Trapped by 2,600-acre fire, hikers ran past flames to safety
DARRINGTON — Sandra Ruffner and her hiking partner noticed a tuft of smoke wafting from the steep hillside above the Downey Creek Trail on Sept. 12, on their way back from a 30-mile backpacking trip.
Curious, they approached to find a 6-inch flame smoldering in the moss.
“It was not a big deal,” Ruffner said. “It wasn’t scary.”
So she pulled out her camera and took some photos.
A few minutes later they came across another smoking patch. Then they hiked past flames lapping at the trunk of a dead tree. As they kept going, smoldering moss and scattered flames gave way to downed trees with roots eaten by fire.
“That’s when I kind of stopped taking photographs, because now, we really gotta get out of here,” Ruffner said.
One trunk had been entirely hollowed out, but its green leaves were untouched.
With little to no cell service in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Forest Service rangers had no way of warning at least 20 hikers on the trails about the wildfire headed their way.
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