[Cdt-l] More Fires in MT on the divide

[Charlie Thorpe]

Hello All -

Stopped by the Rocky Mtn District station (Choteau, MT) in the Lewis & Clark NF this morning.  As of last night, the fire closure from the Elbow Pass fire complex now extends well to the east of the road into Benchmark.  

The folks in the District office said that all hikers north from Rogers Pass will have to divert to the east below the closure area and roadwalk (thru Augusta!) around the closure area.

I didn't have my maps with me and couldn't tell how this dovetailed with the alternate trail info provided earlier by Jerry.

Their STRONG suggestion is to put off the entire stretch of CDT in the Scapegoat (Rogers Pass up past Benchmark) until this fire quits running and the fire closures are reopened.  InciWeb had not been updated with the closure map they handed me when I had earlier checked on the net.

Am looking now at joining the CDT at Gates Park Guard Station by hiking in over the pass to Headquarters Creek.

Lots of smoke all the way down to Great Falls.

- Charlie