Carlton Complex Firescape

In early September on our day off, we drove along the Columbia River to Lake Chelan for breakfast at the Lakeview Hotel. It was a tasty meal in a hotel built in the early 1900s.  It had been renovated in 2006 just before the crash.  The owner has managed to keep it alive.  Last year, we toured the rooms.  Very posh, especially the honeymoon suite. We wandered around town and then continued along to Pateros where the Carlton Complex Fire had devastated many homes in July..  We looked for the "Welcome to Pateros" sign but it must have burned completely as we didn't find it.  The hillsides are all shades of brown, gray and black.  We could see where the fire burned right up to buildings and then around them.  Those homes out away from town, weren't so lucky to survive.  Interestingly, the orchards were all in tack.  I'm guessing they turned on the irrigation sprinklers to keep the fire away from the trees.

We visited the Alta Lake Golf Course and the State Park.  The golf course greens were very green but several homes were burned flat.  The fire jumped erratically.  In some cases, the fire burned right up to the deck but the house was saved.  I didn't get a picture but we saw a boat trailer with a burned out motor attached.  It appeared that the boat and most of the engine melted in the heat. A few families had moved into their RVs and a house or two were in the beginnings of construction. How they will ever get a home built before winter is a mystery so our prayers include a speedy recovery for those who lost all in the fire.

The hills are shades of gray with ash. In the distance, here. it appears that
the buildings burned leaving the metal.

There was a home here.

It's small to read.  The fire burned  thousands of acres
 just to the left of the brown section on
the map.  400 square miles were burned.

There was a home here, too.

In Twisp, we had coffee before traveling East on Highway 20. This is
on Loup Loup Pass, a favorite  motorcycle ride for us.  Now, the woods
are all black toothpicks.  The ground is gray with ash. In the back
of this picture, as home is actually being rebuilt.

Looks like snow.

After the fire was somewhat contained, we got so much rain that
it washed out parts of Highway 20.  

Looks like a moon scape.

The shorter  pole here, is a telephone pole.  A new one stands beside it.

Highway 20 washout.

Burned hillsides.

We were detoured around the town
of Carlton because the road was completely gone.

The orchards were green and baring fruit but all around was
blackened.

This hillside burned but those 3 cabins survived.

The vineyard's fruit is covered to protect from the birds.  I should have
done that, too.  Those birds got the 5 little bunches I was nurturing
on our arbor.

These fence posts are still standing.  More often, I saw just the wire with
parts of the posts burned up.

Alta Lake State Park

The park had all new picnic tables!  The sites along the shoreline were still
green and there were campers using them.

What's left of a Golf Course home.  You can see the course greens in the
distance.

Driveway to what was a home looking towards the golf course.  The club
house burned, too.