Trapper Creek fire

[Webfoot]

Visibility is less than a mile. I guess this is what Portland had the last few days?

Visibility is about 350 yards this morning in Troutdale.

Visibility us under 100 yards this morning. I am wearing a respirator indoors.

[drm]

The cabins in Government Mineral Springs are now in level 3 evacuation order. Cougar and Yale are at level 2. Portions of Northwoods, Amboy, and Yacolt are at level 1. Smoke from fires south has prevented updating the acreage though the FS says the fire is still growing. The area should get decent showers starting on Monday, so most risk for nearby areas will probably end by then.

[xrp]

You hope that the view from the ground is not a bad as the satellite view. The fire appears to be slowly creeping over the Observation Trail and the Trapper Creek Trail.
trappercreek09122020.jpg

Damn, looks like much of Trapper Creek Wilderness will be a goner, too.

[justpeachy]

The cabins in Government Mineral Springs are now in level 3 evacuation order. Cougar and Yale are at level 2.

I saw this Facebook post from GPNF about sprinklers being set up.

[drm]

The newest coverage map shows a lot of Howe Ridge burned, but the trail is not up there very much. A lot of the Rim has also burned. But there is only one small finger reaching down to Trapper Creek in the canyon and it's not that close to the cabins, and neither Observation Peak nor Sister Rocks is shown as burned. And it doesn't show any jumps south towards Soda Peaks Lake. Most of the Big Hollow Trail looks burned except maybe the final climb to the ridge at Berry Camp.

NOAA point forecast says there is a 70% chance of showers Monday night, 80% Tuesday and 50% Wednesday, with a chance of showers all week after that. Add in probable nearly 100% humidity and there won't be much more spread.

[xrp]

The newest coverage map shows a lot of Howe Ridge burned, but the trail is not up there very much. A lot of the Rim has also burned. But there is only one small finger reaching down to Trapper Creek in the canyon and it's not that close to the cabins, and neither Observation Peak nor Sister Rocks is shown as burned.

True, for now. The sad thing is that Trapper Creek is one of the wonderful "always in the woods" hikes within a relatively short drive of the PDX metro area. The hikes I enjoy the most are the ones where I am swallowed by the trees.

Now, I fear it will be much more exposed, like so much of the Gorge.

[bushwhacker]

There was an update video put out last night on the Big Hollow fire. Worth a watch. The video quality is poor but the audio is good (it does freeze up a few times so it's not an issue on your end). There is some good positive information in here and the folks doing the presentations seem to be really professional.

To paraphrase a couple of take-away's:
-Not as much rain as hoped early in the week but more expected later in the week.
-Due to all the smoke and higher humidity most of the fire activity is ground level burning .

https://www.facebook.com/GiffordPinchot ... 704796609/

[drm]

The dense smoke might mean that we can't really trust the fire perimeter maps, especially within the wilderness where probably there are no firefighters - all fires in Oregon and Washington are getting fewer personnel because they are spread among so many fires. But even so, we don't know the fire intensity. It might be that some burned areas only burned the ground cover and the trees will survive, like most of the burn in Herman Creek. The intensity maps won't come out till some weeks after the fire is controlled and mostly out.

[xrp]

It might be that some burned areas only burned the ground cover and the trees will survive, like most of the burn in Herman Creek.

Fingers crossed!

[drm]

However there is no suppression effort within the wilderness. It will go where it will there. All suppression efforts are outside of the wilderness. The fire boundary has expanded a bit down from Howe Ridge and it appears that most of the Sunshine Trail and Rim Trail and Shortcut Trail may be in the burn. But I don't really understand how the fire could burn even part way down into the Trapper Creek Canyon but spare Observation Peak and Sister Rocks, which is what the maps show. Presumably embers would blow down into the canyon, and then it burns back up to meet the existing fire. But both peaks are heavily forested and exposed to whatever winds exist.

Fire maps are not perfect, especially in these smoky conditions, so we will just have to wait till afterwards to really know. But we can't help grasping for any info in the mean time. There is some suggestion of converting some trails into fire breaks. That could result in turning Trapper's famously narrow and twisty single tracks into wide trails.