The Alabaugh fire....revisited

Al Stover (left-front) tells of the Alabaugh fire.

Extremely hot weather, tempered by a late afternoon thundershower and lingering sprinkles throughout the evening, did little to dampen the enthusiasm of about 65 Moon Walkers in the Black Hills National Forest last weekend (7/16/11).

This month, it was a visit in the Whitney Preserve, located about 10 miles southwest of Hot Springs, in the vicinity of the old Brainerd Indian School.  The property is now under the auspices by the Nature Conservancy, whose nature trail offers one of the finest hikes for birdwatchers in Black Hills.  The preserve is located on the eastern edge of a large, undeveloped landscape, where elements of sage lands, pine forests, and mixed grasslands come together.  It’s the convergence of those habitats that motivated the Nature Conservancy to push for its preservation.  It was named for Nathaniel and Mary Whitney, South Dakota conservation pioneers.

Mary Ellen Goulet

The focus of this Moon Walk was to explore the impact of the Alabaugh fire, which burned just over 10,000 acres across this region in 2007.   For a photo account of this hike, vist Moon Walk Gallery.  

The scene was set by area resident Mary Goulet, who shared a few of her personal experiences regarding the fire.  She and her husband, Bob Lee, had retired to the southern Black Hills from careers in Minnesota when – at about 7 o’clock, on the seventh day, of the seventh month of 2007. – the the Alabaugh blaze engulfed their fire-resistant home not far from Cascade Springs.  The fire ended up destroying 33 homes, claiming one life,  and injuring two firefighters.  Goulet was moved to write a book about the fire and its consequences for about 30 different families.   She entitled the book Cascade of Flames, and in it she wrote about the heroism of the men and women who fought the blaze.  In one chapter, she recognized the performance of the local sheriff in Fall River county.  “The sheriff headed evacuation efforts, and he pretty much knew where all the people lived,” she told the group.  Without that kind knowledge, the human toll of the fire could have been much worse.

After about a 10-minute presentation by Goulet, Bob Paulson of the Nature Conservancy led the group from the parking lot on the property to a nearby road where the hike began.  Along the way, Al Stover of Wind Cave National Park and Cascade Springs resident Mac Lamphere offered additional insight into the event.  Stover was formerly with the South Dakota Division of Forestry and served as incident commander for the Alabaugh blaze.  Lamphere was among the many local folks who fought the massive fire.

July Moon Walkers on the climb!

Billed as a “two mile roundtrip hike,” the huffing and puffing of many July Moon Walkers gave rise to skepticism about the accuracy of the advertised distance of this walk. 

“It’s at least four miles round trip” we heard one hiker observe while catching his breath midway up the side of a hill.

Organizer Amy Ballard of the U.S. Forest Service noted that she relies on the hosts and speakers regarding such matters – but participants were warned that it would be necessary for them to climb “400 feet in one mile uphill over uneven terrain to the top of the ridge.”  And, indeed, we had been warned.  Nonetheless, a mid-hike breather for all would have been good, and it would have allowed the group to stay together better.

Whether the difficulty of this hike was accurate or not, it was probably one of the more challenging hikes in recent years, but it offered some marvelous views and provided walkers with some good information about both the Alabaugh fire and U.S. Forest Service prescribed burns.

The Nature Conservancy, as they often have done, offered cookies, hot chocolate and lemonade to all participants following the walk.

Despite splendid views of a full moon just the night before, this Moon Walk was devoid of any such pleasurable lunar sight, leaving us to hope that we’ll fare better in August.  That’s when Moon Walkers will next gather – on Saturday, August 13^th – for a hike in the southern Black Hills to learn more about the use of pack mules within the U.S. Forest Service.