August 15, 2025

Fire Chasing

It had been warm for several days in western Washington, fanning the flames of the Bear Gulch Fire burning in the Lake Cushman area of the Olympic Mountains. I decided early one afternoon to go for a drive and scramble up a peak that was many miles from the fire but possibly had a good view of the pyrocumulus cloud (fire cloud). A low pressure system was moving in that night that would potentially dump some rain on the fire the next day, so it seemed like the last chance to view the significant plume. My goal was to scramble up the peak for the sunset, take some photos, then hike out in the dark.

I could see the cloud from the forest service road, so that was promising. However, when I was less than fifteen minutes from the summit, fast moving clouds engulfed me and blocked out the view in all directions. Viewing the fire was a bust, but watching the clouds dance in the mountains was a consolation prize.