A wildfire lookout memoir & smoked paprika sourdough
A book about watching smoke and a smokey, sour bread
Hello, it’s been a while! I recently returned from a 1,300 kilometer, six-week canoe trip on the Columbia River. I began in Canal Flats, British Columbia, and ended in Desert Aire, Washington. It was an awesome adventure, but I’m happy to be back home in Revelstoke with my huskies, seeing the snow start to slowly appear on the mountain summits around town.
I did the first ten days of the canoe trip with my fiance, but during the many solo weeks, I read—a lot. I read when the wind picked up during the day and I had to wait it out on shore, at night snuggled inside my little tent, and under my tarp during the few days it rained. I’ve always had an aversion to e-readers, and resisted buying one for years, preferring the feel and smell of physical books. Before this canoe trip, however, I caved and got one, attracted by the convenience of accessing lots of books from a single lightweight device. I had ordered the book I review in this issue, Lookout, in the spring. It was a hardcover however, and although I really wanted to read it, I couldn’t justify packing it on my trip. So it sat unread until I returned from my canoe trip in September, and I read it in a few days. I loved it, and if you read it, I hope you do too!
Good Book
Lookout: Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire in the Boreal Forest by Trina Moyles (2021)
In a nutshell
Lookout is a memoir from Trina Moyles about her years working as a seasonal fire lookout in remote parts of Alberta. Stationed alone in the Boreal forest except for her dog Holly, Moyles lives in a tiny cabin below a fire tower with a cupola, or small dome, atop it that allows the lookout to scan the horizon. Moyles harnesses up each morning to climb her firetower and spends hours on end watching for smoke in the cupola. When she spots smoke, her job is to call it in over the radio so wildfire crews can tackle it. Moyles finds camaraderie through radio and telephone calls with lookouts at other fire towers, encounters grizzly bears and other northern wildlife, and works through a difficult long distance relationship with her fiance in East Africa. This is a beautiful memoir that explores what it means to be alone, and what we can ultimately take from long experiences in solitude.
Structure
Lookout is told in first-person and largely set at Trina’s fire tower, with periodic jumps back in time to her childhood, travels around the world working for humanitarian organizations, and life living in Uganda.
What I really liked
Bond with Holly the dog
As someone who understands the support and comfort a dog can give you during difficult times, Moyles connection with Holly resonated with me. During one of Moyles’ lowest points as a lookout, following a break-up with her fiance and almost unbearable isolation, she contemplates letting go as she climbs her fire tower. As she looks down the ladder, she sees her Holly curled up below at the cabin, patiently waiting for Moyles to finish her day. “Who would feed her tonight if I let go? I wondered. We needed one another. For love. For survival.”
Returning to the same environment, changed
Moyles takes the reader through multiple summers as a fire lookout. While she isn’t at the same tower each season, I could really see how she was changing and growing by returning to the same isolated and sometimes very stressful environment. Moyles’ perspective and reactions to similar situations evolves each fire season. At the beginning of her first fire season, she’s overwhelmingly insecure in her smoke spotting abilities and emotional strength to endure such loneliness. By late August of the last season she chronicles in the book, she reflects, “maybe I am a lifer.”
Something new I learned
First Nations in northern Alberta historically undertook routine “cultural burning,” which was an intentional method of burning old forests to turn them into grasslands and meadows. This would then eventually create new habitat for mammals like moose, deer, and elk, keep the rodent populations under control, and also encourage the growth of berries.
Book this reminded me of:
Land of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road by Kate Harris (read more here)
Notable passage
“On a hot, windy day, the newborn flame stirs, licks, sucks, crackles on the low-lying brush and skeletal branches. Trees torch like monks in protest. The wind shakes embers from their robes and the fire becomes unstoppable, carving out a hungry, haphazard trajectory. Within seconds the smoke can rise so black, voluminous, and terrifyingly animal, you can’t look away. You can’t see anything else. There is nothing for you to do but witness the smoke gathering, growing, accumulating into massive columns, staining the sky. This is how wildfires are born and witnessed in the boreal forest. This is how nature makes way for regeneration—life rushing, rushing, rising from the ashes.”
Good Bread
Sourdough with smoked paprika
Why this bread for this book?
I knew I wanted to include an addition to a classic loaf of sourdough that contained something smokey, given Moyles’ daily task of spotting wisps of smoke among the forest. Smoked salt? Not flavourful enough, and too much salt could affect the fermentation. Smoked gouda? I wanted something lighter, perhaps something that would lend the loaf some colour. Smoked paprika fit the bill, a spice I’d only ever used when roasting vegetables.
Recipe
When making sourdough, I either follow Tartine’s classic recipe, or if I want to make slightly smaller loaves, I use this Kitchn recipe. Both are great. I made this dough using Anita’s Baker’s Blend, which is a 60/40 blend of white flour and whole grain sprouted wheat, spelt and rye flour. At the third turn of the dough, I added 2.5 tablespoons of smoked paprika.
Eating suggestions
Grilled cheese and pickles
Tuna, red onion and hot sauce
Avocado, sea salt and lemon juice
Looking forward
Book I’m looking forward to reading: The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
New music I’m looking forward to listening to: Will Anybody Ever Love Me? By Sufjan Stevens
What I’m looking forward to baking: Leek and brie galette from Smitten Kitchen, here