Summerhaven evac.

Man I hope my stashed rope doesn't burn. Hoping for big rain so I can get back up there soon.

Sending thoughts and prayers that you're reunited with your rope, jbak.

Jeez.

5 Mile Wall is in burn zone. Fire less than a km from Rap Rock.

Looks like Reef got nailed. Now wrapping around east side of summerhaven so raycray, Ireland etc next in line?

So far my rope is spared. Hate to see vegetation/shade around crags and trails destroyed. Post-fire erosion really messes up trails.

Looks like Mariposita and Tritower are in the burn zone now.

That is a nice link ! Thx. Rap Rock and Fortress now in burn zone. Upper Sabino still looks ok. My rope may survive.

What a traumatic fire! It looks like half the mountain has burned when I look at that map. Is the smoke overwhelming the city? If anyone wants to get out of town, I have plenty of room to share in Albuquerque. 

Here is a map I made of climbing areas that are within or near the fire perimeter zone. The fire area polygon automatically updates as the NIFS updates their area. 

https://arcg.is/1iXr0W

I like the way the first link shows hotspots outside the burn zone. And u can overlay usgs topo on it. Looks like my upper Sabino trailwork is all at risk now. Damn.

Justin... I just looked at your link on my laptop and was able to use US topo as background... nice !  BTW Amphitheater Boulder is right next to Rose Canyon Lake.

Oh ok, thanks jbak. I don't bouder so was just going off of the coordinates listed on MP. 

Good grief, what a bummer. 

It looks like all the upper sabino crags will be in the burn zone by the end of the day. So the fire-fighting was really _structure_protection_.  And the $ 1M per day has been a tax-payer funded insurance subsidy.  That's okay with me.  It's the way the world works.  And has always worked. I have heard people say the fire is a good thing ecologically speaking.  That may be true in general, but having the mountain totally burn twice within 17 years makes me wonder just how "natural" our ecosystems are in the age of climate change.

I hear you. At first I thought the fire might be good for the mtn. Especially when it was only in the steep rocky scrub of the front and west end of the Catalinas but the way this is going the entire mountain is going to burn. How long was travel/access restricted last time? Was it in stages, ie “developed recreation sites“ first, then trails, then later off trail travel?

Good question Nick. I don't recall much restriction once the highway opened. I thought I could just look at my tick list to get an idea, but I didn't keep track of much back then. And who knows how officials will handle it THIS time. Summerhaven businesses will be pressuring for a quick opening. So my subsidy may help me out after all ! I've got some really good projects to get back to.

jbak xwrote: It looks like all the upper sabino crags will be in the burn zone by the end of the day. So the fire-fighting was really _structure_protection_.  And the $ 1M per day has been a tax-payer funded insurance subsidy.  That's okay with me.  It's the way the world works.  And has always worked. I have heard people say the fire is a good thing ecologically speaking.  That may be true in general, but having the mountain totally burn twice within 17 years makes me wonder just how "natural" our ecosystems are in the age of climate change.

I feel you on that. There is not an informed person who spends time in the mountains that does not know healthy fires are good for the ecology of areas, but with current conditions, I do not think healthy fires are really a possibility anymore.

The cause of the fire may have been natural, but the conditions on the mountain are no longer natural. I think they need to go to full suppression again on all fires and then work on getting these forest thinned during the winter months with select cutting and controlled burns. The FS showed us with the Museum Fire last year outside of Flag that they can put these things out pretty quickly when they want and I obviously get why they did not let the Museum Fire get out of hand, but I think they need to start using that mindset on all fires.

 I was on the north rim of Canyon a couple weeks ago when the FS was sitting on their hands for three days insisting the Magnum Fire was healthy and not an issue. Two weeks later, Jacobs Lake evacuates, national park closed, fire, 70k acres and still not even 50 percent contained. We are approaching a half million lost acres of land to fire this year already in AZ and still have not got a drop of significant monsoon rain, might only get worse for us.... 

A good map of fires progression

https://nifc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=bd0617539e8e4d5998dfd2b49cfd27f8

Good link............ thx !

Justin I'm liking your link better now that hotspots are on it. Looks like Outback gets to burn again.

Looks like upper Sabino will be open by Aug 15. Sooner if they rescind the closure.