Fires at Philmont

[eisely 13]

It was bound to happen after a prolonged drought. There is a serious fire burning in Northern Philmont as I write this post. Philmont has issued a release saying that it plans to accomodate everybody this summer, but that some itineraries will be changed. If your itinerary included territory North of Route 64 you will be affected. A nice person has created a web site to track this situation. Go to www.towson.edu/romans/philmont/philmont_fire

 

Hope that works. Pray for rain (without lightning). Happy trails anyway.

[eisely 13]

Try this

 

www.pages.towson/edu/romans/philmont/philmont_fire

[Mike Long 10]

I found an excellent fire map online. This is a big one and getting bigger.

 

http://www.earthanalytic.com/NENM_Fires.php

 

[Mike Long 10]

Both links break.

 

How about this one?

 

http://pages.towson.edu/romans/philmont/philmont_fires_2002.htm

 

They also have a link the page I posted.

[eisely 13]

I was hoping that Mike, or someone else more technologically proficient than I, would come up with the right link. The link cited by Mike is the correct one.

 

According to the news at this hour on June 10, some suburbs of Denver are being evacuated because of an approaching fire. I guess things are pretty bad in that part of the country. Everybody going to Philmont this summer had best pay attention to what is going on, and discuss with your crew what to do in case of a fire in the back country.

[Mike Long 10]

I've been in a fire before while backpacking. It's not something I'll soon forget.

 

I won't get anywhere near one or the chance of one if I had the option.

[SouthPoleScout 15]

The fires are getting worse. Stay tuned.

[Mike Long 10]

Good news folks!

 

The Ponil fire is now 100% contained.

[eisely 13]

Glad something is going right in the fire fighting arena.

[eisely 13]

While the Ponil fire is now officially out, there will still be flare ups. On July 14, as we were hiking up the canyon of South Ponil Creek we smelled and saw smoke. This came from a part of the canyon already burned out. A tree that had been burning underground finally had fallen over after its roots had weakened and started to burn again for real. Fortunately this was quickly extinguished by alert Philmont staff. Not nearly as exciting as the bear that raided our camp site one night later.