Smokey The Bear | Capitan | New Mexico

In light of the fires in the Northwest, I thought it was timely that I should find the Smokey Bear Park.  I guess some of us need reminders of what can happen with a campfire.  I have seen people go in their RVs after an evening campfire and leave the fire either in flames or smoldering.  One night, a campfire was left by my neighbor - I had to go out there and dump water on it so that I could feel safe going to sleep.

This is a little pond in the park, with signs that remind us that little creatures who live in or near ponds, streams or lakes need protection too.  This could include frogs, lizards, raccoons, turtles, birds and others, as well as plants in the areas.

Trees are obviously what is on our minds when the fires are raging.  It also destroys animals in the area, as well as destroying their habitat.

Back in the middle of last century, there was a fire raging in the Capitan area.  Some of the firefighters found a little bear cub clinging to a burning tree.  That cub was rescued, treated for his burns and was named "Smokey".  After he recovered from his wounds, he lived in the Washington, DC zoo until he died at the age of 26, which is considered a long lifespan for bears.  Since he had been the mascot for the fire safety campaign, he was brought home to Capitan and buried here in the park.  The photo below shows the gravesite.

This is the carving that is near his grave, you can see it in the photo above, but the light wasn't good enough to get the gravesite and this carving in one shot.

We are all familiar with Smokey's posters, ads and messages, as well as the figure below.  The museum has all sorts of vintage posters of reminders to put out your campfires completely, as well as other fire safety posters.

There were all sorts of plants and trees around the park, reminders that they would all be consumed by a careless fire.

I went back into my photos to find this Smokey hot air balloon that was in the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta about 2 years ago.  He still makes appearances in lots of the balloon gatherings.

On a lighter note, Capitan has a great store that was unfortunately closed when I was there.

I was wishing they had been open, it would have been fun to see what they had inside.