Tundra Fire

It's been a very hot and dry summer so far but last night a strong thunderstorm rolled through.  At some point around 3 AM the tent lit up like a lightbulb followed by a huge thunder clap, I remember thinking "damn, I hope that doesn't start a tundra fire" before rolling over and going back to sleep.  In the morning the storm had passed leaving behind a gorgeous sunny day, Buzz and I drove down river to meet Reuben's plane and I'd all but forgotten about my thought the night before.  Then on the drive back up river to meet Reuben again I started noticing the smoke and at every bend in the river it became clearer exactly how close to camp it was.  After getting back to camp the only positive thing that could be said was the wind was carrying the smoke away from us, for now anyway.   

We took a short hike across the Tundra to get a better idea of exactly where it was and in the thirty minutes between these two pictures you can see it's already burning much hotter.

Tundra is mostly mosses and lichens and when it's dry its basically just a few hundred thousand acres of kindling, exactly what you'd look for when trying to start a campfire.  I've seen tundra fires in the past but none burning as hot as this one.  Of course I've never seen tundra as dry as this either, while it's usually like walking on a sponge this felt more like walking on popcorn as it crackled beneath our feet with each step.  Without another rain storm nothing that was about to happen would be good.