It was bound to happen sooner or later. There is now a fire burning in the immediate area of Bozeman. To this point we had been pretty lucky, with the only fire close being the Bear Trap fire which ended about six weeks ago.
The Millie Fire was last reported (about 12 hours ago) as being over 500 acres in size. It is located about three miles east of Rat Lake up the Storm Castle drainage south of town. The fire is believed to have been lightning caused and is growing rapidly.
Fire Girl Jess and I both had the day off and decided to get out of town and go shooting. We haven’t had much chance to hang out since she got back to Bozeman, and brothers and sisters should make time for that. What was going to be a quick run up the Gallatin Canyon turned into a “Hey, let’s run to West Yellowstone” kind of day. Just a side note, when we popped the hill dropping down to the Madison on the way to West, a large fire cloud was visible in the park.
On the way back, our favorite range was closed so we headed for an alternate Forest Service road. That’s when we saw the smoke cloud. Jess and I being Jess and I, we decided to see where it was. Ironically, it was right up the road from where we were planning to go.
I don’t know how long after we got there that they closed the road near the gate, but we got in just fine. We were able to drive basically to the base of the next ridge over from the fire, which was sadly blocked off. Finding some open space, we pulled off and shot for about an hour and watched the fire grow, and the tanker aircraft work it.
Two points: One, if you enjoy shooting or firearms, a Mosin Nagant is definitely worth the low price you’ll pay for it, just for the sheer fun of shooting it. Two, seeing the jet fire bomber really threw me off. Growing up in the Flathead Valley near the airport, we would see the old propeller bombers every single summer.
How often do you get a chance to sit there and watch a forest fire grow from a couple ridges away? I really doubt that we were supposed to be where we were, but no one told us to leave so it was all good. Not every adventure in the outdoors comes with fly rod in hand.
