Guy and Lynda said
I have kept in touch with Kyle for a long time & thought about asking a few questions pertinent to recent events; below is his answer.

"Hi Guy.  All good questions and I wish I could answer them!  It does show a dozer line along Strawberry trail, but not sure the extent.  There’s no way of telling how extensive the burn is around that area but hopefully it wasn’t too severe.  Sometimes it looks worse than it really is.  But, yes, we will most likely need you guys more than ever." 

I responded & told him we are ready anytime & to let us know when & to what extent. Sounds like we have some work to do, I look forward to it!

  

My first thoughts and feelings about the trail being bull dozed is the trail is gone and will never be the same. Im feeling better about it now, feeling like it’s possible that this trail could turn into something better than it was before. Of course it’s going to take time and effort but im hopeful it will be a great trail again. 

JohnDF said
If the trail was dozed, and not ravaged by fire, there might not be any maintenance to do for the next several years.

  

I agree John, I guess we'll have wait & see what the forest service views as "maintenance". If it is in fact dozed & suitable for fire fighting equipment & personnel, it'll a freeway compared to what it originally was.

Jeff_R said

Guy and Lynda said

I agree John, I guess we'll have wait & see what the forest service views as "maintenance". If it is in fact dozed & suitable for fire fighting equipment & personnel, it'll a freeway compared to what it originally was.

  

I suspect that different parts of the trail have been or will be impacted very differently by the fire. Some sections may have experienced high intensity fire while other sections, especially farther south, may have experienced lower intensity fire or may not burn at all. Hopefully they can prevent the fire from reaching Caples Lake and preserve most of the beautiful view from the popular overlook. It will definitely be a waiting game to see what the fire and dozer impacts are. I hope we can get in and see the condition of the trail this fall as the trail is not likely to reopen to the public this year and perhaps not even next year. If we can't get in and do our fall maintenance then perhaps we can join another club in doing maintenance on another trail in order to do our civic 4X4 duty. Hell Hole could definitely use some vegetation management and would be a fun trail to work on.

  

I'll make a point to contact Kyle after the impact of the fire is over & see if we will be able to enter the trail for any work. Curiosity is killing me as well.

kris_olof said
Looks like the fire went through the waterfall section and V-rock.  According to Tim the intensity of the fire was very high through this area.  Lots of work ahead of us. 

  

Thanks Kris for the update.  I hope you and the family are doing well.

A little bit of good news finally. I hope the damage is minor. 

Specialsoundman said
Is there any word as to when a possible scouting trip onto the trail can happen?

  

No word from Kyle, but I would suppose that there would have to be some sort of all clear from Cal Fire first. 

BKGM Jeepers said

Jeff_R said

Has anyone heard any official or unofficial theories or even rumors as to the cause of the Caldor fire?

  

I originally heard it was dry lightning.

  

I heard it was this guy...

Took a drive up 88 Saturday. Some areas not too bad other areas got burned really bad. Spoke with cal fire at the caples maintenance station for a minute ask him if he has any info on the status of the trail. He had no information for me as he just got to that division earlier that day. Trucks, trailers and fire crews filling the whole lot as that area seems to be the main access point to that side of the fire. Snapped a few pics on the way down 88 at the spur between Kirkwood and silver lake over looking the valley towards strawberry pass trail. A few small flair ups and hot spots in the valley but nothing crazy. On Facebook caldor fire and updates a few posted some pictures from today. Major flare ups very shocked how bad it got because of the winds up there just 3 days later. Where I thought from the looks of it Saturday it would be soon to finally get it all contained, i now think it’s going to be a lot longer. I will post Saturday pic and today’s pic. 

Robert & Amber said
With the resent hot spot flare ups below hwy 88. There is a new fire release. Our trail is getting another round of damage. Hopefully you can zoom in enough to read this. 

  

Thanks for the update...looks like it may have a way to go before we could access the trail from the 88 end, but since Hwy 50 is open, maybe we can get up that way. We'll possibly see on the 2nd.