The Mustang Fire complex in North Fork

Donna and I went to visit with Jessie and Dan at their Mother Chukar' Cafe. It was very iffy whether the river road would be open or not because of the Mustang fire is now up to 80,000 acres. We made it to the cafe where for the price of a can of Moose Drool beer, Jessie will sit there and give you priceless information and stories of the area.

       I highly recommend Jessie's chips and salsa....all home made.

This was the first time we had seen the fire come down to the river level. Jessie explained that so far it was considered a good fire because it was burning slow and low...but all bets are off if the wind ever picks up.

Once when we stopped, this chukar looked bewildered at what was happening across the river.

His normal nesting area might have been right here.

We got lucky when we saw two different choppers picking up water out of the river.

It seems like this might be a dangerous job even without any wind in the canyon.

This helicopter was dropping water on an old cabin in the middle of the tree's.

If you look closely you can see the sprinkler system the firefighters have laid on the grounds to water down the buildings. There were 10 or more historic structures along the river road, some literally falling down, that either the forestry service or Idaho wanted protected. 

A different helicopter is picking up water right in front of us.

There is a reason why this particular helicopter has such a long bucket line compared to the red chopper.

Rich, from Colorado, was explaining to Donna and I why the much larger (didn't look that much larger to me though) helicopter needed a long line... because the longer blades prevented it from dropping down into the narrow river canyon. Rich also said that since retiring this last June his wife has seen less of him than when he was employed with the forestry service...he volunteer's now.

The firefighters here have gone to the other side of the river with gasoline, pumps and hoses in an effort to save one of the cabins the chopper was dumping water on earlier.

This magpie was guarding a day old road kill. If it wasn't for the unfortunate mountain sheep we might not have gotten close enough to photograph him, they are skittish.