The Great Smoky Mountains of Idaho - 2006

JEFFHEAD.COM ^ | September 24, 2006 | Jeff Head

[Jeff Head]

While working this summer for the Federal Government on some communication issues on a ridgeline at about 7,000 feet in the mountains of Idaho, I was witness to the true, Great Smoky Mountains, not the mist and fog shrouded variety back east. Here's a picture I took.

The Great Smoky Mountains of Idaho - 2006

The wind had come up that day out of the south very strong and allowed us to get to this particular spot without fear of the fire. We passed through a National Guard check point and as Federal Employees, with a comm job to do, were allowed access.

Here are some more pictures from those days activities.

Looking the other way (to the south) from that same ridge line.


Mountain Comm shed. BTW, that building's roof line was covered by over 3 ft of snow in January. You can see
some damage in the background on the lower left to one of the solar cells from the heavy snow as it melted this Spring.


Yours truly working inside the shed on some PCB changes.


Working up on a tower at the other end, preparing to install a yagi directional antenna.

As a note, the next day, the wind turned around and blew from the north and the fire crossed the ridge line you see in that intial picture and the ridge we were working on had to be evacuated. Luckily, before it proceeded much further, the fire was extinguished by mountain rain and snow that has since fallen in that entire area.

[Jeff Head]

Thought some folks on FR might be interested in this.

[Jeff Head]

FYI.

[Disambiguator]

There is a big fire in NorCal in a heavily used area (Lakes Basin) in the mountains going on right now. It's affecting a lot of people.

Go here for details: http://yubanet.com/bassetts.shtml

On a side note, I am in the Boise area, and the smoke was really bad here a couple of weeks ago.

[mcshot]

Thanks for the cool pics.
Hang on tight up there.
:-)

[hedgetrimmer]

Cool pics. Thanks for posting.

[Molly Pitcher]

Great! Thanks...I loved the time we spent in Idaho 2 summers ago...Sawtooth Mountains area...

[backhoe]

Thanks, Jeff- I've flown over that area many times, years ago. God's country, big and brassy.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Beautiful pictures.

[cripplecreek]

Awesome photos man.

[Jeff Head]

I was up on a mountian top near Boise during that time...here's what that looked like before the south wind I mention in this thread blew it all to the north...before the cooler weather set in.

[Jeff Head]

Thanks. we always think safety and I have my harness on and am tied off up there. Too many grandkids want papa to stay healthy as long as possible.

[LexBaird]

Jeff, you are making me homesick. Where were the pix taken?

[Jeff Head]

You are all welcome. I am blessed to be able to work often in that very beautiful, scenic, environment. Good for the soul.

[Jeff Head]

Thanks...they went and threw me in that briar patch...hehehe.

[Jeff Head]

In the mountains of central Idaho. (OpSec)

[Disambiguator]

What you see to the right of the picture is what the Valley looked like...ick. That, plus my normal fall allergies, made for a miserable time.

[bert]

Those are merely the Smoky Mountains.

The Great Smokies are in East Tennessee.

[Jeff Head]

Sorry to hear it. To the right actually looks north in that pic, further into the mountains towards central Idaho where one of the major fires was buringing at the time.

The valley (looking to the west and south), was also pretty nasty, as you can see the smoke hanging and lingering in those lower drainages to the north.

[dljordan]

You lousy rat!!!!

[Jeff Head]

That was my point...kinda of a sarcasm.

The Great Smokies in Tennessee, which I have seen and visited many times, are not as high, and certainly not as Smoky as what you see there in Idaho. The actual name for those mountains in Idaho is something different entirely. It is just that this year, with that big fire, they became the Smokies for a six week period or so.

The Smokies in Tennessee are really misty and foggy, which gives them the appearance of smoke and thus the name.

Best Fregards.