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[pct-l] Whitewater canyon fire
- Subject: [pct-l] Whitewater canyon fire
- From: Lonetrail at aol.com (Lonetrail@aol.com)
- Date: Tue Jun 1 20:26:45 2004
Rudy
Welcome to the real world.
Lonetrail
I just returned home from a hike from Campo to Big Bear City and wanted to
pass this incident along to others.
I was hiking with a number of thru hikers including Adam, Hobo, Nate, Ian,
Jerry, and Lou. We arrived in Idyllwild on May 14th and were told about a big
fire in Whitewater Canyon by a clerk at the Post Office and by someone at one
of the motels. Since we were going thru that area in several days we checked
with the Forest Service Office in Idyllwild. Unbelievably, we were told by two
Rangers at that office that there was no fire in Whitewater Canyon. One of the
Rangers even checked on the computer and verified that there was no fire!! We
hiked out of Idyllwild on May 16th, stayed at the Pink Motel on May 17th and
hiked thru a burned out Whitewater Canyon on May 18th!!! At the time we were
in Idyllwild approximately 450 people and numerous aircraft were fighting this
fire!!! and we were sent out like lambs to the slaughter. I am not sure what
planet the Forest Service is living on, but they must be very incompetent. We
did see them on Devils Slide Trail making sure all the day hikers had all their
permits in order.
I have not gotten all the info on the fire, but we heard that a PCT hiker
started the fire with a sterno stove. I could not believe the wind up on San
Gorgonio Pass and thru Whitewater Canyon. I have a hard time believing that a
thruhiker was even able to get a stove started in that area. But, if they were
dumb enough to get one started they should have at least made sure there was no
vegetation around the stove. But I am sure this topic has been discussed
already. We heard the hikers will be paying for the firefighters. We and I hoped no
one got hurt fighting that blaze.
Happy Hiking, Rudy
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