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Show he with leaf shadows as the rangers packed Jet with panniers full of supplies, then saddled Eli and Sox. Their trip had an extra purpose: In addition to packing in groceries for Jim, the fire lookout, Janey would check the progress of a forest fire burning on the shore of Heart Lake. It vias a "let burn" fire. Since it had started from natural causes, probably because of lightning, no effort had been made to put it out. The rangers watched it closely, though, because it vias burning fairly near to one of the park cabins. The first part of the ride vias pleasant, but as Michael and Janey rode farther along, theysky above them grew hazy viith thin smoke. When they stopped for a lunch break, they noticed an airplane flying in large circles overhead - they forgot about eating as they viatched it circle. Suddenly tvio parachutes appeared beneath the plane, catching the air to open in viide orange hemispheres as they lowered men to the trees some distance away. Janey was surprised, but she assumed that for some reason fire jumpers had been dropped to fight the Heart Lake fire. For the next three miles the trail rose steeply along the side of Mount Sheridan, a hard climb for the horses. When Janey and Michael reached the summit where they had a panoramic view of Heart Lake, they were startled by the intensity of the fire raging below them. "Just as we got there the fire started to really blow," Janey says. "Even though vie were pretty far away from it, the heat was so intense that vie could actually see flames leaping from tree to tree. Heavy black smoke hovered close to the trees; then as it rose it billowed up into a huge vihite cloud, |