My son contemplating his fate on his first canoe camping trip. In all honesty I was half convinced we were going to be airlifted out as we witnessed a number of float planes and choppers overhead. What started as a small bit of smoke upon entering Russell lake quickly swelled into more than what is shown here. We learned later at the ranger station the fire grew from 500 hectacres to 2,900 in 24 hours with us having a front row seat as we were unknowingly on the very edge of the evac zone. Luckily (for us anyway) the wind continued East through the night as our only terrestrial evac route was West but directly into dangerous sustained winds. Would've been certain disaster in the dark of the night.
