Back in Utah!

Hey everyone,

I am back in Utah and have definitely gotten behind on the blogging, mainly because of fires and what not, but here are some updates...from fire since that is about all I have been doing the last few months. These first few are from Cali, up by Redding, it was quite the adventure... These first few were taken at night across the lake, from where our tents were staked out.
These next few are also from Cali, in the day time, it wasn't a bad deal to get paid to go see these amazing waterfalls along the fireline.

Fishy Faces

Then here are a few of the fun PT hike, wahoo!

Yes, that is definitely sweat, but feeling pretty good at this point, only another mile of uphill to go :)

Sheena and I, yeah girls kicked this hike!

These next pics are from fighting fire in Yellowstone, our one big fire that we had.

Driving through the fire, definitely a new experience

Fire burning at nightThe bison decided that the helibase was their spot...during their rut season, which was fun for us to try and avoid the horny, irritable bison, who kept doing their mating call, which was an attratctive sound, something like a burp mixed with a throw up sound. I don't know how us women could detain ourselves, sheesh

A smoky morning mixed with fogSome more fog and steam coming off Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone in the morning not a bad deal, even fire seems to create some cool stuff like this

Hello Everyone

Some Short Haul Pics

And Some Fire Pics From Florida

I guess it was about time that I started a blog since all of my cool fam is doing it and it is always fun to see what everyone is doing and how they are all growing and changing. It has been an interesting summer so far. I went down to Florida in the Everglades to fight fire for a few weeks and saw some pretty interesting creatures: lots of gators, 12' python, turtles, frogs, lizards, many many different birds, crazy spiders and lots of other cool stuff that can be rather poisonous, including my first bout with poisonwood, which made my arm not too happy for a few days. I have been lucky to go on some amazing hikes here in Yellowstone, including our advanced PT test hike, which starts at the North Entrance and goes up to Mammoth and then continues up to Bunsen Peak, an overall very uphill, 13 mile hike that has to be done under four hours. I enjoyed the trek and was able to do it in 3 1/2 hours. We have also been doing some short haul training, where we dangle from a rope about 100' below our helicopter and get taken out to certain points on the mountain and have to unhook, rehook and fly around (quite the way to see the park) and get prepared to do rescues in tight nooks in the park.