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Coming down from Catalinas today and saw big smoke--- so far it's about 22K acres that I can find out and it has backed into the South Fork of Cave creek. That fall spectacular may be gone. The research center has been evacuated. Appears human caused. Forget the guns--need to take people's lighters and matches away from them when it's dry like this.

Perimeter Map http://hikearizona.com/map.php?QX=773
Inciweb http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/2225/11545/

Looked like there was a small fire east of Sunflower, on the way south from Payson about 1pm today. Could see a column of smoke from 87 ...

South Fork of Cave Creek... That just sucks

from AZ Highways online: "All campgrounds in the Chiricahua Mountains are closed due to the Horseshoe 2 Fire. Coronado National Forest officials says the campgrounds will be closed until further notice. For more information, contact the Douglas Ranger District: 520-364-3468."

64,200 acres and counting. Lots bigger than the Rattlesnake Fire, also in Chiricahuas, that dry summer of 1994. I remember that one well. It went to 28,000 acres.

Any word on the South Fork of Cave Creek?

The Horsehoe Two Fire has temporarily closed Chiricahua National Monument:

Evacuation Order for Paradise and East Whitetail Canyon

For immediate release: June 2, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.

The Cochise County Sheriff's office has issued a mandatory evacuation order for the communities of Paradise and East Whitetail Canyon as of 6:00 pm, June 2, 2011. The evacuation is being issued as a safety precaution. Due to Red Flag wind conditions, The Horseshoe 2 Fire has extended across Rock Creek Canyon and has moved northeast. The fire has spotted across Pinery Canyon Road (Rte. 42) and firefighters are actively working to suppress that fire.

The Chiricahua National Monument is temporarily closed to visitors.

source: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/2225/11532/

Bill

Geez, is there going to be anything left in our state?

Article in today's New York Times if you have not seen it ...

Saw it...

Some video on you tube of back burn operations in the south fork and along Cave canyon road. Looked pretty good, just the leaf litter and pine duff. I think the head of the canyon got toasted.

Hi Folks! Thanks for having me. I have lived in AZ for 34 years and love the Chiricahuas...I too have fretted over the fires over the decades. I thought the Rattlesnake Fire was horrible but now we have the spectre of this terrible and huge fire. Things were looking comewhat contained until yesterday and now things look bad again...

Anyway, thanks for caring enough to post on this Thread so that I have another resource to check. Someone on another Forum said there were pictures posted here from a member that was hiking the Crest trail when it broke out. Does anyone know the location of them or other shots?

And let me share a few resources and opinions:
First, the wonderful artist "Narca" who lives in Portal was great about covering the original Horseshoe fire last year--she would attend the meetings and post details and maps each day--and again is posting info on her blog for this fire. She posts so much more info than the Federal site mentioned above. Just do a quick search and you'll find her Blog. Her post today about the flareups/jumped lines is chilling.

Second, what is with the local (Tucson) media? They hardly mention anything about this fire despite the world-class nature of the mountains! No crews (except for the first few days) have been sent down there...no real info is presented yet they have two hours of coverage each morning, a noon broadcast, and the various evening broadcasts when they repeat the same tired and mundane "news stories." The 2002 fire in the Catalinas merited non-stop coverage...are the Chiri's so unimportant?

Third, does anyone have a sense as to how bad the fire has been for the high-country? There have been some generic mentions of some burn areas having light to moderate flames and other areas sustaining intense, 200' flames...it sure would be nice to know if the high country is "gone" or if it was a mild, beneficial burn.
Anyone who remembers what the Crest trail area looked like before the Rattlesnake fire will know what I am getting at. Those burn areas still looked terrible last fall...sure there were some new pines and Aspens and grass in some areas but so many areas looked like the fire was yesterday.

Lastly, I look forward to any info you all might have and to participating on the Forum.

Thanks for your time and for having me!

...oh, and that New York Times article?
Hmmm...I appreciate the coverage of our situation and I greatly admire the NY Times. And while I always try to understand (as the article stated) that there is no proof WHO started the fire, the tone of the article seemed offensive to those of us that do understand just how damaging the results are when our National forests intersect with the pervasive drug/human smuggling activities. Perhaps if they saw the amount of trash, saw the signs of how the Coyotes treat their "customers", saw how we nature lovers have been driven out of some of our favorite areas, and saw these fires first-hand, they might understand the different persepective that many of us have.

Cheerycow wrote:...oh, and that New York Times article?
Hmmm...I appreciate the coverage of our situation and I greatly admire the NY Times. And while I always try to understand (as the article stated) that there is no proof WHO started the fire, the tone of the article seemed offensive to those of us that do understand just how damaging the results are when our National forests intersect with the pervasive drug/human smuggling activities. Perhaps if they saw the amount of trash, saw the signs of how the Coyotes treat their "customers", saw how we nature lovers have been driven out of some of our favorite areas, and saw these fires first-hand, they might understand the different persepective that many of us have.

I agree, they don't understand.

Also, news media personnel, have you ever looked at most of them? Very young, fussy dressers, stiff hairdos, etc. Not outdoorspeople, most of them, and a lot of them not even long-time residents of the state. So, they don't "get it" when it comes to the fire in the Chiricahuas, or most any other outdoor-related news story. They regularly refer to people such as Valinda Jo Elliott as "hikers." They call people who fall off cliffs "climbers," thus making real hikers and climbers look bad. There used to be some good outdoor writers in Tucson. Most of them have retired.

Thanks for your reply!
Yes, the local News is mostly there to sell advertising. Their coverage of the outdoors is pretty two-dimensional.

You are right, we had/have some great writers (and photographers) around here...Tom Dollar comes to mind first. Very talented and professional.

i just heard the barfoot lookout tower is gone.

Despite the concentrated effort of over one hundred hotshot firefighters, yesterday the fire crossed Rock Creek Canyon and, aided by strong winds and high flame lengths, the fire spotted over a mile and a half east towards Paradise. The Barfoot Lookout Tower and communication equipment in the area were destroyed by the fire, and crews were forced to disengage and shift to an indirect firefighting strategy.

source: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/2225/11545/

photos from when i visited this tower last year: http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=11367

Thanks for the update Cindyl.

That is sad news.
Despite using the Rustler area as my launching point as well as exploring the Barfoot area in general, I never made it up to the lookout; your photos are lovely and now have aquired a new importance.

cindyl wrote:i just heard the barfoot lookout tower is gone.

Despite the concentrated effort of over one hundred hotshot firefighters, yesterday the fire crossed Rock Creek Canyon and, aided by strong winds and high flame lengths, the fire spotted over a mile and a half east towards Paradise. The Barfoot Lookout Tower and communication equipment in the area were destroyed by the fire, and crews were forced to disengage and shift to an indirect firefighting strategy.

source: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/2225/11545/

photos from when i visited this tower last year: http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=11367

Very sad news! One of my most favorite weekends ever included visiting that lookout!

That is heartbreaking. I have many good memories of Rustler's Park.

Horseshoe Two Fire is burning into Chiricahua National Monument:

"Today's Events:
Red Flag winds with erratic gusts exceeding 40 miles per hour drove expansion of the Horseshoe Two fire to the West, North and East. It crossed northern fire containment lines along Pinery Creek and Whitetail Canyon today. Structure protection actions were implemented in the community of Whitetail. The southeast corner of Chiricahua National Monument burned, while preparation to protect its historic buildings and cultural sites continued."

source: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/2225/11655/