[pct-l] pct-l] update: Chips Fire explodes

Fri Aug 3 13:13:06 CDT 2012

Good morning, ,

I hiked SoCal in ’07, a very dry year.  I was so concerned about fire that
I changed all my menus to food I could eat without cooking or heating.  I
didn’t even carry a stove or pot.  I had matches in my pack, but the only
time I used fire was inside the shop at Hikertown when I borrowed a Bic to
melt the end of a piece of nylon cord.  That was it.

Conversely, I talked to one thru-hiker who bragged that he, and his posse,
had built a campfire every night on the entire trip, border to border.

In 2010, when I was hiking north from Belden, I stopped at a campsite near
a small tributary to Chips Creek.  The campsite had recently been used, and
the fire in the ring had crept out of confinement and into duff on the
ground surrounding the ring.  Fortunately, it didn’t get far enough to
start a larger fire: http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=650508

Then, just a few miles further north near a different little creek, I
encountered another fire ring which had been abandoned with a big layer of
very fresh ashes that showed no sign of having been doused or stirred:
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=650507

In both instances water was both close and abundant.

As long as this level of personal irresponsibility continues to be
displayed fires will continue to be a problem, besmirching every hiker.

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/

On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 10:41 AM, Gerald King <geraldbking at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have a "campfire gone wrong" story from my very first PCT hike in August
> 1970.
> Heading north on the PCT in the Three Sisters we had just passed above
> Obsidian Falls to that gorgeous spot with views of Middle & North Sister to
> find a small nylon tent in flames! We started pulling the tent apart and
> bucket brigading water from the nearby creek. Then we heard angry screams
> from high above us on the slopes. Two angry, and later grateful, climbers
> made their way down to us, taking maybe 30 minutes to reach us.
> We finally were able to piece together the likely history...these climbers
> hadn't built the fire. Rather, they had staked their tent over a large
> buried fir tree root. And a long ago abandoned fire had had been smoldering
> through this root.
> The take-away here is that fires can appear OUT and then smolder quietly
> without notice for days before finally erupting; thus the Chips fire
> culprits could be much further up the trail than you might first expect.
> Jerry
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Aug 3, 2012, at 10:13 AM, "Clifford McDonald" <clifmcdon at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> > I believe that I read in a newspaper account that the fire started at
> 2am.
> > It would seem that whoever might have started the camp fire went to sleep
> > earlier without putting it completely out, awoke later when the fire may
> > have been out of control, and left in a hurry in the middle of the
> night. I
> > wouldn't be surprised if they left in such a hurry, and in the dark that
> > they left behind many clues as to who they may have been.
> >
> >
> >
> > From: Colleen Osland [mailto:colleenko at sbcglobal.net]
> > Sent: Friday, August 03, 2012 12:55 PM
> > To: Clifford McDonald; pct-l at backcountry.net
> > Subject: Re: [pct-l] pct-l] update: Chips Fire explodes
> >
> >
> >
> > What if they are oblivious to even starting this fire and they continue
> to
> > do so?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  _____
> >
> > From: Clifford McDonald <clifmcdon at comcast.net>
> > To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> > Sent: Fri, August 3, 2012 9:45:25 AM
> > Subject: Re: [pct-l] pct-l] update: Chips Fire explodes
> >
> > It would appear to me that fuel canisters are even heavier if you carry
> them
> > but don't use them.
> > How difficult might it be for the Forest Service to track which hikers
> may
> > have been on that section the trail on the day and time the fire started
> > (2am on Sunday) who may have been responsible?
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:
> pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
> > On Behalf Of goslowgofar
> > Sent: Friday, August 03, 2012 12:29 PM
> > To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> > Subject: Re: [pct-l] pct-l] update: Chips Fire explodes
> >
> > When I hiked from Belden to Old Station in early July, I met some folks
> at
> > the Williams cabin site who built a fire in the large fire pit there to
> cook
> > their dinner.  They said they did it whenever they could in order to save
> > stove fuel - since fuel canisters are heavy. They hiked on after eating
> and
> > I made sure the fire was out before I went to sleep.  I wonder if using a
> > wood fire to save fuel is a common practice by thrus?
> > Katy
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------
> > I find it astounding that people build fires while hiking the PCT in any
> but
> > extreme emergency cold/wet conditions.  To me this shows a combination of
> > cluelessness, lack of common sense and selfishness.
> >
> > Leave no trace hiking sets a high standard.  It's easier and easier to
> hike
> > the trail with all the different written and online guides and
> proliferation
> > of people offering support.  That doesn't mean principled hiking gives
> over
> > to a slacker mentality.
> >
> > No one is ignorant out there about the potential destructiveness of
> fires.
> > Why not be rational and act on this knowledge?  I just don't get it...
> >
> > Jeffrey Olson
> > Rapid, City, SD
> >
> >
> > GoSlowGoFar
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