Happy (Belated) July 4 from a Fire Lookout Tower in the Pacific Northwest!

[Bo Zarts]

I can't get too specific in my location because the Loud Boyz, Oaf Creepers, and worse, are BIG here. That should give you a hint. I'm in the fire lookout for the season. I'll post when I can, but I have very limited cell service. Also limited off-grid power for all my power-sucking gear. Low resolution photos until I get better cell service.

Bo

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Perfect pic.....a place I'd like to be.....

Stay well, Bo!

[Bo Zarts]

3. Thanks, OAITW!

Listened to some Buddy Holley earlier this evening!

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Not Fade Away at the sunset would be very cool.

[Deuxcents]

2. Thank you for all you do. You've got the best people to keep you company

As we will keep ya posted. Beautiful view and hope you stay safe

[Bo Zarts]

4. DU is my most often accessed site, for news and fellowship .. all day, every day!

Especially in the wilderness.

[calimary]

11. Same here!

It’s THE place to be.

And Happy 4th, Bo Zarts.

[yonder]

5. Happy 4th...in the far north....

....part of my state.

👀
👀
👀
👀

[Bo Zarts]

8. Just above 47-degrees north

What an incredibly beautiful place!

[Diamond_Dog]

7. Beautiful photo!

Glad you enjoy our company here on DU! Thank you for your important work.

[Bo Zarts]

9. I've been here since May 2001 .. and I'm here almost everyday.

I don't post as much as in the early years, but I watch and learn here. Thanks for your kind words, DD!

[CentralMass]

17. Great office, im envious, and thank you for keeping watch.

I'm a bit south of Portland.

[wendyb-NC]

10. Breathtaking

Remote, too. Love the vista.

[cilla4progress]

12. Quiet summer so far there,

as here?

NCW Washington

[MLAA]

13. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

[2naSalit]

14. Stay safe up there.

Happy 4th! If you were over in these parts, like Idaho where you were, you'd be in the clouds half the time! There was even a snow warning up on the Beartooth Pass night before last! Only got up to 65F today and raining often. Like it used to be thirty years ago.

I hope your summer is a pleasant one!

[Dirtdude]

15. What an awesome job!

I understand not revealing. Some crazy whack jobs up there.

I was a lookout on Stephenson Mountain one summer. Loved it but finally got a permanent ‘ologist job.

Enjoy the multiple fireworks from your location and calling in the multiple starts from the 4th activities.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. Huh? Thought you were a photographer? So is this a pic of

someone else's job? Or yours? If yours, great! Was involved with northern US border post 9-11 so get the danger, only now it's our own . Keep up great work BZ!

[Bo Zarts]

18. I'm both. Been working wilderness fire lookouts since 2008.

I don’t know how anyone could work a fire lookout and NOT be a photographer. So much low hanging fruit! But I’ve also been a military pilot (Vietnam), a corporate pilot, and an airline pilot. And an aviation editor and writer. And a wilderness adventure writer.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

19. Think that's absurdly admirable Bo! I'm in awe. The rest

of us have just had mundane lives in comparison.

Relax . There are thousands of miles on the northern border. Much 99% -inaccessible as you probably fully know

[summer_in_TX]

20. Lovely photo!

Hope what looks like wood is actually hardy board or something else resistant to fire.

Be safe up there.

[NJCher]

25. That's funny

(Hardy board)

Related: the RG and I took a city friend hiking with us in the woods. We hiked up the highest mountain in nj. Upon getting out of the car to start the hike, this friend looked around at the forest and exclaimed, “look at all these boards!”

[Rural_Progressive]

38. HardyBoard is actually a cementitious product

so it will not burn.

Kind of a pain to cut and nail, you always have to wear some form of respiratory protection to avoid the silica dust. If you're going to live in a wildfire area it's a great product to use.

[Roy Rolling]

21. So inspiring!

The forest thanks you. I speak for the trees.😎

Also, you think you have enough Chex Mix? 😂😂

[Bo Zarts]

22. Enough for a week or so!

Actually, I make my own trailmix.

[Beartracks]

23. It is good to see that you're back on the lookouts!

Have a safe and uneventful summer -- except, of course, for fantastic vistas and sunsets, which are perfectly fine events to have.

==========

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

24. Hey Bo Zarts.

So good to hear from you. I always love your posts, and thank you for them.

[burrowowl]

26. Happy and safe 4th!

[Hekate]

27. Many thanks for the beautiful photo, Bo. Stay safe, be well, and Happy Fourth back atchya. ❤️

[markie]

28. Ahhh!

Bo, your photos are pure joy... Thank you so much for sharing!!!




edit to add... nowhere near your level, however I do enjoy a hike up one of our many fire towers here in Vermont

[Callalily]

29. I always enjoy your photos!

And spending summer in a lookout tower would be the ideal job for me! hahahahahaha

[GoneOffShore]

30. Love your posts on FB!

And, not to blow my own horn too loudly, if you're on instagram you can follow me at @samgish3 for my B&W stuff, and @mfkaixfootsteps for some of pictures of Aix-en-Provence.

[ChazInAz]

31. Thanks for this post!

It's gratifying to this old Beat's soul to see you still up there, doing the Jack Kerouac thing!

[Goddessartist]

32. Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!

A friend of mine, Mark Brown, used to do the same thing.

Hello from Vashon Island, WA!

[marble falls]

33. Stay safe, be sure to wipe geolocation off your photos, and keep posting. That photo is great!

[niyad]

34. Thank you for this lovely image. May you have a safe and uneventful season.

[thatcrowwoman]

35. Thank you for the important work you do, Bo Zarts.

This is a gorgeous view and an exhilarating perspective.
This month’s photo contest is Shadows. You might enter this picture, just saying.

Be safe and well. And many thanks for caring and for sharing.
🕊thatcrowwoman

[TdeV]

36. Thank you for photo. Take care.

[Rural_Progressive]

37. Well Bo I'm about a degree and a half north of you

but I'm a ground pounder, hand tool crew kinda guy. Since I'm sort of borderline OCD, my primary focus is mop up. The thought that a restart could happen on an incident we're dealing with makes my stomach cramp up and my head hurt. Glad you're up there keeping an eye on things.

Unlike some of the heavy equipment operators, DNR and Forest Service crews, we're a volunteer department and we don't get paid by the fire so I'm hoping you have a very uneventful summer and get to spend the next couple of months enjoying the beautiful view.

[JudyM]

43. Thanks for volunteering to do this, keeping folks, wild creatures and trees safer.

[Rural_Progressive]

45. I do appreciate your thoughts and concerns

but the reality is much of the land on the east side of the Cascades depends on periodic fires to stay healthy. There has been too much suppression for too long and it's thrown things really out of balance. During the cold and wetter months specially trained crews engage in prescribed burns to thin fuel loads and clear out understory vegetation. During the season we work hard to suppress fires near population areas and try to do what we can to "steer" fires away from those sort of areas.

In a very real sense I guess we are trying to keep folks, wild creatures, and trees safer but we don't necessarily do it the way a lot of folks think it is done. The indigenous people of the region had figured a lot of this out centuries before settlers showed up. Their wisdom was ignored and a price has been, and continues to be paid for that decision. A number of the people on those prescribed burn crews are of the people and slowly their knowledge is being reintroduced into management practices.

Appreciate your kind thoughts.

[Bo Zarts]

46. Thanks R_P!

I knew there were a couple of lightning starts up that way. There is nothing quite like being a hand tool kinda guy in Ed Pulaski's back yard .. eh? My hat's off to you, sir!

Bo

[Beacool]

39. Beautiful!!!

[BradBo]

40. We've been lucky so far. Just one small burn so far.

[bluboid]

41. whoa - beautiful

hopefully no out of control fires this season... BC & eastern Canada were scary enuf.

[JudyM]

42. I've thought about you with all the wildfire smoke that's been hitting us.

Especially when I zoom in on this map that shows so many fire locations:
https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/

Stay safe out there!

[Snackshack]

44. Very Cool.

Nice pic!

Cool job!