B-I-G chimney...

If you've got a chinmey this big, there must be a fireplace attached that requires Serious Logs. Like the stack below. A quite large Ponderosa pine must have furnished all this heating material. And don't weep for the tree -- it was most likely felled by the bark beetle infestation.

We still have quite a few people in the area who heat with wood stoves or fireplaces; after looking at my gas bill for February, I can understand the reason. It is a lot cheaper to take the chain saw plus the pickup or the 4x4 out into the forest to cut a season's supply. Especially with all the fallen timber that, I'm sure, the Forest Service is glad to be rid of.

We've Been Lucky This Fire Season

There are times that synchronicity is unnerving. Yesterday I talked about the popularity of flame and fire artwork. Today, our news is devoted to those very serious fires on the coast.

Prescott has been fortunate this year -- so far. In fact, so has all of Arizona. No major wild fires. In fact, today we (and other smaller communities in the state) sent equipment over to California to help fight those dreadful fires. I was awakened this morning by my nephew, calling to let me know his entire family of three generations had been evacuated safely. This is the second time their San Diego area home has been threatened by wildfire in the past four years.

The only smoke that we have seen is from control burns -- small fires deliberately set by the Forest Service to reduce the fuel load in the pines and the chaparral. The burns pictured here were reasonably benign. Once in a while the winds shift and our town, centered on a little bowl in the hills, fills with smoke. Rough on folks with breathing problems. And once in a very great while a control burn escapes, turning into a real conflagration.

That's why I was surprised to hear on the news that the Coconino National Forest up north will conduct control burns this week while some equipment is over on the coast. Fingers crossed, everybody.

Later: Today (Tuesday), the PNF announced it was postponing any control burns to release a fire crew to help fight the California blazes. And the Coconino is reported to be cutting back on burns by KNAU radio. However, I checked the NPR station's site to verify that I heard correctly and found no info, but this somewhat cynical link to a Reuters site about one reason some Californians have a fire problem.

A Picnic at the Butte

It's been over a year since I'd last been out at the Thumb Butte area; this time it was for a picnic sponsored by the local chapter of the Arizona Archeology Society. The event was scheduled just before the Forest Service closed the area for a major overhaul. And it was the first time I had taken a close look at the picnic facilities. Pretty neat. And pretty, for that matter.

A circle of tables...

...surrounding a fire pit.

Additional picnic facilities are to be developed in the open area beyond the circle, at the right, according to folk who were at the picnic.

There's a beautiful set of stone stairs leading down to Butte Creek.

A more fortuitous sight: the highlit snag between two pine trees.

And what better proof that this was an archeological crowd than this Tshirt from Australia!

Putting a Stake Thru the Heart of a Road

It doesn't always result in a dead road. Frequently, when wandering the forests, you'll come across a dead stake, instead. Backroad rage maybe. "These forests belong to me. The people, not the Forest Service!" I'll admit to similar reactions at times.


Some drivers know the secret of a stake driven through the heart of a road, like the broken one my grandson is holding up for admiration. It's this -- the stake is usually on a flexible hinge & it pops back up after one drives over it. A paper tiger, that's what it is! After all, the G-Men in Green may have to drive up the forbidden lane that we the people are supposed to walk.

So it gets driven over, again and again, & finally gives out. Or, just as likely, someone slays it with a well placed rock or two.


My late husband and I did a lot of exploration in the woods hereabouts. Mind you, we had been city folks most of our lives and came west in our 50s -- we weren't in the greatest of shape. We figured that we were usually good for about one or two miles out and the same back, depending upon the terrain and the heat. So we counted upon any one of our little Subaru wagons to get us close to whatever the day's objective might be. Forest Service and topo maps were our guide.

Believe me, it can be damned frustrating (and, yes, enraging, at times) to discover, after several miles of creeping on a rutted back road, that the turn-off route you had carefully selected had been decomissioned. A stake. Or a big fat, impassible berm. All at the whim of some uniformed bureaucrat. Admittedly, we didn't kill the dang things.

Even more frustrating was to set forth on an expedition to a favorite place, only to discover that, Oops, our usual route had suddenly been declared taboo. Complete with the usual brown stake. Or a fat, impassible berm.

That's what leads to the sense of being gradually closed in -- a common affliction of older people or of old-timers in a locale. On the one hand, some less popular backroads get blacktopped -- and crowded -- while others have stakes driven through their hearts. I hate it!

Examples abound. For instance, once it was possible to drive all the way to Mint Creek from the Williamson Valley trailhead. About a mile. Today, the trailhead has been gussied up, but you have to wear yourselves out walking the dull mile to what had once been your take-off point. (We always figured that complaints from posh WV homeowners who had paid big bucks to back on the forest had something to do with that particular closure...)

And, we never got down to the Verde Hot Springs ruin near Childs, being too chicken to try fording the Verde. Yes, there had been a forest road from the West to this one-time resort. But -- it was bermed. I suspect the idea was to keep the hippies and their successors out -- a forlorn hope. After all, they were/are young and reasonably buff. It sure worked on us, however.


Here's a picture of the road that started off this rant. Yes, I certainly am able to see why the PNF wants to close it -- look at the ruts and erosion.

I can see the point of view of those who are younger and buffer -- no-vehicles-allowed keeps the crowds down and hikes more solitary. (I like my hikes solitary, too, unless I happen to sprain an ankle one mile out!)

City folks like the black top so that they, too, can enjoy the outback -- without layering their big cars in dust.

In short, you can't win!

It's the Tragedy of the Commons (a famous essay by Garrett Hardin) in a microcosm. Land that belongs to all is too often exploited by all, with a result no one wants.

Note: the AZ Fish and Game Department will hold 12 open houses on the subject of roadless areas in the forests. The Prescott meeting: 6-9 p.m. Thursday, July 20, in the county building, 1015 Fair St. All public comment must be in writing -- to avoid grandstanding, says AFGD.