Last August we saw news and videos of a raging wildfire near Rock Creek and the nearby Kettle River Provincial Park. Twelve months later, near the end of our Kootenay trip, we stopped for a couple of wonderful days at the Park and saw first hand the burned Ponderosa Pines. (The lower campsite was open and seemingly untouched).

As we walked though the area above the campsite, it was fascinating—to me at least, how fast the forest floor plants had rebounded in just one growing season. On this walk, we watched a man catch and release a lovely Rainbow Trout. We saw pheasant, quail and many smaller birds. This was strange given the black and somewhat eerie scene.

Strange too as the two blackened pines in the foreground of the photo are along the river’s edge. Yet when we turned ninety degrees toward the river we saw this tranquil scene: