Before heading south to check out Boise, I made a trip into the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area to check out Heaven's Gate. This is a lookout station overlooking Hells Canyon. This canyon, as it turns out, is the deepest canyon in the US at almost 2,000 ft deeper than the Grand Canyon's deepest point. In order to get this little adventure in before checking out, I had to leave pretty early. This ended up working out splendidly as very few people were on the road and I got a pretty great sunrise picture on my drive up to the summit.
When I arrived at the parking area and got out, I immediately experienced a faint ringing in my ears. The silence from being up so high with nothing around was almost deafening. It wasn't until later that I realized that there was someone else nearby, a forest ranger manning the fire lookout station. When I finished the steep climb from the parking area to the station, he welcomed me and told me that I could come hang out in his lookout station. So I did, realizing only now that might sound a little weird.
The station was a simple room, maybe a 15ft x 15ft space with windows on every wall giving almost a perfect 360* view of the surrounding area. The room had all one would need to live there: a single bed, simple kitchenette (mini fridge, mini stove - complete with oven), dining table, storage, bookshelves, radio equipment, map of the surrounding areas, etc. Ron, the ranger, told me all about his job and his work 3 months at a time to be on the lookout for fires in the area. Though he does occasionally sleep in the lookout, most nights he is told (by the powers that be) that his shift is over and he is able to make it down the mountain slightly to his RV with his wife before too late. He said the time he is relieved is dependent on the need for the night and for the area, I am assuming this is weather related. He told me all about his job, the other lookouts in the area (WA, ID and MT) and shared some anecdotes about other rangers (many of whom he has never met in person).
Ron told me (and I experienced) that his wife comes up and spends much of the day with him and that he averages about 5 visitors a day. He told me of the speed at which some fires go up and his experience spotting them and calling them in. He informed me that sometimes lightning will strike a tree or the ground and it will smoulder for days and then suddenly engulf the surrounding area in full fledged flame. I learned I can't actually see into the canyon from this vantage point but he pointed to where it is located. Though I was disappointed that the thing I came for did not pan out, I feel like I got so much more. What a fantastic job he has and a necessary one given the surrounding fire climate. On my walk and drive down the mountain, I wondered if I would enjoy that work, surrounded by nature and just being present in the moment.
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