wildfire in Henry Coe State Park

I guess it's old news now. But on Labor Day I went to Palo Alto to paint in the marsh there. I had seen the view about a year ago -- a lovely marsh with a huge flock of rare avocets and their babies. I couldn't rememeber what time of year it was and couldn't remember which marsh it was.
But I found it. Strangely it was all dry -- really dry -- huge cracks throughout all what was water before. And no birds in site. I packed everything on my back and started walking. At one point I came to water which I had to cross.
Normally I don't cross anything like that. I am terrified of getting stuck in the mud. What if the water came up and I couldn't get back? This time I took a chance. I crossed and kept walking and walking. Finally I found some water and a flock of birds. The smell in the air from the landfill nearby was almost too much but I set down to paint.
After about 1/2 hour I saw a puff of smoke on the hills above San Jose or south of there near Mt. Hamilton. First I checked to see that it wasn't on my side of the bay. Then I painted it. It kept getting bigger and bigger. It was a very windy day even where I was.
I guessed it was from Henry Coe Park by the size and speed of the blaze. I went camping there once and on a hike Michael and I almost died from thirst and sunstroke. We brought 2 bottles of water but it was so hot and so steep that we ran out hours too early. When we finally got back and found some muddy water we drank too much and Michael got horribly sick. I have a cast iron stomach pretty much.
Anyhow it was horrifying and also exciting to paint this fire and to wonder about all the big and little animals who were trying to get away from it. And it was really interesting to study the pattern of the smoke as it blew.
In the end it burned something like 47,000 acres. I ended up with a not very good painting but an indelible memory.