Yesterday I drove east on the 60 towards Superior, the smoke back in the mountains blocked the views of most familiar landmarks but Weavers Needle still stuck above the smoke clouds. Most of the air dumps were occurring more towards the Queen Valley area. The DC-10 tanker quit around noon but a Chin...

@wildwesthikes
Peralta Road is closed due to the fire. Road blocks are where the blacktop ends.

Dawn's early Light? Not really. This is an early morning shot of the Sawtooth Fire, presently burning out-of-control in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness Area. The fire started as a result of several lightning strikes in the Coffee Flat area more than 24 hours earlier. All day yesterday, I observ...

00blackout wrote:Looking at flight tracker there are two tankers up flying out of Mesa Gateway.

I was following the action on Flight Tracker and counted three tankers, one was the DC10 and the others were the Bombardier.

Sun_Ray wrote:When are you headed to your cooler place?

With all the quarantines, we decided to stay here in the valley.

The fire, so far, is being referred to as the Sawtooth Fire, but it's burning in and around the Reeds Water area of Coffee Flats. From my place on the east side of Apache Junction, I haven't seen flight activity or Forest Service activity heading in that direction. https://wildfiretoday.com/2020/05/...

I could smell the smoke while out on my morning walk. When I got home I called 911 to report the smell and was told that the fire is in the Woodbury area.

hikerdw wrote:And the road looks like it’s in great shape.

The road's in pretty good shape following its annual scraping but it's deteriorating fast with all the traffic.

Well, they said they were going to do it. The Forest Service has closed First Water Road at the Crosscut/Massacre trailhead, about a mile from where the road connects with the Apache Trail. The Crosscut trailhead is still open and it's packed, the other parking lots are also open with quite a bit of...

So I'm getting kinda tired of this self isolation stuff and wanted to get out for a quiet walk in the desert. I headed out to First Water Road at about 08:30 this morning and couldn't even make the turn off the Apache Trail for all the cars at the first parking lot. It was an absolute zoo out there....

@CannondaleKid
Just another Senior Moment Mark, nothing to worry about.

Oops! The date of the meeting said Dec 11th should have been Dec 17th.... Sorry bout that..

Yesterday (Dec 17) I attended an Apache Trail Closure meeting at the Apache Junction City Chambers between ADOT, US Forest Service, a new Business Alliance and other interested parties. ADOT was represented by members of the Central and East Central areas, both of which have responsibilities over th...

Yesterday (12-1-19) as I was visiting the Goldfield Ghost Town, I stopped in at the Apache Trail Tours and spoke briefly with Jan Thyregod about the condition of the Apache Trail. Because of her Trail Tours business, she pretty much has her finger on the pulse of the DOT and when things are going to...

It looks slightly unsightly but obviously it worked. Anybody know what happens to wildlife that eats plants soaked with the retardant?

I fear that Fish Creek Hill, on the other hand, may never open. Clearing the road from the landslide is no big deal. But stabilizing the hillside above the roadway so that it doesn't happen again ... that may be a feat of engineering that the budget can't justify for what is essentially nothing mor...

As of last night, the access to Apache Lake from 188 has now been opened. The road beyond the marina remains closed.

I talked with a hydrologist from SRP and one of my friends with the Forest Service over the weekend and both are saying that the road may not be open for at least a year and could go longer depending on funds for repair. An interactive map on ADOT's home page has the Apache Trail closed at both ends...

So at some point these people must have left LDSP and crossed the boundary into the wilderness. Shouldn't the 15 person limit come into play somewhere? Looks the priority of that rule is very low. The FS personnel at the entrance to the park don't seem to care about the group size limitations, afte...

I drove out to the LDSP to talk with the source but that was a waste of time as she said she couldn't release any details... "Watch it on the news".