favorite bike rides. After lunch I was riding along and I noticed a smoke down the valley. This fire looks like it's right along the road that I rode up this morning. It didn't get much bigger, they got on it right away.


Funny thing was that yet another fire started back up behind Gold Run later in the day and I saw it on my way back to Susanville. In fact, at this very minute it's putting up enough smoke so that I can smell it and its filtering out some of the sunlight. This one is well up in the Plumas, let's hope it doesn't get as big as the last fire they had.