HikeArizona.COM

Pulled out of my driveway and noticed the orange glow in the pre-dawn hour coming from Pusch Ridge. Then drove down the block and noticed the same glow coming from the Tortolita's.

The fire in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness is below Bighorn Peak and doesn't appear to be hitting Pusch Peak or the Cleaver yet. Luckily it's not windy this morning or we could have a huge mess on our hands.

Over in the Tortolita's as best as I can figure it looks like the fire is at the very end of the Wild Burro trail near where it intersects with the Ridgeline trail.

Last news report I saw was that the Pusch Ridge fire is being monitored and can't be accessed due to the terrain. Our local fire crews are all over in the Tortolita's working on it.

--------
2020-06-29 Changed Subject from Two Fires In NW Tucson to Bighorn Fire since the other was contained long ago and did not affect hiking much if any.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6741/

Tortolitas fire in the pic. There’s another fire north of Chiricahua National Monument too.

Best as I can tell, the grass that covers most of the slopes of the Pusch Ridge is https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/114157 Lehman Love grass. https://www.flickr.com/photos/saguaronps/6208689843/ a half decent picture of it in Saguaro east, from 2007. It exploded and did really well in the summer of 2014 from all the rain, so maybe the lack of rain has it looking bad after year. Not sure how that will affect spread.

This is over on Table Mt, but I think a lot of what is in the picture is that grass. [ photo ]

It is also very common on the middle upper slopes along the Finger Rock Trail, below the Saddle of Linda Vista Overlook, and it did well after the fire in the summer of 2015, as is to be expected. More of it, I think: [ photo ]

@SpiderLegs Might you have a picture of the fire on the Pusch Ridge?

Would anybody be upset if the tortolitas burned?

@fricknaley Would they?

Did the Tucson area get Lightning yesterday? If not, then most likely Friday Night Campers.

https://tucson.com/news/local/lightning ... e58b2.html.

Lightning. Not many people would be hardy enough to camp near Bighorn.

My sister sent me the attached picture of the fire from her backyard.

chumley wrote: ↑Jun 06 2020 8:41 am Would anybody be upset if the tortolitas burned?

I imagine that a portion of the local Fauna would rather it didn't, although some probably don't have to worry about it for long.

Just heard of one near Stoneman lake.

There’s a good bit of smoke coming up from the upper bowl between Table and Bighorn Mountains. There’s been a steady stream of aircraft dumping water and laying out retardant lines since late morning today. View from my front door:

@Nighthiker

Wouldn’t surprise me at all. I was in that area a few weekends ago and was astonished how many people out camping, full size trucks hauling a** down those little forest roads, and cars and trucks parked in tall dry grass....

A recent photo.

View from Pima Community College this evening.

chumley wrote: ↑Jun 06 2020 8:41 am Would anybody be upset if the tortolitas burned?

Actually I would, they are the mountains nobody else in Tucson goes to, but contain some of the best saguaro forests I've every seen. Just a tiny little gem of a mountain range.

Seems the fire blew up over the past few hours. Went out to dinner and sat out on the patio overlooking Pusch Ridge for a bit. While I was eating the fire seemed to double in size based on the smoke I could see. FS seems to agree as the fire went from 70 acres to 200 acres.

@Jim_H
I certainly enjoy the tortolitas, yes sir

Just returned from walking the dogs and the views of Bighorn from my front yard are not encouraging. Looks like the whole mountain went up in flames last night.

@SpiderLegs
Has it crossed over to the south side of the ridge?

@jrousoshammond - I was just about to go out and take a look. According to the FS it's now 1000 acres and heading northeast. Really hoping it doesn't make a run for Pima Canyon. Right now it appears that it is confined to Bighorn Peak and small portions of Table Mtn and the Cleaver.