The beautiful picture below, is a reflection that happened while on the boat at Kenai Lake. I was taking a picture through the boat windshield, of the "Horse Tail" falls cascading down the steep mountain. I caught the reflection of me holding the camera, our guide from Cooper Landing and a portion of the windshield. Wow ...it portrays the spirit of the whole trip!

I suspect this summer will go down in Idaho and Montana history as "A Wild Fire Summer"

The Rockies Mountains have virtually gone up in smoke. The firefighters, men and women alike, along with the college students and National Guard, have spent the most exhausting hours possible, as they fought to contain Idaho and Montana fires that have necessitated federal aid. The military were flown into areas such as this, to assist those already exhausted, trying to contain the fires.

Near our home in Jerome there was a particularly fierce fire that swept across a pasture and inside of 10 minutes killed 60 head of cattle. Much of the wild life in the forests have been downed. We wonder how those who have survived will survive this winter with the grasses destroyed.

The many books I have read about Alaska have given me a smattering of knowledge about Alaska. Here is a site that introduces Alaska through the eyes of Jack London's and other Authors.

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Above: Pettit Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho

Even those of us living in the valleys have been tormented by grass fires destroying field, homes and cattle. Our lungs have been laboring as we tried to exist in the smoky haze. Those of us who already had allergy problems had to resort to more medications and in my case staying in the house where the air could be cleansed with air cleansers. Thank the Lord for this type of equipment, ...even so, the paper has been full of those who just could not cope.

Finally the moisture, both rain and snow came to the rescue, and the college students who had deferred going back to school to fight fire could return to school. The fifth of September found us all breathing better and the media was announcing that the moisture was putting much of the fire to rest. We were able to leave Idaho and begin our trip to Alaska. I had thought over and over that we would have to cancel. ...however, as we winged toward Anchorage we were aware rain and cold weather was predicted. The salvation by rain and snow for Wild Fires in Idaho, came out of the north and we were flying into that very storm on our way to Alaska.