PCT Fires, A Graphic Look

[postholer.com]

The PCT google map fire perimeter overlays have been updated to give you a stark view of what has burned. Go to the PCT Map and from the 'Map Skins' list box, scroll down to the fire section and select the 2001-2014 or the 2009-2014 fire overlay.

From 2001 - 2014, the southern most 500 miles of the PCT has seen 49% of the trail burned. That's 246 miles folks. From 2009 - 2014, 20% of that first 500 miles has burned.

Hey, PCT hiker, this is where you come in. As California undergoes the first mandatory water restrictions is history, you should be thinking about fire safety. Leave that alcohol stove at home. No, you don't need that camp fire.

There's also a set of overlays for the CDT, too.

Be very careful out there!
-postholer

[burger]

I'll bet that by 2020 between Camp and KM there will be no more than scattered remnants of unburned forest left. I thru-hiked in 2009, and there are already large areas that were nice forest on my thru that are burned up now.

I feel bad for future thru-hikers. It's going to be like something out of a post-apocolyptic movie.

[DLP]

Hey, PCT hiker, this is where you come in. As California undergoes the first mandatory water restrictions is history, you should be thinking about fire safety. Leave that alcohol stove at home. No, you don't need that camp fire.

+1 to this. And don't burn your toilet paper. Shocking, but some people still do it. There is no such thing as low fire danger in CA. In wet years, weeds and plants grow a tremendous amount and there is more fuel to burn. And in dry years, the fire danger is obvious - or it should be.

PS... Pack out your TP. It isn't going to decompose. It will just end up blowing around in the dry, hot wind.

[DLP]

95% of So Cal fires are caused by humans. Most of the No Cal fires are also caused by humans, but not 95%.

[Mags]

Thanks for posting this information.

The American West has changed dramatically in 5 years due to drought, fires and even flooding.

While there are bigger impacts as a whole other than "just" backpacking, the effects are certainly immediate for our community.

With sub-one ounce canister stoves that have received good reviews, and costs less than $25, I suspect alcohol stoves will be seen less and less. The fire bans have already sped up this trend.

[Coffee]

Hopefully the fire bans will come soon this year. If I see anyone with an alcohol stove or burning TP, I'll have to bite my tongue to avoid getting into a confrontation. Water is going to be hard enough to handle without closures for fires.

[enyapjr]

95% of So Cal fires are caused by humans. Most of the No Cal fires are also caused by humans, but not 95%.

I do not know what you define as northern CA, DLP, nor if you are counting all fires, including those down in the Sacramento Valley & foothills - but I grew up in the far NorCal mountains (where the PCT is), in which "most" wildfires, especially the large major incident or 'complex' fires, are caused by ligtning, not humans...

[DLP]

Most of the fires here were started by humans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_California_wildfires
Granted a few were started by people driving cars and not by hikers.

I live in CA and I'm in Tahoe most of the summer. From news reports, I'd guess that half of the big Northern CA fires are caused by humans and half by lightening.

The 2013 Rim Fire was caused by a guy that started an illegal fire to heat some soup. He was a hunter, but on the news... he looked like any 30-something hiker. He was helicoptered out of there. I almost feel sorry for him. Only thing that separates him from many hikers is a hunting bow and he started one of the most memorable fires in CA history.

Nobody wants to be "that guy" who goes to heat some water and a gust of wind blows over an alcohol stove or an ember from an illegal fire.

[DLP]

I do not know what you define as northern CA, DLP, nor if you are counting all fires, including those down in the Sacramento Valley & foothills

Believe me, foothill fires can and DO affect PCT hikers. Smoke on PCT from 2013 American Fire near Auburn was horrific.

Granted this was posted in the PCT forum, but people reading this can and do hike in the foothills or other trails besides the PCT. A fire does not have to be right on the PCT to affect PCT hikers. I was driven off the PCT by the smoke from the Rim Fire, and it was 200 miles south west of me.

[Traveler]

Hopefully the fire bans will come soon this year. If I see anyone with an alcohol stove or burning TP, I'll have to bite my tongue to avoid getting into a confrontation. Water is going to be hard enough to handle without closures for fires.

I have reached that point when I see people doing stupid stuff like this, I equate it to vandalism and criminal acts and am compelled to say something. Sometimes people honestly don't think about what they are doing. Ignorance can be cured, its stupid thats forever. We really need to self police or we will lose this wonderful stuff to know nothings and people who compete with rocks for intelligence.

[burger]

I have reached that point when I see people doing stupid stuff like this, I equate it to vandalism and criminal acts and am compelled to say something. Sometimes people honestly don't think about what they are doing. Ignorance can be cured, its stupid thats forever. We really need to self police or we will lose this wonderful stuff to know nothings and people who compete with rocks for intelligence.

On the PCT, there have fires started by hikers almost every year recently in SoCal. In 2008, there was a good-sized one that closed the trail in the San Jacintos. In 2009, hikers I knew came upon a burning log where a hiker had stupidly left their burning cigarette butt (btw, smoking should go along with alcohol stoves and burning TP as something you just don't do on trails in dry country)--they were able to put it out, thankfully. There are plenty of other examples.

[5th]

That's a great map, but it is at least a little inaccurate. It doesn't show the Two Bulls fire or the Deception Creek fire, each of which burned over 6,000 acres and are were closer to the trail than a good number of the fires that are on the map. I'm not saying the map is wrong, but it clearly is missing at least two burn areas. Just a heads-up.

[Hot Flash]

Thanks for posting this information.

The American West has changed dramatically in 5 years due to drought, fires and even flooding.

While there are bigger impacts as a whole other than "just" backpacking, the effects are certainly immediate for our community.

With sub-one ounce canister stoves that have received good reviews, and costs less than $25, I suspect alcohol stoves will be seen less and less. The fire bans have already sped up this trend.

Links to subscription-only content. >:-(

[Mags]

Links to subscription-only content. >:-(

You may want to subscribe for the articles. I believe it is free.

If not, I believe there are other reviews out there including youtube videos
https://www.google.com/search?q=brs-...s-3000t+review

[postholer.com]

That's a great map, but it is at least a little inaccurate. It doesn't show the Two Bulls fire or the Deception Creek fire, each of which burned over 6,000 acres and are were closer to the trail than a good number of the fires that are on the map. I'm not saying the map is wrong, but it clearly is missing at least two burn areas. Just a heads-up.

The fire perimeters shown are only those that the PCT passes through. Where you see a fire perimeter that the trail does not pass through, it is part of a 'complex' fire and the PCT passes through another perimeter part of that complex. The PCT does not enter the perimeter of the fires you mentioned.

-postholer

[postholer.com]

Here's another interesting tidbit.

Since 2001, in regards to California broken into three 570 trail mile segments:
The southern segment has seen 264 trail miles burned
The central segment has seen 22 trail miles burned
The northern segment has seen 75 trail miles burned.

Clearly the burden is on the south, probably due to a combination of climate and population. Either way, the SoCal PCT gets pummeled.

-postholer