Pasayten Fires - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

The fires that have been burning in Washington have spread north and west of late, and it looks like the entire Pasayten Wilderness is being closed to the public. This includes the last, very scenic stretch on the PCT to Manning Park, which will probably also close soon. The closed area begins, if I recall correctly, at Harts Pass and runs to the border. The only possible work around would be to go through the North Cascades National Park, but I don’t have any suggestions for now.

Here is the press release:

Release:
The entire 529,000 acre Pasayten Wilderness has been closed to public
entry due to continued growth of two large wildfires and extreme fire
conditions.
The Tripod Fire, which is currently estimated at over 161,000 acres
is aggressively burning the eastern portion of the Wilderness in the
Horseshoe Basin. The fire reached the Chewuch and Tungsten Rivers on
September 4th. This portion of the Pasayten Wilderness has been closed
since August 10.
The Tatoosh Fire, currently estimated at more than 31,000 acres is
burning in the western portion of the Pasayten Wilderness in the Pasayten
River and Lost River drainages. In recent days, the fire has spread west
towards the Pacific Crest Trail and north into Canada where it is now
burning near Manning Park in British Columbia. Trail closures in the
vicinity of that fire have been in effect since August 22.
“The Area Closure has been expanded to cover the entire Pasayten
Wilderness area due to the concern for continued dry weather, low fuel
moisture levels and very low relative humidities which is causing extreme
fire behavior,” said Jennifer Zbyszewski, Recreation Manager for the Methow
Valley Ranger District. “These conditions, coupled with a concern for
human safety in areas where the fire has already burned, has prompted us to
expand the closure,” she added.

Suge

#2

Read this journal entry written Sept 6th regarding fires near Manning. He made it…barely!!

Jeff

#3

Forecast is for a touch of rain on Saturday - let’s hope it helps a bit - though, it’s not supposed to be much, and next week looks dry. The official NWS/NOAA forecast for today actually said “smoke” - I’ve never seen that before.

There are a lot of good trails further west, but if they’ve closed the whole Pasayten, those will be hard to walk to. The Lost River and Pasayten river are east of the PCT (about 7-15 miles). Not sure precisely where the fires are actively burning, but they’re not presently on the PCT I think. They’re just being prudent. I imagine there will be a lot of determined PCT hikers walking into the area though - I hope the FS manages this with some understanding of the determination of people who’ve just walked 2500 miles to get there.

-Jonathan

Jonathan

#4

Check out this link:
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/activefiremaps.php?op=maps&rCode=nwx

The .jpg is rather large, but also very detailed & updated regularly.

Jonathan

#5

As of this morning they are showing the Tatoosh wildfire as 0% contained. This is the fire that is burning near the PCT. There is a fire info # 509-826-5587. Also two people who are information types for the Pasyten W.A. Deborah Kelly 509-826-3396 and Robin Demario 509-664-9292. Hope you PCT hikers can make something work. Stay safe.

socks

#6

I need a real fast answer - minutes.
Im right now in twist - a town about 30 miles east of rainy pass. was hiking the pacific northwest trail but had to take a 150 mile detour around the pasytem. I should re encounter the pnt at southern rose lake and im hoping to find a route that will avoid road wallk (hiked here mostly on roads). cant reach stahiken because of another small fire near it, but if anyone knows about a route to ross lake that would spare me the roade walk on 20 write me a.s.a.p as im leaving twist west very soon.

thanks

roni (from Israel)

#7

Roni,

Good luck to you. Not sure if you’ll get this. It seems your best bet is to head west generally up the Twisp River and the trails nearby. Unless you have some maps of the area however, it’s going to be really difficult to make good suggestions, or for you to follow them.

Anyway, here’s one idea, you could head up the Twisp River road to War Creek Campground, then pick up trail 440, which parallels the road to road’s end (though I’m not 100% certain this trail exists – you could always walk the road instead). From the end of the road, hike up trail 432 toward Twisp Pass. This will hit the PCT south of Rainy Pass. Head south (left) on the PCT (actually, you’ll technically be heading west at that point) down to the Stehekin river road. Go west a couple miles on that, then head north up Park Creek to Park Creek Pass, continuing north down Thunder Creek. This will bring you back down to Hwy 20 at Diablo Lake (just west of Ross Lake). I’m not sure if this is the most direct… or even the best route, and you’ll probably want a decent map, but it’s one idea anyway. I don’t have the mileage of this route handy.

Good luck though!

Jonathan

Jonathan

#8

They’ve re-opened the pasayten wilderness - mostly… but the northern terminus of the PCT remains closed. I’m not sure why, since it seems that most of the fires are miles away, and the forecast is for continued wetness. Also, the FS is still recommending trail #756 over Mebee pass - which I think is a poor alternate - if the PCT is open to Rock Pass, a much better alternate would head from Holman Pass west to Devil’s Dome, then to the east bank of Ross Lake. According the the FS this trail is open. Devil’s Dome is a cool place… Anyway, my guess is that there will be further openings if the weather stays wet. The relevant text from the FS is below. Check these links too:

News:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/oka/index.shtml

pdf Map:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/oka/global-websites/pdf-files/travel_plan_winthrop_2001.pdf

-Jonathan

The Pacific Crest Trail has been opened to Rock Pass, but hikers will still not be able to reach
Canada. Through hikers must take the detour route on the East Creek Trail (756), over Mebee
Pass to the East Creek Trailhead, then west along Highway 20 to the Canyon Creek Trailhead,
and north on the East Bank Trail (736) to Hozomeen. The road from Hozomeen connects with
Highway 3 west of Manning Park.

Jonathan