“But the more you sit there and kind of look at the gravesites, the more it just all sinks in and the power of the area really gets to you.”Īsk any firefighter who has been there, and they’ll tell you it puts everything in perspective. “I didn’t think I was going to choke up as much as I did,” said Roach. That site is now a memorial paying tribute to those firefighters. “When you’re in that area, it’s almost like a duty to go and pay your respects to those guys,” said Ward. The team was reminded of that Tuesday in Arizona during their trip back home.Įven though the crew wanted to get home, they just had to stop in Yarnell and visit the site where 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed in 2013. It’s really unforgiving and it’s not as glorious as they make it out to be,” said Ward. “You miss the family and get a little homesick and it’s just nice coming home, chance to relax and really recoup for the next one.” “It’s always good to be back home,” said Shayne Ward, who is a lead firefighter on the Lone Peak Hotshot crew.
The team returned home Wednesday after a 19-day assignment fighting wildfires in Arizona and New Mexico. We’ll chat with the Lone Peak crew about what this meant to them on at 6. They wanted to pay tribute to the 19 #GraniteMountain firefighters who died in 2013. More adventures promise the future, and one never knows what might happen as the years go by.Before coming home from fighting wildfires, Utah’s Lone Peak Hotshots stopped in Yarnell. I had beaten the dreaded "ladder" for the second year in a row, but my beautiful peak remained unconquered. Or maybe I defeated myself in my quest to stay alive.
The sun went down and we spent the last half hour in the falling evening. I headed down, met up with Mike, and we began our descent at around 4 o'clock. I had met my goal after all, the goal of enjoying myself in the midst of the great creations of God. I've learned that I'm not invincible and that often the journey is greater than making it to the top of the mountain.
#Lone peak hot shots full#
I thought of when I'd been that age, full of recklessness and thinking myself unconquerable. I watched those all younger than me who had made it up to the very top. The three people who had been just ahead of me had taken a very precarious route to the top. I could not see a way that did not include a huge amount of potential danger. Just yards short, I decided I'd had enough. That being said, I made my way up the rocks toward the pinnacle of Lone Peak. This final shot of Timp in the distance and skies that had cleared of the smoke from the fires to the west of us. On the way down, we saw this plume of smoke rising over the peak to the east. See the guy on the left? There was a place just behind him that I wasn't willing to risk, without having someone experienced with Lone Peak alongside to show me the safe way. My workouts had paid their dividends and I was reaping the rewards of good health. I was actually feeling pretty good, considering how I'd felt the year before when I'd turned back at about the same spot we ate lunch this year.
I made my way up the chute that led to the ridge I would follow to the top of Lone Peak.
Mike, finding that he'd need to put in some workout time before he could actually make it to the top, decided to stop and wait for me to reach the top. I was hoping for a ride up the rest of the way, and if they'd have still been there when we came back down, I'd have paid them to take me down.Īs always, there were some amazing flowers This mare and another horse were up near the top of Jacob's Ladder, brought by bowhunters. There were some nice views of Timpanogos and other mountains to the southeast We got off trail a few times before finding our way back. After lunch we climbed higher into the bowl, trying to search out the cairns that marked the trail. Mike had been experiencing nausea and so we sat down and ate lunch. We saw one guy going way high to the left and wondered if that was a better way to make it to the shoot. We continued upward, through the pines and into the bottom of the boulder field. Mike had told me all about how big the racks were on these deer, but I could barely see the deer at all, and through the viewfinder in bright sunshine, it was tough to find them, but I guess it worked.
#Lone peak hot shots Patch#
I zoomed in on a patch of mountainside where I could barely see anything moving and captured the above image. I did the best I could to capture them on my Elph 340HS.
0 kommentar(er)
