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My son and I did a overnight backpacking trip into the Pharoah Lake Wilderness Area this past weekend and in the process we got a little more than we bargained for, but in the long run we got what will probably be a good story to tell around a few upcoming campfires.
After setting up our campsite at one of the interior ponds, we decided to do a bushwhack to a no-name pond at the foot of Treadway Mt. Along the way we came upon some ledges that offered some great views of the area. Then we descended to the pond, walked around got alot of great pics and headed back to camp to relax and do up some chow.
After we ate, my son decided to take a stroll around the pond we were camped at. He wasn't gone 10 minutes when he came hustling back with some startling info. that there was a serious duff fire going on at the end of the pond. Someone had got a small cookfire going there while we were gone, and they had chose a real bad place to do so. By the time we got back to that spot there were 8" flames shooting out of this small depression at the end of a marshy area of the pond. We had brought our pots, water bottles, canteens and cups to collect water but unfortunately the nearest water source was about 50 yards away at the outlet to the pond. For about 2 hrs. we did the back & forth thing, collecting water dumping it, cutting away the duff with sticks and then doing it again, over & over & over. At times we were getting that panicky feeling that we were fighting a loosing battle & were wondering if we should just head on out for help but suddenly we seemed to get control of it. We kept pouring water on the hot spots and kept an eye on things for awhile before we figured we were safe enough to go eat some dinner.
About 8pm or so I put my head lamp on & returned to the scene only to find that a couple spots had flared up again & so our firefighting process resumed for another few hrs. Long story short here we finally won out our little battle but neither one us slept very soundly that night....in the morning everything seemed cool & smokeless & we kept an eye on it till we felt sure it was over and done with. It was quite the scary experience to say the least & whoever got that fire going couldn't have picked a worst spot. By the time we got done with all we did there was about a foot & a half deep crater about 40 ft.in diameter...I guess the "bushwhacking Gods" were watching out for us...never had to do the firefighter role before and I hope I don't have to again but that was defiately a camp story for the books. Here's some pics of the aftermath.
After setting up our campsite at one of the interior ponds, we decided to do a bushwhack to a no-name pond at the foot of Treadway Mt. Along the way we came upon some ledges that offered some great views of the area. Then we descended to the pond, walked around got alot of great pics and headed back to camp to relax and do up some chow.
After we ate, my son decided to take a stroll around the pond we were camped at. He wasn't gone 10 minutes when he came hustling back with some startling info. that there was a serious duff fire going on at the end of the pond. Someone had got a small cookfire going there while we were gone, and they had chose a real bad place to do so. By the time we got back to that spot there were 8" flames shooting out of this small depression at the end of a marshy area of the pond. We had brought our pots, water bottles, canteens and cups to collect water but unfortunately the nearest water source was about 50 yards away at the outlet to the pond. For about 2 hrs. we did the back & forth thing, collecting water dumping it, cutting away the duff with sticks and then doing it again, over & over & over. At times we were getting that panicky feeling that we were fighting a loosing battle & were wondering if we should just head on out for help but suddenly we seemed to get control of it. We kept pouring water on the hot spots and kept an eye on things for awhile before we figured we were safe enough to go eat some dinner.
About 8pm or so I put my head lamp on & returned to the scene only to find that a couple spots had flared up again & so our firefighting process resumed for another few hrs. Long story short here we finally won out our little battle but neither one us slept very soundly that night....in the morning everything seemed cool & smokeless & we kept an eye on it till we felt sure it was over and done with. It was quite the scary experience to say the least & whoever got that fire going couldn't have picked a worst spot. By the time we got done with all we did there was about a foot & a half deep crater about 40 ft.in diameter...I guess the "bushwhacking Gods" were watching out for us...never had to do the firefighter role before and I hope I don't have to again but that was defiately a camp story for the books. Here's some pics of the aftermath.
Saturday night where we were.
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