Over the weekend, a friend and I set out on a two-day road trip to visit some of Northern Arizona’s natural wonders. We needed some time away from the city, so we headed out to see one of the slot canyons near the Utah border. We knew we would be in for stunning landscapes and awe-inspiring sights…. What we didn’t know was what we would encounter on our way home.
As we drove north on Saturday, we passed a forest fire just outside Flagstaff. Though it was the closest either of us had actually been to a wildfire, this is not an uncommon sight in Arizona, so I snapped some photos and we continued on our way.
As we drove home the next day, we came to see that over the course of 24 hours, a second fire had started and grown into a blazing monstrosity. And yes, it was directly in our path. As the highway took us straight toward the fire, we witnessed the power of nature in a way we were definitely not expecting…
This is the only major highway heading where we needed to go, so we drove as far as we could. The highway was closed, of course, though.
So… now what to do?
After conferencing with some fellow stranded drivers to find another way home, we ended up taking a very unpaved road about 20 miles or so to a different highway and arrived home only a couple hours later than we planned.
While I sit at home, though, the fire continues to rage. It has now been named the Schultz fire and, as of today, has burned roughly 10,000 acres of forest. You can find more information about the situation at BBC or CNN here and here.
Besides the fire, the rest of the weekend was stunning as I expected. Those photos to come in the next post.
by nicoleg
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