Fire Power Backpackers Are Facing Growing Number Of Wilderness Closures Due To Fire Danger

From our lofty perch on a granite pinnacle in the Selway Crags, I made a cell-phone call to keep in touch with my ailing father in Montana.

“I’m in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness on a peak where I’d normally have sensational views in every direction,” I reported. “But all I can see is smoke. Fires are all around us.”

“Oh,” came the reply. “The weather’s not bad here in Lewistown.”

Perspective on the worst forest fire season since 1988 varies wildly in the West.

While I chatted, I could see the eyebrows rise on Jamie Redman’s forehead as she and my daughter, Brook, drained their waterbottles and scavenged through their gorp bags.

“Wow,” Jamie said when I clicked off the phone. “If you’d have given that information to my mom over the phone, she’d have been calling 911 and sending in helicopters for a rescue.”

Three Links Lakes were directly below us, and they should have been sparkling like priceless sapphires. Instead, they were dull through the haze that irritated our eyes.

Our scramble up the peak was a bittersweet experience.

“This is eerie,” Brook said. “I wonder what this place really looks like.”

A wind shift the next day cleared much of the smoke, and our little niche of the wilderness in Idaho not far from the Montana border was far less scary.

Just 50 miles in several directions, however, the fury of the fire season was leaving its brand on a mind-boggling expanse of landscape.

Sixty-four fires were raging in 11 Western states, and the epicenter of the heat was on our horizon.

We had checked in at the Fenn Ranger Station before backpacking into the wilderness on Aug. 2 and learned that the entire Bitterroot National Forest was about to be closed to public access.

However, our route through the Nez Perce National Forest was still accessible.

“Be careful,” the ranger station receptionist said. “There are fires to the north and east and in the Salmon River country to the south. You won’t be building any campfires will you?”

Certainly not. With evening temperatures in the high country reluctant to drop from the ‘80s, a fire was the last camping tradition on our minds.

But another pair of hikers we saw had a fire for some reason, even though they were cooking their food over a pack stove.

Daytime heat was stifling, and I thought of the poor firefighters as we fought dehydration while simply hiking from one peak to the next. We drained our 70-ounce Camelbak water bladders in a few hours.

Our plan to run the dry, untrailed ridges to the most remote portions of the wilderness had to be seriously curtailed. We simply couldn’t carry enough water to maintain bodies in the heat and dryness that’s been permeating the landscape this month.

But at least we were there for the wilderness experience. Backpackers and floaters planning to reach other remote areas weren’t so lucky.

In addition to the closure of the Bitterroot National forest, the Helena National Forest also was closed last week. The Anaconda Pintlar Wilderness was off limits, as were portions of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Glacier National Park and the River of No Return and Gospel Hump wilderness areas .

Sections of major Montana and Idaho highways over Lolo and Lost Trail passes have been closed off and on for more than a week.

“River floaters heading to the Salmon River, for instance, have had a hard time getting there from Missoula,” said Cynthia Manning, Forest Service information officer.

“As for compliance with closures on the national forests, I think people have been pretty understanding,” she said. “I don’t i understand why anyone would want to go into the backcountry right now. It’s so smoky, and the fires can blow up even more at any time.”

Forest Service officials have already pointed out that, just as it was with the Yellowstone fires of 1988, most fires raging in Montana and Idaho won’t be put out by all the human efforts underway. Nature’s hand and good dousing of fall rains and snow will be required to put this fire season to bed.

After one hot day of peak hopping, Brook, Jamie and I dove into Cove Lake, another gem in high the rugged rock-heaps known as the Selway Crags. The water was warmish, even at that elevation.

When it’s hot, it’s hot.

That night, we lay on our stomachs in the tent and peered out through the bug netting as a huge thunderstorm rumbled through.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed in our faces.

But only a few splatters of rain rattled on our tent fly. Just enough drops to make little dust plumes as they made craters in the talcum—like dust at the campsite.

Dry lightning is the fire-fighter’s nightmare. Satellite surveillance recorded 75,000 lightning strikes in the West on that day.

We had a bird’s eye view of as much of the spectacle as the smoky skies over the Selway would allow.

But if you want room to breath in the nest few weeks, head West.

CONTACTS Forest fire updates

Recreationists heading into national forests during this, the worst forest fire season since 1988, should contact local ranger districts for the best information on road closures and restrictions that could affect their trip.

Special information centers have been set up to answer questions about travel and recreation in Western Montana and adjoining areas of Idaho: * For general information about fires and restrictions, call (406) 329-4853. * For road and highway closure information (800) 226-7623 for Montana and (208) 336-6600 for Idaho. * Information specific to fires in southwestern Montana is available at (877) 563-2876. * The broadest range of information about forest fires and restrictions in Montana and Idaho is available on the Internet at www.fs.fed.us/r1/fire.