REPAIRING THE DAMAGE TO CAMP

Our eyes were stinging and the tears were flowing down our cheeks, but at least we could see. As we neered our camp, Bob pointed out that our tent was draped over a bush to the right!  The wind was fickle in that it took spells of blowing down the canyon and then ceased.  We waided through waist high brush to retreive it.  We stretched it out and re-set it. Pots and pans were every where.  We finally go it all put together. I put piles of rocks over the tent pegs to help.  I went to the car and got a bottle of Visene out of the glove compartment and we doctored our eyes.  Much better.  Bob looked up at our tree and it was still waving at us and dust was streaming off of the ridge. We were hungry, but I did not want to build a fire, so we ate cold Brown Beans and Potato chips. Both of us were tired from our hike and so we laid down on our sleeping bags and fell asleep.  We were awakened from the sound of a helicopter flying over head.  Our tent and the car were under some thick trees, so I hoped they could not see us.  I stepped out of the tent and....Oh My God, there was a forets fire in the distance..hard to tell how far.  Santa Anas most always started a fire, usually from blown down power lines.  They did not have aerial tankers back then, I didn't think,  hoped I was wrong. With the dry conditions and the wind, I thought it quite important to calculate whether the fire was coming our way.  The winds were from the North-North East and the fire was South West, so, for the time, it seemed safe.  I shared all of this with Bob as he was afraid.  I turned on the car radio searching for news, but could not find it.  We had slept so long that it was near Sun down.  I mentioned to Bob that the smoke was blowing away from us and we could see the stars again tonight.  I did not relish the thought of cold food again tonight. The air support would see our fire light any way.  What a disappointment.  I could hear a soft roar coming towards us.  The wind through the pines,  I loved that sound.  The roar usually got louder and then died as the near pines just waved a little and it was a spoof of Mother Nature.  I just could not stand the thought of no fire      I beat my brains out trying to figure out how to build an invisible and safe fire.  I hit upon the idea of getting a bunch of long branches and building a wigwam    Bob has disappeared and had been gone for quite awhile and I became very angry at him for running off.  When he finally came back, I gave him a bawling out.  He just stood there, and when I was through, he said "I found a cave where we can build a fire"     He took me to it and Bob's cave turned out to be a crack in the side of a stone bluff.  I patted him on the head and we walked back to camp      (to be continued