A Kosmos 2017 Project of Promise

By Kate Bunney and Gigi Coyle

We walked up into the Angeles Forest from Antelope Valley. The group was excited because the next day, after spending the night in Green Valley, we would walk alongside Bouquet Canyon Reservoir seeing the first open body of water in two weeks. For much of the journey we had walked in extreme heat and extreme winds – walking next to a pipe – the LA Aqueduct – that takes 30% of LA’s water needs from the Eastern Sierras down to the city.

As we sat at the peak of a long hill that day, eating our lunch, one of the group noticed a forest fire about half a mile behind us–where we had just walked. The speed with which it ignited and then spread was dramatic. We were literally walking in a world on fire.