Due to major fire in the area. Evacuations in order too.

Better hope the flames don't reach the trail itself or the damn tree huggers will keep us out of there for ever.



Sucks since we were supposed to run the trail the 2nd week of Oct.

King - Pollock Pines

I heard they already caught the guy that started it. I'm dying to know what his reason was.

If that burns over the trail, it will definitely be closed for at least a couple years. I hope they can save it.

It is such a shame! What an absolutely wonderful trail. Here is to hoping it can be preserved.

I heard that too,this is the guy (****ing meth head) they arrested:

its shitty, and I don't want to derail this thread too far.

but, why would the trail be closed if the fire burns over it? is there something specific to it?

we have many trails in our system....many that have had fires. once the fire is out, the trail reopens.
what would keep this one closed after the fact?

An area that's been badly burned is very sensitive and easily damaged. Until a solid base of vegetation is reestablished, any tracks at all can lead to the establishment of erosion patterns that become difficult and expensive to correct. That's especially true in desert or high mountain areas where the vegetation doesn't have the easiest life to start with.

Here in Utah, there's no question that a badly burned area will be closed to motorized traffic while it recovers. There in Oregon and Washington, it's wet and temperate enough that maybe that doesn't happen nearly as often? In the Rubicons case I would expect it to depend on the fire behavior. If a fire crawls through the area and just burns a little undergrowth the way a fire in a healthy forest does, no harm no foul. But a fire the size of this one with the lack of containment this one has isn't burning in a healthy forest. This one is up and running, feasting on the fuels left by decades of fire suppression, and it's likely burning everything to the ground. If it hits the Rubicon while it's acting like that, the area will be devastated, and I'd expect them to close it on general principles.

it sounds like you are talking about off trail travel?
is that right?
we are limited TO TRAILS only. the trail is already dirt/rocks whatever, fire wont affect the trail itself, only the environment around it.

it does however put a lot of ash down, which can make for a fairly unpleasant, dusty trip.

Not to mention destroying much of the visual enjoyment of the trail, dropping trees across the trail if it progresses as far as Buck's... Giving more fuel to the environ-crazies that already don't like us camping along the trail in the public lands portion... It would be devastating to the trail's beauty and draw for sure even if we did get to drive it. Just hope it doesn't come to that at all!

What I hear from resources, they caught the guy, and has a million dollar bail price tag.

Petty in comparison to the cost of 5 mill per day to put it out, let alone the impact it's going to do to the
Place afterwards.

I don't know much about that trail except pics I've seen are beautiful. It's been two years since the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs and I don't think there's any plans of reopening the road that cuts through it.

I'm sure last summer you all heard about the flooding we had. I believe that's one of the main reasons they won't be opening it anytime soon. Also that people are careless and don't think about how dangerous a burned forest can be. A halfway decent rain can cause major erosion.

I hope the guy that did this rots in jail for destroying such a beautiful place and ruining people's lives. After it happening here so many times, it really really makes me sick how people just don't care.

I'm talking about off-trail travel, yeah. I expect the Rubicon sees quite a bit of that sort of thing, and I would expect the land managers to temporarily close it completely rather than risk seeing off-trail wheelers cause further damage. But that's just me talking, who knows what the land managers will actually do.

I agree that the fire poses no threat to the trail itself, and if everybody could be counted on to stay on the established trail then there wouldn't be a problem. If the Rubicon closes due to the fire, we can chalk it up to the misbehavior of a few bad apples. Oh, and the guy that set the fire, we can blame him too.

So I went on a quick overnight Business Trip yesterday and snapped these crappy cell phones pictures of the fire.

Figured I would share

Attached Images