Stole this from TAY:
Subject: Table mountain fire and recreation facilities - what we know and don't know
Hey, everyone: I'm sending this message to as many people as I can, but I don't have a complete mailing list of everyone who might be interested, so I ask you to please pass this information on to anyone else who you think might want to know about recreation and the Table MountainFire.
A lot of people have been asking about what recreation facilities have been lost in the Table Mountain fire. We are just starting to get into the interior of the fire, so here's my take on things we know and don't know at this point:
The Table Mountain A-Frame rental cabin (formerly called the Boeing Cabin) burned to the ground. It's unclear whether theyhad time to wrap it in a fire blanket or not. The Ellensburg Ski Club hut, andthe historic "Riders Cabin" have also both burned to the ground.
The toilets in the area, including those at the Ken WilcoxCamp, seem to all be fine.
At Haney Meadow, the historic cabin has burned down, despite being wrapped in a fire blanket but amazingly there is little otherdamage to the Ken Wilcox Campground Only one campsite was destroyed, a few hitching rails broken, and of course the woods around the campare black, but not near the devastation we expected.
I've looked at a few of the trails in the area. I know the bridge across First Creek on the 4W329, right by the irrigation diversion, survived, and we know one of the new bridges on the Naneum-Wlison trail has burned, but we don't know about other bridges. There is, of course, much downfall everywhere we've looked. I'm also sure there will be epic logout needs next spring. We got some money toinstall drainage and remove burned bridges this Fall, but right now the snow is keeping us from doing that. Hopefully it will warm up next week.
As to ski trails, I know that some of the Wilson Rim ski trails were used as firelines, and that some of the newly-installed junction signs and blue diamonds burned. Over on Tronson, the burn was fairly moderate in that area, and I do know the bridge built by the ski club last year survived, so I'm also optimistic that many signs may have survived,as well.
Same goes for the snowmobile trails. Some of these roads have been opened by the fire crews themselves, but not all. The District Ranger has decided the area will be open for winter recreation, and most routes will be groomed, but people will need to be aware that snags may fall at unpredictable times, especially on windy days.
I want to say that many, many groups and individuals have volunteered their time to help repair the damage next Spring (or this fall in the case of the ski and snowmobile communities). We greatly appreciate this, and will welcome your help when we can safely work on thesefacilities.
I will try to send out these periodic updates whenever we learn new information.
Tim Foss
Trails manager
Cle Elum Ranger District
===============================================================
Subject: Table mountain fire and recreation facilities - what we know and don't know
Hey, everyone: I'm sending this message to as many people as I can, but I don't have a complete mailing list of everyone who might be interested, so I ask you to please pass this information on to anyone else who you think might want to know about recreation and the Table MountainFire.
A lot of people have been asking about what recreation facilities have been lost in the Table Mountain fire. We are just starting to get into the interior of the fire, so here's my take on things we know and don't know at this point:
The Table Mountain A-Frame rental cabin (formerly called the Boeing Cabin) burned to the ground. It's unclear whether theyhad time to wrap it in a fire blanket or not. The Ellensburg Ski Club hut, andthe historic "Riders Cabin" have also both burned to the ground.
The toilets in the area, including those at the Ken WilcoxCamp, seem to all be fine.
At Haney Meadow, the historic cabin has burned down, despite being wrapped in a fire blanket but amazingly there is little otherdamage to the Ken Wilcox Campground Only one campsite was destroyed, a few hitching rails broken, and of course the woods around the campare black, but not near the devastation we expected.
I've looked at a few of the trails in the area. I know the bridge across First Creek on the 4W329, right by the irrigation diversion, survived, and we know one of the new bridges on the Naneum-Wlison trail has burned, but we don't know about other bridges. There is, of course, much downfall everywhere we've looked. I'm also sure there will be epic logout needs next spring. We got some money toinstall drainage and remove burned bridges this Fall, but right now the snow is keeping us from doing that. Hopefully it will warm up next week.
As to ski trails, I know that some of the Wilson Rim ski trails were used as firelines, and that some of the newly-installed junction signs and blue diamonds burned. Over on Tronson, the burn was fairly moderate in that area, and I do know the bridge built by the ski club last year survived, so I'm also optimistic that many signs may have survived,as well.
Same goes for the snowmobile trails. Some of these roads have been opened by the fire crews themselves, but not all. The District Ranger has decided the area will be open for winter recreation, and most routes will be groomed, but people will need to be aware that snags may fall at unpredictable times, especially on windy days.
I want to say that many, many groups and individuals have volunteered their time to help repair the damage next Spring (or this fall in the case of the ski and snowmobile communities). We greatly appreciate this, and will welcome your help when we can safely work on thesefacilities.
I will try to send out these periodic updates whenever we learn new information.
Tim Foss
Trails manager
Cle Elum Ranger District
===============================================================
