No Escaping The Smoke, Oregon Burning

I have lived my whole life in Oregon, the first 21 years on the Oregon Coast, the last 28 in the Willamette Valley.

Eugene Oregon is an amazing city and has been my beloved home for over half of my life.

One of the only drawbacks to living here is how much air gets trapped in this part of the valley. Those that suffer from severe allergies here lead a miserable life during certain parts of the year.

Air stagnation and a very fertile valley leads to a high pollen count.

Growing up in Coos Bay, I had heard stories about the Bandon fire in 1936 that burnt miles of forest along the coast and scared many locals.

I am old enough to remember the volcanic ash falling on our cars after the eruption of Washington state's Mount Saint Helens in 1980.

We even dealt with smoke from forest fires two years ago in 2015. That only lasted a few days here in Eugene, from what I remember.

But nothing could have prepared me for the summer of 2017, for the month of smoke that blanketed our city.

A couple of weeks in and we were getting desperate to escape the smoke.

We had no way to get to the coast or any way to drive to a smoke free area, so I figured that if we climbed to the highest point in Eugene that we just might get above the smoke layer. Spencer butte is the highest point close to our city, elevation of 2,058 feet above sea level.

So my fiance and I left on our quest to escape the shroud of smoke.

Not many people were climbing with the poor air conditions, so the animals were very active as we ascended to the peak. You can see a quail crossing the path up the butte in the image below.

This Western Gray Squirrel was fearless and let me get within a few feet.

As we climbed higher, I began to understand how truly bad the situation had become. Even half way up, we could not make out details of our beautiful city through the smoke.

Nature is often very beautiful when it is at its most deadly. We were very disappointed that we could not get above the cloud level, but the beauty hit me like a sack of bricks in the face. I forgot about the ache in my lungs. I forgot about about the effort it took to reach the peak. The beauty was all I could perceive in the moment.

Scary beauty.

A wonderful time to have my camera ready.

My disappointment was short lived as I saw the beauty of this nightmare hanging over our city.

At this moment the skies are blue.

There is no smell of smoke, though there was last night. We have been very lucky.

The idea of complaining about so much smoke when others have lost so much to fire seems like whining. But I am pretty sure that some have died from the smoke inhalation, the elderly, those with asthma and other respiratory issues.

The forest fires are still burning in Oregon.

I am hoping with all my heart that those still affected by these fires receive relief soon.
Even choking on smoke for a month, we have been better off than many on the west coast.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

All photos by Gary Lee Hutchings Photography