Oops, last update looked a bit grim didn't it :-)

All is well right now, I was able to actually go sit on the hillside and enjoy the area again on Saturday. The cabin and surrounding areas are fine, and for the most part the fire is contained. It's only active now on the north west edge, and will probably continue to burn there for a while. It's only burning unoccupied and rough terrain, and firefighters will probably just set up a massive fireblock on the other side to stop it. Access to the area is limited, (barley any roads whatsoever plus steep mountain terrain), so fighting it any other way would be dangerous. The good news is that almost noone is on mandatory evacuation anymore, and life is slowly returning to normal for the residents of the areas affected. Signs of it will probably be around for a while though. On my ride up, it was clear the area was close to the fire, as the highway has huge ditches dug by bulldosers on each side near the cabin exit.

The forest remains closed, and probably will for quite some time. But for the most part, it's wrapping up. Smoke still lines our skies, and is bad enough at times to block the sun. I'll have to post a geocache picture of the ash in the air once I get it off my camera.

Now hopefully the resources freed up here can be used on fires like the Missionary Ridge or Rodeo fires.