Chip Collins was hiking up Taylor Mountain on a late August 2016 day when winds whipped up a remote wildfire on the west shore of Jackson Lake that had been burning for weeks.
Even though he was 35 miles away, Grand Teton National Parkâs longtime fire management officer could sense that something was going on. The skies had been smoky from some Idaho wildfires, but on this day the landscape around him seemed especially smoke-shrouded.
âYouâre fairly sheltered as youâre walking up there, but when we got up on the ridge the winds were howling and you couldnât see anything,â Collins recalled.