Smoke On The Water...

Sunday, August 22nd. One of my long days, with 5 cruises. The season is changing... it was all adult couples on the breakfast cruise. It's a different atmosphere from families with small children. Both are interesting, one is a bit quieter. ;-)

There are some forest fires in the area. We've seen the plumes to the south and northeast; nothing particularly close to our area, though. By mid afternoon, the smoke once again rolled into the Tetons. When we headed out with the 3:30 scenic cruise, the mountains were a monotone (it had been crispy clear for the 1:30 cruise)...


Still strikingly beautiful, just not the cobalt blue sky that we see most days. I'm assuming there must be a fire in Idaho... as the wind came up in the afternoon, the valleys filled with smoke first, then the sky above the mountains.


Besides the monotone blue silhouettes, I asked the 3:30 guests if they wanted to see and feel why the smoke was rolling in the way it was. I took the boat up close to Moran Canyon where you could see the wind line on the water. "This is the venturi effect of the wind being compressed as it comes through the canyons here." I shut down the engines so they could hear and feel the wind. Mother Nature is pretty impressive.

By the time the 6:30 cruise rolled around, the mountains were almost completely obscured by smoke. Then the wind really kicked up. And the rain. Before boarding, I polled the passengers to make sure they still wanted to go for this cruise... yep. Coming around the sound side of Elk Island, the wind had kicked up to more than 40 mph, with the top blowing off the waves. I spent more time in the lee of the island to keep the ride more comfortable. The rain seemed to cleanse out some of the smoke, and we were able to see the mountains a bit better. I avoided the middle of the lake where the whitecaps were really pounding; we pointed out things from afar, told a few stories, and surfed the 4 foot waves on the way back in to the marina.

A little bit of everything today.