Jack Nelson on Early Snowmobile

[Aerosled]

The Scheidner Springs fire was started by lightning on August 4, 2021. It ended up burning until wet weather arrived in mid October. It burned 107,322 acres. That's 167 square miles. Some areas within the fire perimeter burned hot, some not so hot and some not at all.

An Infra Red flight about mid August overlaid on Google Earth with some place names for reference points. Scheidner Springs, near the center, is where the fire started.

Welcome to Jiffy Pop House. The CCCs built the American River ski lodge in the 1930s. It's at the confluence of the Bumping and American Rivers, just outside the north perimeter of the fire. In the 1960s and 70s the Naches School District used it for sixth grade outdoor school for a week every May. One of the teachers would cook a meal under the ground with a fire built over the top of it. I lived at the American River guard Station during the summers and went up there for dinner a few times. It was delicious.




American River Ski Lodge 2019, the 20 hole outhouse is behind the lodge. I'm glad to see they protected it.

 

[Aerosled]

We took a drive up the Bumping River and Chipmunk Creek Road on Nov 30, 2021. The fire fire doesn't look as bad as all the media reports had painted it.

Where the fire crossed the first switchback on the Chipmunk Creek road after it spotted across the Bumping River and road and ran to the top of American Ridge.

Looking down at the Bumping River.

Quite a few trees have survived.

Looking south across the river where the fire burned with low intensity as it spread down slope.

Logs removed from along the bumping River Road. There are lots of log decks like this that will be sold and taken to the mill. You don't see timber this large being logged these days. it will bring a premium price.

Evidence that the faller bored into the log that was in a bind when he bucked it to length.

The leaky lake the army built about 1960 at the Boy Scout camp "Camp Fife" at Goose Prairie. It's purpose was to have a lake to earn a canoing merrit badge. They still have to haule the canoes up to Bumping lake. Old Scab Mountain in the background. You can see some patches of scorched timber on it.



More Log decks on the bumping Road. The fuel break they were removed from on the right.

This would be classed as severely burned. On the Chipmunk Creek Road.

Looking East across the Bumping lake dam at Old Scab Mountain.

Here's a 360 degree look around the fire area from the old Panoramic photos taken from the American Ridge Lookout on Goat Peak on July 22, 1934.

Looking southeast. Little Bald Lookout on the skyline at 125 degrees. Old Scab Mountain at 143 degrees.


Looking southwest. Bumping Lake at 200 degrees. It appears to already have been drawn down to the original natural lake level.

Looking north. Fifes Peaks at 310 degrees.