[pct-l] Whitewater fire

[judith at sunbow.org (Judith Gustafson)]

Read this in the morning newspaper (sorry if all gabillion PCT listers also
submit the same item).  This is a darn shame!  I wonder what impact this
will have on hikers coming along behind.

Good luck to all 2004 hikers, rather than hike this year I'm riding my bike
Snarla across the country.  Hope to return to trail next year, stronger,
thinner, wiser.

Two Legs
'03 section hiker

ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:02 a.m. May 14, 2004

DESERT HOT SPRINGS ? Firefighters on Friday continued to battle a 1,200-acre
blaze sparked by a hikers' cooking fire in northern Riverside County,
authorities said. 

The blaze started Wednesday night when a fire escaped from two hikers, said
Capt. Rick Vogt of the California Department of Forestry. The fire was about
15 percent contained late Thursday night.

An Ohio woman was cited for accidentally causing the fire, Vogt said. Her
male hiking companion was not cited, and their names were not released.

About 450 firefighters were on the fire line and 15 aircraft during the day
Thursday fought the flames as they burned across steep, rugged slopes along
the popular Pacific Crest Trail.

The blaze in Whitewater Canyon burned in terrain about a half-mile southwest
of a fish hatchery. It did not threaten any homes, but firefighters closed
about a three-mile section of the Pacific Coast Trail between Whitewater and
Cottonwood canyons.

"It's just in a really nasty place," Vogt said. "It's in very rough terrain,
inaccessible to anything but aircraft and hand crews."

Firefighters had to hike three miles to get to the blaze, he said