Building a fire at the Timberline Lodge

It's a little different than when I was here for my birthday in April. Then they had newspapers and there was a hatchet to slim down logs to put into the fire for starting. However, this time they had two little things that were white and looked a little like chalk but because they were sitting on the logs to burn I realized they must have something to do with lighting it.

When I rubbed them on little pieces of wood it had a sterno kind of effect. So, only with the types of wood that you chip from a log with a hatchet for building a fire was necessary to get the fire going pretty good. I sort of wondered about little children getting that powder on their fingers and putting their fingers in the fire as they caught fire and wondered if that had ever happened here or elsewhere?

However, mostly adults should be building fires in hotel rooms unless it is kids 10 or over used to building fires in fireplaces anyway. So, this is likely why they switched to these 1 inch by 1 inch little chalk like sterno cubes that you can break off little tiny pieces of or rub along a piece of wood to get it going. I wasn't careful on one rub and caught a sliver from a log so be very careful how you place your fingers if doing this so a piece doesn't just break off and expose your fingers to a sliver.

But, even after midnight the fire was still burning with a little help from both me and my daughter. They also have these incredible 5 foot long pokers for the fire to (one to a room with a ram's head on top so you can hang it near the fireplace through the rams horns.

I watched a history video they had playing on one of the stations and they said this place cost 1 million dollars in the 1930s to build here.

My first time here was about 4 or 5 years ago now (I blogged about it then) and it snowed about 5 feet of snow while I was here then in February or March of that year. So, we had five feet of new snow on top of this building and up the sides in drifts where you couldn't see out some of the 1st or 2nd story windows on the mountain side.

Note: to have a fire in your room you have to ask for a "fireplace room" because they are more expensive but the rooms are much larger and then they give you wood to light a fire with. (just like the old days).