Eagle Creek Trail (Gorge) Closed by Fire (July 5)

[Dave Rappoccio]

I wonder if Nesika Lodge...

The second segment, if I read it right, has the plane over Washington, and the camera pans across the head of Benson between Eagle Creek and Cascade locks. And it all looks to have burned. Well, now Ruckel Ridge will have more open views.

If Ruckel is even hike-able after this. With the destablization of the ground thanks to all the dead trees that hike just got a lot more dangerous and might vanish completely if a big slide happens.

I knocked Ruckel off my list just a month ago after putting it off for years. Glad I did it. Same with the Elevator Shaft. Hell I just did the Mult-Wahk loop on Friday with some visiting friends who loved it. I had to tell them this morning that trail might be toast now.

I'm glad I've gotten to do pretty much this whole area before this happened. It's never going to be the same place and it might take years to really come into it's own again. The effects of this mess are going to last for a long, long time.

[retired jerry]

I don't think this will be the end of nice hiking in these areas.

The areas around Dollar Lake fire and Gnarl Ridge fire on Mt Hood or the fires east of Three Sisters are fine afterwards. In some ways it's more interesting.

There was a fire a few years ago along the Angel's Rest trail. It has actually opened up the views some.

Even though fireworks and campfires are unnatural, forest fires are normal and the forest will recover fine.

[RobFromRedland]

Once the area can be visited, we will see how much damage was done. I was surprised by the changes after the 36 pit fire. While there were stands of trees that were completely killed, there were also large areas where trees survived and all the fire did was burn off the underbrush. There is still a large amount of green in the burn area.

The biggest question is how large is it going to get. I saw a video last night from a firefighter and he said 20,000 acres used to be a HUGE fire, and now they are common. He said they have fought 400,000 acre fires! This fire is currently at 10,000 acres - hopefully it doesn't grow too much more.

I'm hoping for rain tonight and tomorrow, with little to no lightning.

[windmtnpete]

Does anyone know if the crime of using illegal fireworks has ever been punished? Is this one of those laws that never gets enforced?

Why report a crime like this if authorities never enforce the law?

[justpeachy]

This whole area will be prone to landslides now with the vegetation burned off. I remember that bad fire in Colorado a few years ago that was later followed by a downpour that caused flooding and mudslides.

[justpeachy]

Just saw this on KATU's Facebook page, a video taken by hikers at the start of the fire: https://www.facebook.com/katunews/video ... =2&theater

[Chase]

Thanks to all who are sharing photos, news, and other resources about this.

Here's a map showing wildfire activity all over the US. You can zoom way in to see the detailed areas in the gorge.

https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/view ... 6e907a1fc3

[teperilloux]

I think the real risk is a heavy winter with temperature swings that could lead to large slides. If you think about it, this last winter required several historic highway clearing operations after the snowstorms. I can imagine with the destabilized hillsides, it's going to be more than just soil and debris coming down. I can imagine huge trees/boulders loosened by erosion coming down and taking out one of the old bridges might have the highway closed for years. I know fire is a natural process, in this case accelerated by stupid kids, but the gorge won't be the same in our lifetimes.

[teperilloux]

Just saw this on KATU's Facebook page, a video taken by hikers at the start of the fire: https://www.facebook.com/katunews/video ... =2&theater

Now THAT is scary, especially with small children. The last humans to view an unburned eagle creek for a long time.

[retired jerry]

Somebody already posted this?

http://lar.wsu.edu/airpact/gmap/ap5/ap5smoke.html

shows smoke over the next couple days. should be getting better this evening but it will likely get worse and better over the next days