1967: Trapper Peak Fire

It was a hot, dry Aug. 11 in 1967 when a violent thunderstorm roared across the Northwest, a storm full of crackling lightning, rolling thunder, and no rain in sight. By Aug. 12, three fires had broken out on Trapper Peak in Boundary County, and plumes of smoke marked the beginning of fires that would consume the tinder dry forest floor vegetation, and spread into the towering trees. Once the three fires merged, in rough, granitic terrain, six or seven hours hike from the nearest road, what has come to be known as the Trapper Peak Fire took off with fury.