Caldor Fire

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.

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

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.

Whatever the situation is with our trail, I can't wait to get in there and check it out.

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.

Signal Peak is in need of some maintenance also. The easy way was chained off for repairs 20 minutes from the top so we had to double back to Eagle Lakes entrance on our way home.  (I hope I got that right)

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.

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.

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.

Evacuated orders have been lifted for us! Going home finally! Clean the jeep up and finally get my decals on. Yeah can’t wait to get up to the trail to see what it looks like.

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

Robert & Amber said Evacuated orders have been lifted for us! Going home finally! Clean the jeep up and finally get my decals on. Yeah can’t wait to get up to the trail to see what it looks like.

Enjoy a good nights rest in your own bed. There's nothing like home. Hopefully Kris is good and that things work out for Brad and Kathleen.

Let’s get the trailer out there and put it to use. 🙂

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

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.

Guy and Lynda said

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.

Forest closer to September 30th.

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

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.

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...

Biden and Newsom says it is climate change. I think it was the Sierra Club closing access to the forests 30 or 40 years ago.

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.

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.

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.

On the Rubicon Trail Facebook page there was some discussion about Strawberry Pass. Here is what a guy said (he also posted a picture of a hand crew and said he has been out there for a while after I asked him how he got his information about the condition of the trail):

Brody Zink

Jeff Root strawberry pass and Schneider at now paved roads essentially with a ton of activity still going on there.

  Here is the picture he posted but I don't know exactly where it was taken:  

Had a phone call with Tim today and he confirmed that Strawberry had multiple dozer passes through it and that the upper part looks like a highway.  We will be working with the Sierra Foothill Overlanders to get restoration funds and heavy equipment from the Forest Service/CalFire to restore access and recreation to Long Canyon, Strawberry, Cody Meadow, and the general packsaddle area.

Tim is working on a permit for access this fall to survey the trails and start to come up with a gameplan.  Nothing beyond that is likely happen until next year as the fire season goes until december now days.  We need to help develop some realistic options for restoration of the trails including any potential re-routes, obstacle placement, long term schedule for projects, etc. Basically we are creating a recreation area from scratch and in the case of strawberry specifically, a 4x4 trail from scratch.

One bit of good news, they were successful in saving the Cabin in Cody Meadows so that piece of history lives on.