It was just past noon on Sept. 7 when Dolores Niebergall and her team of backpackers came to an opening in the trees and saw a large column of smoke, billowing high above the forest and directly in their path.
“That was the moment we knew, ‘OK, this is real,’” said Niebergall, 63, of Beaverton, as the group prepared to evacuate the Three Sisters Wilderness among what ended up being multiple lightning-ignited wildfires.
Their story, of camping through a lightning storm and using satellite technically to escape multiple infernos, is an increasingly relevant tale as wildfires grow faster and more often in Oregon’s popular backcountry.
A plan for backpacking, repose and stewardship
The plan was for a backpacking trip that was part relaxation and part stewardship.
Niebergall and two friends, Sanjana Sachdeva and Emily Swensen, both in their 50s, of Portland, planned to backpack five days while cleaning trash and human waste.
They’re volunteers for Willamette National Forest through the Cascade Volunteers and had “adopted” Reese, Eileen and Husband lakes, a trio of alpine pools near McKenzie Pass on the west side of the Sisters Wilderness. Those who put in enough hours can earn a free pass to enter the wilderness without a permit the next year.