36 Pit Fire

[Liberty97045]

I took the Harley out Sunday and just for Gits and Shiggles I rode up to see the aftermath of last year's fire out past Estacada. http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4106/

The damage starts just after the Promontory Park boat ramp (Silver Fox RV park on the other side) and goes out to the Carter Bridge. For those of you who might not get out this way much that is the bridge that 224 goes over with the awesome rapids on the upstream side.

Most of the damage down by the road seems to be confined to the bottom 10' to 20' of the trees. Up higher you can see swaths of brown trees that should be green. The bridge at Lazy Bend (Memaloose pit) and is chained off and the campgrounds in the area are all closed off.

Obviously I could only see what I could see from the road but I believe that the damage is not too bad. The crews have been out working salvaging wood and clearing underbrush. That pullout where they check your game in the general season? They have that full of logs they are salvaging.

Sorry no pictures.

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[rick benjamin]

Good report. Was a beautiful day for a tour.

 

[Siglvr]

I too was up that way. Friday for me. A few additional notes: Clackamas campgrounds are always closed in the winter. They haven't opened them yet but I would expect them all to be back to normal, except for Indian Henry which has some massive trees that they fear may topple and kill someone, I would expect them all to be open. You can winter camp at Armstrong (think it's the first one on left past Carter Bridge right before Fish Creek), Sunstrip, Shellrock and Little Fan but there is no facilities provided - pack it in, pack it out. Folks were camping on the next spot up Fish Creek as well.

Next: the Memalose bridge was closed for repairs. They may be reworking the cameras that snap everyone's license plates and wirelessly uploads it to the Forest Service, but it could also be that the uphill bridge support needs work.

3rd: I suspect that if you flew a plane over, you'd see that the fire crowned and that the trees are all dead next ridge over. Most likely the firefighters backburned off the road, and that resulted in the ground being burned but not entire trees. Like you, I thought that it looked a lot better than expected. Someone was shooting at pit36, so if Memalose is closed.....

4th: I was amazed by how much trash got left over from last year. Picked up a lot of rusty 12 ga shells and brass which sucked as I had a lot of mileage I wanted to cover and not wast the day picking up other people bubblegum. The highlight of the day was picking up someones old 5.56 brass and finding an unfired 5.56 round that had wintered over. Was just starting to show in the snow next to a piston that curiously had not rusted at all. Not only is the round worth .30 cents, but I'm looking forward to see if it will fire after a cold and wet Oregon Winter. I'd expect it to.