August 13

Only three weeks after the fire, the view has already changed. Pine needles are now scattered across the black earth like a rust-colored net, and green leaves are sprouting even in the middle of August. Many of the new plants are more than three inches high, and are growing out of the middle of white ash rings left by burned sumac. Overall, the fire looks to have been a relatively healthy one, burning grasses and underbrush but less than half of the ponderosa cover. Many of the trees have burned sections but are still mostly green. The fire came up to the prairie dog town but did not burn through it, most likely because the clipped-short and green foliage in the town made a natural fire break. The miles of 'mouse highways' in the grass have been exposed and make a strange looking network of lighter-colored lines on the ground, and a neighbor reported seeing an elk running in the direction away from the fire on the 23rd. In all, about 700 acres burned, starting from West of the windmill and covering most of the plateau on the state section and most of the canyon further East.