[pct-l] When was the last fire in the Deep Creek/Holcomb, Creek area

[David Money Harris]

Rob,

The area around Little Pine Flat and Holcomb Creek Trail Camp burned in 
the 1999 Willow fire.  It was infested with poodle dog bush for a number 
of years, but that has gone away now.  It is still littered with downed 
trees and is overgrown in places.

I hiked Deer Mountain in 2008, traversing from Shay Mountain.  The brush 
was not bad following the ridges.  These are desert slopes and the brush 
isn't terrible even when it is fully grown.  Then I hiked back down to 
Muddy Spring and followed traces of the old 2W02 Muddy Spring trail back 
to Hawes Ranch.  It was horrendous because of the burnt downed trees and 
brush on the valley floor.

2W14 from Holcomb Creek to Hawes Ranch and Little Pine Flat is still 
open, though the part near Holcomb Creek may be difficult to find from 
the south.  It makes a funky bend right near the creek and was in danger 
of getting overgrown there when I went through in 2006 or so.

The Sierra Club Hundred Peaks Section climbs these peaks regularly and 
routes along the ridges remain passable.  I'm sure you can find a route, 
though it may take some ingenuity to route around brush.

The area around Butler Peak burned in the 2007 Butler II fire and 
impacted the PCT further east, but that's not relevant to Deer Mountain.

David

Message: 22
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 9:50:35 -0400
From:<gschenk1 at roadrunner.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] When was the last fire in the Deep Creek/Holcomb
	Creek area
To:pct-l at backcountry.net
Message-ID:<20120322135035.0V4DD.401904.root at hrndva-web08-z02>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Hi Rob,

I hiked that section with some friends last April. It was pretty devastated by that fire. We were on the PCT, so I didn't pay attention to the brush. It was thick around Holcomb Creek though. We had to push through it to avoid some logging, and it was slow going. But that was at the creek.

Last October we did some cross country around Pine Flats and had no issues. We did Hawes and Shay, etc. and had no problems, but didn't try for Deer, as I have no desire to EVER go back to that mountain. Not much help, huh?

Good luck.
Gary

---- Rob Langsdorf<mctrob at yahoo.com>  wrote:

> Hi Gang,
>
>      I recall climbing a peak in the Pine Flats area NE of the Holcomb Creek/Deep Creek area and noting that it had been burned over a few years before. Can anyone recall a fire that burned across the trail between 2005 and 2008?
>
>      I am trying to determine how likely it is that the brush has come back on the sides of Holcomb Creek between the Holcomb Creek Trail Camp and the Deep Creek Bridge as I would like to climb Deer Mountain from the Holcomb Creek Trail Camp later this year.
>
>      Thanks for any help you can provide on this,
>
>                Rob