Monitoring a few favorite areas threatened by fire
Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:19 pm
I've been watching carefully. Note a couple of things. First, the fact that a place has burned doesn't necessarily make it a disaster. A lot depends on how hot the fire was when it passed over that particular area. Second, in the long long run it is probably a good thing that some of these areas burn. I can't help, however, but be sentimental about places I have visited in greener times, and I also realize that at my age nothing that burns this year will recover enough for me to ever want to visit. So there is a selfish element, for sure, behind my obsession.
If you want to monitor your own favorite areas, the best way to do so is to use CalTopo and check "Fire Activity" on the right pop-up menu, and you will then see the incident maps superimposed over the topos.
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=44.7580 ... a=modis_mp
1) Trinity Alps. The Red Salmon Complex has not been getting a lot of attention down here. It has burned into the western edge of the wilderness but not penetrated too far yet. It is about 3 miles from Grizzly Lake, for those of you who know that popular destination. I worry because on the western side of the Trinity Alps Wilderness it is heavily forested, so I suspect the fire will keep spreading unless it is actively stopped, and I don't know if they think there is any compelling reason to stop it.
2) Dinkey Lakes WIlderness. The media has devoted lots of attention to the Creek Fire. Today its northern lobe burned about a mile closer to Lake Thomas Edison. The southern lobe is approaching Courtwright--still miles off-- but perhaps more serious is the Bullfrog Fire, a smaller fire actually between the Creek Fire and Courtwright Reservoir that is burning through the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness. Perhaps the Creek Fire will eventually merge with the little Bullfrog Fire, but the Bullfrog is already within a mile of the NW inlet of the Courtwright. It has burned about a mile of the trail to Nelson Lakes, and about a mile of the trail from Courtwright to Cliff Lake. Today it seemed to be moving south toward Eagle Peak.
3) Silver Falls State Park outside of Salem Oregon has had its perimeter burned. It is hard to tell from the maps how great the risk that remains may be--perhaps some of you who live in the Oregon media area have more up to date information. At the moment the park seems to be sandwiched between two arms of the Beachie Creek Fire, although it looks somewhat stable. For those of you who have not visited, it is one of the most spectacular parks for waterfalls over volcanic rock anywhere in the world. One of my favorite places on the face of the earth.
4) Woodhouse Fire in Western Idaho west of Council. I follow this one only because I spent many childhood summers in the campgrounds in this area. So far the fire has not burned those campgrounds. The Wildhorse Valley is an incredibly remote valley draining into Hells Canyon, and there was a single homestead there at the end of a long dirt road. I wonder how they fared.
If you want to monitor your own favorite areas, the best way to do so is to use CalTopo and check "Fire Activity" on the right pop-up menu, and you will then see the incident maps superimposed over the topos.
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=44.7580 ... a=modis_mp
1) Trinity Alps. The Red Salmon Complex has not been getting a lot of attention down here. It has burned into the western edge of the wilderness but not penetrated too far yet. It is about 3 miles from Grizzly Lake, for those of you who know that popular destination. I worry because on the western side of the Trinity Alps Wilderness it is heavily forested, so I suspect the fire will keep spreading unless it is actively stopped, and I don't know if they think there is any compelling reason to stop it.
2) Dinkey Lakes WIlderness. The media has devoted lots of attention to the Creek Fire. Today its northern lobe burned about a mile closer to Lake Thomas Edison. The southern lobe is approaching Courtwright--still miles off-- but perhaps more serious is the Bullfrog Fire, a smaller fire actually between the Creek Fire and Courtwright Reservoir that is burning through the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness. Perhaps the Creek Fire will eventually merge with the little Bullfrog Fire, but the Bullfrog is already within a mile of the NW inlet of the Courtwright. It has burned about a mile of the trail to Nelson Lakes, and about a mile of the trail from Courtwright to Cliff Lake. Today it seemed to be moving south toward Eagle Peak.
3) Silver Falls State Park outside of Salem Oregon has had its perimeter burned. It is hard to tell from the maps how great the risk that remains may be--perhaps some of you who live in the Oregon media area have more up to date information. At the moment the park seems to be sandwiched between two arms of the Beachie Creek Fire, although it looks somewhat stable. For those of you who have not visited, it is one of the most spectacular parks for waterfalls over volcanic rock anywhere in the world. One of my favorite places on the face of the earth.
4) Woodhouse Fire in Western Idaho west of Council. I follow this one only because I spent many childhood summers in the campgrounds in this area. So far the fire has not burned those campgrounds. The Wildhorse Valley is an incredibly remote valley draining into Hells Canyon, and there was a single homestead there at the end of a long dirt road. I wonder how they fared.