At one creek crossing, we came across some spread-out gear which belonged to hikers who had fled the scene in chaos. After going through their backpacks trying to find some identification, we decided to leave the things as they were and continued on.

After some 4 hours of night hiking, cracking jokes, singing, sleep walking and sugar loading, we came across a stream which we could not locate on the map. We assessed the fire situation again and decided to camp on the trail. After a 3.5-hour beauty sleep we got awoken by A's yell of: "J! It’s red! The sky is red!" We got up to see a reddish glow to the north. We packed our camp in merely 10 minutes and again hit the trail. (We learned a day or two later from infrared maps of the fire that it had barely reached Soap Creek, still miles away to our north, but it sure looked closer at the time.)

We arrived at our destination, Park Meadows, 30 minutes later. Here we stumbled upon some shovels and helmets on the trail. They were left there on purpose by US Forest Service rangers, who were camping nearby, to let the stranded hikers know that they had arrived to help. JG awoke the lead wilderness ranger C, who somewhat sleepily went into rescue mode. He pulled out his radio and (the very same, generally useless) map and for the next 45 minutes worked with JG on the plan how to get us out of this jumble. We received an update on the car situation: There were 4 cars completely destroyed, 2 severely damaged, but the rest of the cars were okay. The ranger did not have any details on which cars were untouched. We were hoping we were the lucky ones.

We tried to stay quiet, but with all the thrill and excitement of the last 24 hours, we failed miserably and woke another ranger up. We apologized and the response we got was, "It’s totally fine, that’s what we’re here for." We were all amazed by their professionalism, kindness, and willingness to help us. Our transportation out to Sisters was arranged for 9:30am from the Park Meadows trailhead, which was only 5 miles away, so we decided to steal one more hour of sleep before heading out. Before leaving, we had time to make coffee and tea for two very appreciative wilderness rangers.

Sure enough, just as we got to the trailhead, the Deschutes County Search and Rescue (SAR) truck arrived and gave us an update on the fire situation. The fire was spreading fast, and it was possible our current location might even be engulfed in flames by the evening. Since SAR could take only four people at a time, we split the group in two, so S, JR, A and I got to go first. Park rangers made one of their spare trucks available to the rest of the group in case the fire decided to show up earlier than anticipated and told them where to look for a safe area. Again, amazing.

When we arrived in Sisters, there was already a SAR incident command established at the ranger station parking lot. We were immediately approached by the sheriff and asked for all and any information we could give about our cars and fire situation. Within an hour we knew that our cars were not among the 4 that were destroyed. One hour later, we were rejoined with the rest of our team, and three hours later the sheriff department delivered our cars dirty, covered with fire retardant and a smoky odor, but otherwise unharmed, right to the parking lot.

All this time our friends and loved ones were in touch with LD and JG’s wife, who were calling the sheriff department and Deschutes National Forest ranger station trying to find any information about our situation. Some of the team members received several voice messages and text messages from the sheriff department and ranger station advising us where to go to escape the fire. Sure enough, we got to check these messages once we were safe in town with excellent cell phone reception.

Thanks to JG for his outstanding leadership and excellent expertise in wildfires and stream crossing. We wouldn’t have been able to make it without you. As for the term "epic climb"... yeah, we raised the bar.

Lessons Learned (by JG)

1) Take your GPS and small-scale map (showing a large area) on every hike or climb you go on, even in areas you're very familiar with.

2) If you have a lame map that does not have a good UTM grid on it, draw a grid yourself with sharpie pen before your trip.

3) If you see a fire, report it to 911. A compass bearing to the fire and your current location, either a precise map location or preferably a pinpoint location found via GPS, will be very helpful to 911.

4) A functioning cell phone can be your most critical tool in an emergency. Turn your cell phone off or put it in airplane mode (not stand by) at the trailhead, and have everyone else on the team do the same. If you do not get phone reception in one spot, you may get it close by – don’t give up trying.

5) Climbers have an ethic of not calling for rescue unless you really need one. This is generally a good idea. However, in this situation, calling 911 and telling them we were safe, our current location, and intended course of action would have saved our friends and family at home and the local authorities some time and concern. By reading the wilderness permits in the registration box (and on that note, always fill out this permit information completely) and running the license plates of our cars through DMV, SAR knows exactly who is out there (or least, the owner of the car) and they want to help you any way they can. SAR was actively trying to phone and text us and give instructions on where to go (which turned out to be Park Meadow, precisely the destination we picked on our own). So, in summary, if you have the slightest idea that someone at home is concerned about you, always call out if possible and tell authorities your condition, even if it is 100% happy.

6) Given sufficient motivation, it is possible for an entire climb team to get up from a sound sleep, pack and start hiking in under 10 minutes.