Burn Baby Burn!!!

This November we made a trip to the Ranch to finish up some smaller projects before the snow was too deep. It did snow during the week we were there, but it melted off during the day. It hovered between mid 40's to low 20's all week. Beautiful weather.

The Mother of all Slash Piles!

While we were there, we wanted to burn 4 large (we thought they were large) slash piles around the old homestead. We were excited to torch them! At the same time we torched ours, across the road was the Forest Service Burn Crew, lighting a few of their own (30 to 50 much larger slash piles). We kept hearing this roar coming from the logged area, so we walked over to check it out. All 5 of them were using portable propane torches to light the slash piles that covered ~50 acres. We had to admire their work, but we were also very embarrassed in knowing how small our fires were in comparison to theirs... :( They could have come any week, other than this week, and we would have been more proud of what we accomplished!

Our pitiful slash piles

There was one slash pile that they left for last, about 120 feet long and 3+stories tall, right next to the road. It was about their lunch time so all 5 of them torched it and then left! I now have a respect for forest fires like I never have before. The flames lept into the air 100+ ft! We didn't dare get any closer that 150 feet for fear that we would spontaneously combust! It was toasty!!! You would have needed a VERY LONG stick for that weenie roast. Talk about a 'white man fire'! For three days we heard the rocks exploding and the crackle from 300 yards away. That one slash pile burnt for 4 days and was STILL going when we left at the end of the week. Come spring time we will have another shot at burning some of our own slash piles, but for this trip, I have had inhaled enough of smoke.