Saddened by the fires - Class of 2017 will hike through a battlefield

[Engine]

I have many friends in North Carolina and Georgia fighting the fires. I pray for the safety of my fellow firefighters and thank them for their efforts!

From their reports, and based on what other information I have been able to glean, some big stretches of the trail are getting hit hard by fire. Some landmarks have been damaged or destroyed and the trail experience in the south will be forever changed.

I had the good fortune to hike Yellowstone a few years after the fires of '88, and I witnessed how quickly nature rebuilds. But, for those of us hiking northbound next spring, it's going to be a sobering experience hiking through large areas of freshly burnt forest.

[Jeff]

Hopefully the sight of large burn areas will make every hiker more vigilant about never leaving a campfire unattended.

[Tipi Walter]

From their reports, and based on what other information I have been able to glean, some big stretches of the trail are getting hit hard by fire. Some landmarks have been damaged or destroyed and the trail experience in the south will be forever changed.

Forever changed? How about changed for the next several years. Forest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem and this is why the forest service has changed their policy of fire suppression to controlled burns. A healthy long term forest must at infrequent times burn. In fact, some tree seeds can't germinate without fire.

In the last 100 years development and sprawl has overtaken the TN and NC and Georgia mountains which means there are a thousand times more houses and human dwellings then "there should be" so when forest fires occur these structures are targets. Add in human ignorance by bringing in the woolly adelgid and the chestnut blight from trade with Japan.

I often think of a natural disaster such as a tornado sweeping across the plains 200 years ago versus today. Back then a big twister could hit where Joplin now stands and few people died and a couple primitive shelters got destroyed. Now? Well, 158 people get killed. We are everywhere. And so when Miss Nature decides to Howl she can't help but hit a clump of us.

[DuneElliot]

Forever changed? How about changed for the next several years. Forest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem and this is why the forest service has changed their policy of fire suppression to controlled burns. A healthy long term forest must at infrequent times burn. In fact, some tree seeds can't germinate without fire.

In the last 100 years development and sprawl has overtaken the TN and NC and Georgia mountains which means there are a thousand times more houses and human dwellings then "there should be" so when forest fires occur these structures are targets. Add in human ignorance by bringing in the woolly adelgid and the chestnut blight from trade with Japan.

I often think of a natural disaster such as a tornado sweeping across the plains 200 years ago versus today. Back then a big twister could hit where Joplin now stands and few people died and a couple primitive shelters got destroyed. Now? Well, 158 people get killed. We are everywhere. And so when Miss Nature decides to Howl she can't help but hit a clump of us.

This exactly. But this also doesn't give license to idiots to leave campfires burning or be less vigilant either.

[Venchka]

Walter and DuneElliot are right on target.
As for what the AT corridor will look like for a decade or 3, how many of you have been to Yellowstone since 1988? Different? Sure. Permanently changed? Not really. In some ways Yellowstone is better.
Be careful of dead standing trees. Have fun.
Wayne


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[loguon_theguy]

Dang. I was hoping to hike from Springer to Clingmans Dome next summer and hammock camp... Not looking good.

[rocketsocks]

Not everyone will find the beauty in a waste land.

[Engine]

I would argue that yes, some of the changes will be forever in nature. Many old landmarks have been or will be lost when this fire event is over. As for the renewal of the forest through burning, that is a natural course for the forest. But, as rocketsocks stated, hiking through a freshly burnt forest for days on end will not be the wonderful start to a nobo thru-hike that many have envisioned.

[johnnybgood]

Forest fires are a natural process that alters a landscape for only a few years. I have witnessed the beginnings of regrowth from the Rocky Mount fire this past Spring in Shenandoah National Park
Many park ecologists agreed that while the fire was preventable, caused by a careless camper ,it is part of natures' renewal process. Ecosystems undergo these events and make full recovery over a short time. Six months after the Shenandoah National Park fire no smell exists that would clue someone to what had been a large wildfire that had occurred in April.

[Lyle]

I'm in the Oh, well, that's nature camp. I've hiked through quite a few burned areas, I didn't find them particularly depressing. In fact, if you pay attention and look at the small things, LOTS of new life that is otherwise hidden or non-existent is there to observe and wonder at.

Agree, if this was, indeed, human stupidity caused, the perpetrators should be found and face the consequences, but forever changed? What exactly are you referring to as old landmarks that were destroyed? Historical sights? Which? I'm kinda at a loss as to what you are referring to.

[ADVStrom14]

[QUOTE=Tipi Walter;2104797]Forever changed? How about changed for the next several years. Forest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem and this is why the forest service has changed their policy of fire suppression to controlled burns. A healthy long term forest must at infrequent times burn. In fact, some tree seeds can't germinate without fire.QUOTE]

I have to keep reminding myself of this because you are absolutely right. It is sad that structures are endangered and potentially lost (especially since reports say that a lot of it is arson and not natural) but it's life. And it's rebirth. Nature is amazingly resilient.

I would argue that yes, some of the changes will be forever in nature. Many old landmarks have been or will be lost when this fire event is over. As for the renewal of the forest through burning, that is a natural course for the forest. But, as rocketsocks stated, hiking through a freshly burnt forest for days on end will not be the wonderful start to a nobo thru-hike that many have envisioned.

But that is life. Stuff is not always what we want it to be or what we have romanticized it to be. I am saddened because my very first backpacking trip was to be this December through the NC section of the BMT and has not been postponed because of the fires and the drought. I am not real excited about walking through miles and miles of black forest in the spring but in everything there is beauty...if you look. I dare say that by the time those Nobo thru-hikers get started in the spring after the fires, there will be green poking through the black and you'll see new life everywhere.

[H I T C H]

I heard on the news this morning that some of the fires were "intentionally set". I don't know if this means campfires that were not properly attended, or if it means that they have reason to suspect arson.

[soumodeler]

I was in Hot Springs in late April this year and saw the mountains on fire north of town. I hiked that section in mid October and was amazed at how fast the evidence of the fire had disappeared. You could definitely tell it had burned, but it was actually not that bad.

[Rex Clifton]

I hiked through some of the fire zones in Yellowstone after the devastating fires in the late eighties. It was pretty surreal.

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[Don H]

I heard on the news this morning that some of the fires were "intentionally set". I don't know if this means campfires that were not properly attended, or if it means that they have reason to suspect arson.

Suspected arson. There are several articles in the news stating this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-...-of-wildfires/

[Don H]

Then there's this wannabe weatherman who was caught setting fires!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/d...heast-43460525

[Sarcasm the elf]

I heard on the news this morning that some of the fires were "intentionally set". I don't know if this means campfires that were not properly attended, or if it means that they have reason to suspect arson.

There have been at least three arson arrests.

http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/33688537...ssee-wildfires

http://www.chattanoogan.com/2016/11/...As-Reward.aspx

From the second article about TN:

This year to date, about 1,238 wildfires have burned across the state. Almost 50 percent of those are suspected arson.

[Old Hiker]

Even if it's arson, fire is part of the wild.

On the rollercoaster - NO VA - a smallish fire on top of a mountain a few months earlier opened up a NICE camp spot in the midst of all the poison ivy for myself and two section hikers.

[Fireplug]

Three of the fire here are Arson. They caught the guy who started them. It wasn't careless hikers

[map man]

At this point I'm more concerned about the SOBO class of 2016 than 2017 NOBOs. A majority of those SOBOs who would have finished the trail under normal circumstances will not be able to this year -- only those finishing by the first week of November will be making it through by the looks of it. I feel a lot of empathy for those folks.

Though maybe I should have posted this in the 2016 thru-hiker forum rather than the 2017 forum. I genuinely hope you folks in the class of 2017 have no trail closures to deal with by the time you start.