There are many things fathers and their children can do together, many ways to bond and spend quality time together. One of those time-honored traditions is camping, or more specifically backpacking through the wilderness. Fathers teaching survival skills and outdoor necessities the kids will pass on to their children.
There is nothing quite like hiking through the forests or mountains, fishing in the rivers and lakes and then winding down by a campfire happily exhausted from the day’s activities. These are the things that bring parents and children closer together and these experiences are so important.
Being aware of your surroundings and knowing how to adapt to them in time of crisis is a very important skill to learn. This is especially true if you are going to be out in the wilderness away from rescue teams, technology, and other people. But you prepare for these things hoping you’ll never have to use them.
When Charlie and his son Justin went on a backpacking trip they had no idea it would come down to a life or death escape.
Justin and 70-year-old Charlie were on a father-son backpacking trip through Wyoming and Montana spending time together. They had set up their camp in Glacier National Park to hike and explore from. What they didn’t know, is this trip would not be your typical camping trip and their drive home would not be a normal ride back.
A lightning storm had occurred in the area they were camping in during the night on August 11th but they thought nothing of it. However, the lightning had started a forest fire which ended up decimating thousands of acres of forest adjacent to Lake McDonald in its wake. It would later be called the Howe Ridge Fire and just one of many that took place this year.
Upon hearing about the fire Charlie and Justin knew they would have to evacuate immediately. One of the reasons wildfires are so intense is because they can be dictated by wind and can spread in seconds. These fires are incredibly hard to extinguish and predict which is why early evacuation is so important.
While trying to drive out of the park and escape the fire Justin and Charlie suddenly found their car surrounded by flames.
They took a video capturing the drive out and it looks like they are literally driving through a wall of fire. In the video, you can hear Justin starting to panic but Charlie remains calm, stating he believed the two could drive out of the fire.
As they drove along the flames grew more intense and visibility can be seen to diminish by the second. You can see embers and debris hitting their windshield as Justin asks “Dad, what if the car blows up?”. Charlie amazingly keeps his cool the whole time and can be heard responding with a simple “Then we’re dead. Just keep driving. Not too too fast, we’ll be okay.”
Soon the video goes completely dark and all that can be heard is Charlie getting out of the car which seems unimaginable during the inferno. Via Facebook, it was later identified by Justin that his dad was actually trying to move a burning tree out of the way of the car. Talk about a super dad!
Realizing they could go no further and trapped by flames, the pair was forced to retreat back to the trail entrance and down to the lake.
Luckily they were quick to act as the fire continued to spread. They abandoned the rental car which eventually was taken over by the flames and fled to the lakeshore. On the lake, they flagged down a park boat with 2 employees on it who stopped to rescue them and just in the nick of time it would seem.
From the safety of the boat, the forest continued to burn and they saw the lakeshore they had been on not more than 15 minutes before completely taken over by fire. They have said they believe a higher power was looking out for them that day and with their narrow escape, it’s hard to argue. That fire burned more than 7,800 acres which Charlie and Justin happily lived through to give a firsthand experience.
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Source: YouTube
