Well, the fire hasn't crossed the American River, and it's not likely to get to our side. From the map, it looks like it's very close to one of our favorite hiking trails in the American River Canyon. When one of our wildflower trails gets hit by fire, it's not worth walking for about five years - and even then, it's sad to remember what was there before.

The fire covered only 200 acres last night, and it was 20% contained and there were 250 firefighters working it. Now, it's 800 acres and only 10% contained, and there are 1,821 firefighters. I drove to a couple of locations nearby to observe the fire, and it's quite dramatic. It's a huge concentration of smoke, and it's spooky to watch the planes flying into the smoke.

The fire is very near the Gold Rush town of Iowa Hill. The town is over 150 years old, and it could disappear overnight. So far, it's safe. They say fire is an essential part of nature, but these fires burn up some beautiful places that are part of our lives here, and it really affects us. We live here because of the beauty of this area, but it's not beautiful for many years after a fire. I've been here ten years, and many of my favorite spots have been lost to fire since then. Still, there are far more spots left. We'll keep following spring wildflowers "up the hill" for as long as we can keep hiking.

An unusual thing about this fire is that although it's very close to us, we haven't seen planes flying overhead. Usually, we'll have times when the planes are flying low above us and very often. It feels like we're in a city that's being bombed. Not this time, though - they must be getting their water from another reservoir. We see and smell the smoke, but there's silence. The lack of the sound of the planes makes it scarier, I think.

-Joe-