This small town has a population of about 140 people according to a website I found, but it doesn't look like that many in the midst of it. We stopped to have a bite to eat at Beartooth Cafe, and as we sat waiting on our food the power went out, one of the staff members told someone else to go get Ronnie, and Ronnie came back to turn on the generator, and run an extension cord for the radio. The power was out for about 15minutes, our food arrived in the dim lit restaurant, only lit by the sun seeping through the windows. Our food must have gotten done just in time! I had the grilled chicken sandwich and Chris had the famous FUNK burger, they were both delicious!! Later we found out that the power goes out often, due to the wind. The power came back on and a set of new guests came in to sit beside us in the corner I told one of them not to trip over the exstention cord, he said, "That would be awesome," as he looked up at the stack of plates the cord ran by in the serving window. Leaving the restaurant, we saw a big black tour bus up the street and realized we were sitting next to Korn, Chris recognized them. We walked down to the Beartooth Plateau Outfitters and there stood Finny leaned up against a wooden fence post using one leg as a prop, cowboy hat slightly tilted downward, hav'in a smoke. He leaned upright when we approached and shuffled towards the door to open it for us. Entering the store it became apparent that this store remained silent for most of every day. Now a local, Finny moved to Cooke City from Minnesota. Finny is a guide, he takes visitors on pack trips and fishing trips, and he has high hopes of owning part of the Plateau Outfitters some day. We spent the next hour or so chatting with him, and our conversation carried outside to the front of the store. He told us about the forest fires and how everyone from the town comes together, the old, the young, everyone who is able runs to put it out. He says, "In a town like this, the whole thing could go up so fast, so everyone has to work together to protect it". A few minutes later here comes about a 30year old fire truck with three teenagers lined across the seat heading up the mountain. Another young man drives up in his 'Asphalt' truck and tells Finny that there is a fire to the east and they need everybody they can get. The guy jumps back in his truck and continues down the road, jumping out of his truck and running into businesses. Young people, waiters and waitresses, ran out of the salon jumping in their cars heading east. Finny looked at us and said, "Well, you wanna go put out a fire". He kind of laughed but we think he may have been serious. Of course we declined...well for one, we have not the slightest on how to tackle a forest fire...I mean without stating the obvious. There is one road that runs through Cooke City, and the fire to the east was the way we were heading. Finny asked the 'Asphalt' guy if the road was closed yet...he said, "No, but you'd better hurry". So Chris and I made our way that direction but we stopped once we saw the smoke. I can't say exactly what moved me but I found my heart aching, and a sense of urgency...but I was helpless. I thought...if only I was somewhat trained, or if I had a fire suite, and did they need this, or that...I never thought I would experience the realness of a forest fire, or be right at the foot of trees burning, it created a stir, a reality to life in a National Forest, not only life of everything that is mother nature but the people who live in these small towns, how they live uniformly with the forest. Tourist started showing up trying to get through and we told some of them that the road was closed, some sighed in inconveince saying, "We have driven all day for this," and another lady asked me what was going on...had there been an accident? I wanted to say so many things to this lady that still make my blood temperature rise thinking about it, so obviously it is inappropriate to say here, but instead, I point with my pointer finger to the smoke billowing up right in front of her and said, "It's a forest fire". Chris and I suggested to some travelers not to get out of their cars and go down there, there was already to many people. Us saying this because there were tourist down in the midst trying to take pictures, while the towns people were fighting a fire. One day in this town and we felt like we were becoming a local...such a warm place, that you can't help but respond to it. We got in the truck and turned back towards Cooke City, we sat on our tailgate, and watched people come back through town, we were unsure what we were going to do because we were on our way to a Wal-mart in Cody, WY, and Yellowstone was west and we weren' t ready for that yet. Finny came back and caught us up, and told us immediately that we could stay the night on store property, grateful we backed in the truck. The next morning the fire was still burning but they were letting travelers through following a pilot. We went in the store to say thank you and farewell to Finny.
On Our Behalf: We did take pictures of the forest fire while driving up to it, the evening of and through it the following day. We were respectful and kept a safe distance.
Photo by: Chris Taylor
Cooke City @ Night
Awesome.
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