Mark Neuzil

While most campsites escaped the worst of the current fires, some fire grates in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness likely are to become minor casualties.
A few, after years of weathering and use, may be crushed by falling trees. Others could crack under the extreme heat of the forest fire, though the grates’ rugged steel construction makes such failures uncommon. Due to the closure of a foundry and U.S. Forest Service staff cuts, replacements for the damaged grates will not be straightforward.

The authorities released a yellow sky warning for us early in our hike; the yellow – no smoking or open flames in the zone – put us on notice that forest fires were a possibility. The danger spread from Austria and Hungary through parts of Germany and the Czech Republic all the way into Poland. Low snow depths and no rainfall – the corn looked awful to a guy from Iowa – had caught up to us.
But after a night of light showers, the dry weather was not our major concern. Insects were. “In the Czech Republic,” Libor said, “the number one predator is the tick.”

There are four of us hiking in the north Fichtel Mountains in Germany, just across its eastern border with the Czech Republic.
The time is late May, and the spring has been very, very dry here, but the woods are a deep green of conifers – well-managed spruce, fir and pine. Our path is a logging trail, littered with slash, lumpy and awkward to walk on while shouldering full packs. At 25 degrees C (77 degrees F), it’s hot in the sun but cool under the tall trees. My companions are all Czechs.