The EAGLE CREEK FIRE & THE END of the WORLD, Part Two

(So, yeah, it’s just an attention grabbing title.)

0% containment vs. 11% containment

Many people commented on last week’s pictures of fire in the Columbia Gorge, expressing grief and sorrow that the gorge would never be the same. The hellish orange outlines spreading before the wind were all too reminiscent of those hot embers we study in the heart of our campfires, leading one to believe that morning light would reveal only a valley of charcoal and ashes. But when morning finally did come, the gorge was hidden by heavy blankets of smoke, and so I was unable to determine the consequences of what I had seen in the night. It was frustrating — and it still is.

The fire, as of this writing, is still only 11% contained. That means somewhere amongst the trees, a fire that can spread from Cascade Locks to Corbett in an evening, is feeding and biding its time, just waiting for a favorable wind.

Monday was a clear and sunny day with not much wind. I decided to retrace my route from the night of the fire (I-84 is still closed), and see what a wild fire means to a forest.

I’ve tried to identify the locations of the areas depicted in my images with the aid of Google Earth and various maps. It was harder than I thought, and I want to caution you that my comments are tentative.

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In this supplementary image and the ones that follow, the number shows which image is being referenced and also the point where the picture was taken. The yellow cone shows the approximate field of view.
The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(01) Perhaps East Bridal Veil Rd (as viewed from SR 14 overlook)

Editors’s note: This does not look like the apocalyptic vision I saw last week.

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(02) Looking eastward up the Columbia River. Angel’s rest is directly behind Phoca Rock. Beacon Rock is the monolith on the horizon at left (as viewed from SR 14 overlook).

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(03) A singed Mt. Archer pokes its head above the tree-line at St. Cloud recreation area.

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Smokey arms of a marauding fire embrace the mountains, pantomiming an apocalypse. Meanwhile, a man in a hat reels in a monstrous smallmouth bass and comments happily, “We’re eating fish tonight!”

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The tops of some ridges seem a little bit more than singed.

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Dozens of smoldering fires contribute plumes of smoke to the valley (view from Beacon Rock State Park).

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(06,07) If I had to guess, I’d say the fire in this picture has a source close to Dodson.

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Fire’s method, to my inexperienced eye, seems random and haphazard. Here a wisp of smoke threatens, “I’ll be back.”

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(09) Looking downriver, an enormous plume climbs into the sky like a thunder cloud.  The smoke from the Dodson area is just a smudge beyond Ives Island (as seen from the S.W. edge of Hamilton Island).

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(10) The mouth of the smoke-shrouded canyon to the right leads to Wahclella Falls (from a vantage point on Dam Access Rd. at Bonneville Dam).

(Go east past the Chevron station and then turn right on that dam access road)

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(11) Behind the dam, the notch at center-left is, according to my reckoning, the mouth of the canyon that contains Eagle Creek.

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(12) Looking South across the river to Cascade Locks. The Bridge of the Gods is spanning the Columbia at right.

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(13) This view from the waterfront in Stevenson shows that the fire is vigorous and strong. I’m not sure what’s up there on top of the gorge, but judging from Google Earth, I’d posit maybe the Benson Plateau.

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The map is copyright 2017 by GOOGLE EARTH

(14) Looking slightly S.W. from the same vantage point, Cascade Locks and Bridge of the Gods are concealed by smoke settling over the water.

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“…a pillar of cloud by day…”

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Stevenson Landing

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The vagaries of smoke and wind allow a brief glimpse of the Bridge of the Gods.

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Looking upriver to the Government Cove recreation site.

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Back at the SR-14 overlook, I survey the scene as night falls. The yellow hued fire to right is probably the Bridal Veil area. The small orange hued fire may be the one I saw near Dodson, and the high reddish plume has got to be the fire near the Benson Plateau, almost 17 miles away.

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From this wider angle view, another orange line of fire can be seen up and to the right of the yellow hued fire. The lights of Cascade Locks and Stevenson illuminate the smoke settling in the valley.

These two minute exposures reveal the Earth’s spin, showing the apparent motion of the stars.

There’s nothing like juxtaposing all of our anguish beneath stars burning steady for billions of years.

SEE ALSO: EAGLE CREEK FIRE JUMPS OVER THE COLUMBIA

Eagle Creek Fire Jumps Over the Columbia: Childless Adults Even More Thankful to be Childless.

The Columbia River Gorge 09/05/2017 at 3:00am (As viewed from the Cape Horn Viewpoint on SR 14. Phoca Rock visible in middle of river.)

The Columbia River Gorge 05/31/2010 (from Cape Horn Viewpoint)

I've aligned these images based on the positions of Phoca Rock and the navigational structure in the middle of the river to estimate what areas are burning.

When I arrived at the viewpoint, it seemed I had missed the explosive advance of the fire's front. Still, as the wind gusted, and photographers scrambled to secure their tripods, one or another tree or other combustible item would explode like a solar flare.

The smoke stung my eyes. The buffeting breeze reminded me of speeding through central Oregon on a 104 degree day with the windows down.

Whenever the breeze lagged, voluminous, billowing smoke would hang briefly, as if in collusion with the ravenous flames, attempting to cover their sins of gluttony.

Starting around 4:00am, I started receiving emails indicating that the fire had jumped the Columbia and set Archer Mountain aflame. The photographer next to me pointed out an ominous glow to the East.

I drove to the St. Cloud recreation area and caught site of the flames — ever expanding.

 Looking South to the Oregon side of the gorge from St. Cloud recreation area.

Another view of Archer Mountain from a vantage point at Skamania Landing.

Looking South from Skamania Landing. Here, having exhausted its orgy options, the fire begins a more refined winnowing process.

At dawn, the fire is still occupied with Archer Mountain (from a viewpoint at Shahala Lake).

I had hoped to catalog the landmarks affected by the fire in the daylight, but smoke from the fire proved to be too thick, obscuring even the sun hours after dawn.

The blanket of smoke continues to obscure the sky at 9:00am (as viewed from Rocky Butte)

Editor's Note (09/07/17):
Thank you for your comments (here, and on Facebook). I find them fascinating.


Let me re-assure some of you, particularly my mother, that my self-preservation instincts are fairly well refined. I am keen to avoid burning, blunt force trauma, falling great lengths, suffocation, drowning and drunken drivers — for starters. But thanks for the reminders.

The wildfire in the gorge is frightening. It is like an uncaged wild thing, or like a malevolent genie unwittingly released from its lamp. It feeds with evident cunning, and takes what it can with absolutely no empathy. With the capriciousness of a tornado, it obliterates some locations, while leaping over others and leaving them nearly unscathed. Lives and the works of lifetimes hang in jeopardy.

I do not take lightly the terrible consequences of this fire, but I do want to briefly address the recurring theme of sadness at the loss of so much beauty in the gorge, by suggesting that the very beauty we have grown up with is itself a product of volcanic ‘disasters, geography altering super floods, tectonic plate level seismic events and countless fires through the eons. 

Living in a scenic area where we have found it necessary to fence off our waterfalls and pave our wilderness trails, it is easy to believe that our Gorge is a permanent unchanging feature, bereft of natural cycles. But I suspect this is an illusion fostered by our short lifespans. 

Born from the stars, life has always contended with fire. Indeed, some life intimately depends on it. New niches will open, and various specialized plants and animals are just waiting to move in and make the world new again. And we humans, I suppose, will continue to risk building our houses near flood plains, or deep in the new forests of the future, because … it’s always going to be pretty.