[pct-l] Chimney Fire

Fri Jun 3 10:49:16 CDT 2016

We don't yet know what (or who) caused it.  But we do need to get illegal 
& unsafe stoves off the trail!!!  Everybody hates rules.  But we only have 
them because we refuse to do the right thing.  We hikers should politely 
but firmly deal with these situations on the trail when we see them. 
Regardless of how careful someone is with an alcohol stove, they are 
illegal on some parts of the trail.  And for good reason.  I watched a 
fellow hiker last year struggle to put out his alcohol stove when finished 
cooking lunch.  He was not able to shut it down & eventually it just 
burned itself out.  Worse still, he was burning carburator cleaner since 
he was unable to purchase alcohol.  This incident occured in a tiny 
clearing surrounded by heavy manzanita.  I hate to think what a hot fire 
that could have been! 
This trail & the wonderful wilderness it passes through deserve a little 
more TLC from all of us.

Tom Brokaw
Corporate Project Manager
Monterey Mushrooms
777 Maher Ct
Royal Oaks, CA 95076-9014
C: 831-535-2181
O: 831-274-5520

From:   Gary Schenk <gary_schenk at verizon.net>
To:     <pct-l at backcountry.net>, 
Date:   06/03/2016 07:06 AM
Subject:        Re: [pct-l] Chimney Fire
Sent by:        Pct-L <pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net>

http://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Chimney-Fire-PCT-6.2.16.jpg

Yes, lots of illegal fire rings on the PCT nowadays. I see fire rings in 
places were only people hiking on the PCT would camp. Still, we shouldn't 
jump to the conclusion that drunken AT knuckleheads coming out to the PCT 
expecting to have a campfire every night start these blazes.

Not everyone using an alcohol stove is careless. A couple of years ago at 
Snow Lake in Oregon I watched Peanutbutter Platypus carefully clear an 
area and then make a small trench around her alcohol stove before making 
her dinner. That's the way to do it.

Over Memorial Day we hiked from Kennedy Meadows and out over Olancha Pass. 
It's amazing that 40 years later trees have yet to make a comeback from 
the Clover fire. Same with the Manter fire, those trees are not coming 
back until we get another ice age.

Kennedy Meadows Store deck is full of hikers. Two weekends ago on the 
trail up to Baden-Powell you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a 
thruhiker. It's overwhelming. Let's hope they are all careful with fire.

This puts a big blank spot on the trail. With the trail, Nine Mile Road 
and Canebreak Road closed along with Sherman Pass still closed, that's 
going to be one tough spot to get around on foot.

Gary

-----Original Message-----
From: marmot marmot <marmotwestvanc at hotmail.com>
To: Gary Schenk <gary_schenk at verizon.net>
Cc: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Fri, Jun 3, 2016 6:26 am
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Chimney Fire

You bet it sucks!!!
And there's some hiker that I heard about out there who is carrying 3 
stoves(to test them). Two of which do not have shut off valves(alcohol and 
esbit,I heard). I didn't meet him so let it go. No longer. When are people 
going to figure it out?  Is this another fire caused by camper/hiker 
stupidity? Last year I was part of two frustrating struggles to attempt to 
get hikers to put out campfires ----at Little Jimmy and in the Sierra. We 
had to send in the Ranger to Little Jimmy. Couldn't get any official help 
at the other. As you walk through all the burns think about it. I believe 
there were 5 just in section F. Very sad. I made a comment about it and 
one hiker said that he hadn't even realized it was a burn. Because first I 
did the trail over 20 years ago I remember walking though the more shady 
Piutes. 
Marmot

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 3, 2016, at 5:29 AM, Gary Schenk <gary_schenk at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> The Chimney fire has closed the PCT from Walker Pass to Kennedy Meadows. 
Canebreak Road and Nine Mile Canyon Road are closed. Origin fire is the 
Chimney Peak Campground. 1000 acres and 10% contained.
> 
> This sucks.
> 
> Gary
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