What a crazy experience

At around 5pm, as the fire got worse, my friend and I zipped down into town to help my dad attempt to fortify his automotive shop. After 30-40 minutes we could tell it was only getting worse and was time to leave. After taking a break up in the hills away from the fire I drove back down on my motorcycle to evaluate the ongoing destruction. I filmed a few areas in Phoenix before heading to my parents for the evening. After arriving back home in Talent just before midnight I decided ride into the raging fire again to check on the fire’s path before going to bed – I’m glad I did. I captured some scary film and photos of the fire in Talent, talked to a guy who was watching as the last of his home burned to the ground, then saw the annihilation of neighborhoods and apartments in Phoenix. It was all quite surreal.

Now to hurry up and wait for first responders to make things safe and insurance to respond so we can all begin to rebuild our home towns

Philip and I took a quick overnight trip to the Marble Mountains Wilderness to check out the “ABCD” lakes. They’re a series of pristine alpine lakes tucked away on a trailless mountain bench above 7,000 ft.

We took Boulder Creek trail which comes in from the north, paralleling the popular Lovers Camp trail a few ridges over. The first 3.5 miles is a brutal climb straight up with over 2500ft of elevation gain (my bad Phil 😝). It’s then another 3-4 miles of side hilling to Deep Lake. The ABCDs are situated directly above.

We attempted to climb up but limited daylight and sore legs changed our minds. We instead opted to camp at Deep Lake and enjoy the little bit of light left.

In the morning Philip was kind enough to chill in camp and watch my dog as I adventured up the steep cliff side to the ABCD lakes (Aspen, Buckhorn, Chinquapin, and Dogwoood)

It took me about 30 min to find a line that wasn’t going to kill me and climb to the top and it was SO worth it. The lakes were crystal clear with high saturation of blue and greens. I made my way to the shoreline of each, ending my exploration with a fantastic dip in Dogwood lake.

Next time I’ll have to make camp at these lakes and spend a few days to soak it all in!