A Hiking Blog for Southern California
The Angeles, San Bernardino, Cleveland, and Los Padres National Forests are all closed until further notice. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is also closed, although the visitor center in Thousand Oaks is still operational. Violators are subject to fines and imprisonment.
Not that you really want to be hiking in the smoky air, anyway.
Leave it to Google to take a regional disaster and make a slick web 2.0 web app about it.
The Big G is working with the L.A. Times and Twitter to highlight the billions of fires in the area. The map has clickable fire icons for the L.A. and San Diego area, each showing the percent containment, damages, possible origins, and other pertinent information.
The information’s useful, and the map helps put into perspective just how far-reaching these fires are.
A telling weather forecast snapshot, from the Flickr pool of HikingLA.
Disaster is one step ahead of me. I fly home to New England for 80-degree temperatures, drought conditions, and sub-par foliage.
Then I fly back to L.A. just in time to see the southern California engulfed in flames. And just after recommending the Mishe Mokwa trail to my row-mate!
With fires in just about every metropolitan mountain range near L.A. and San Diego, and Santa Ana winds expected to continue for a few more days, be sure to stay safe if you’re headed out onto the trail.
Also, you should probably check to make sure the trail you’re headed for still exists.
In happier wildfire-related news, the Mount Hollywood hiking trail has officially re-opened in Griffith Park, after being nearly decimated by a wildfire earlier this year that took down almost a quarter of the park.
Our local ABC affiliate has a short video of the actual opening, complete with showboating Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
For more information on what’s still closed over at Griffith, be sure to check out their new recovery blog. I don’t do much hiking up there, myself, but it looks like they’re handing out hefty fines to hikers who stray from the open areas …
The Flores Canyon in Altadena had a 10-acre brush fire on Sunday. No official word on the cause yet, but the blaze was contained within a few hours. A few hikers did have to be evacuated from the area, which I’d imagine would be pretty nerve wracking.
Let’s hope we get some rain this winter. And be thankful the few blazes we have had have been relatively small.
Pictures courtesy of the Flickr sets of Muzzlehatch, a great photographer who lives right near the blaze. All of his stuff is worth checking out, but definitely make time for his Angeles National Forest sets. They’ll make you want to run into the woods with a fancy camera.
A new study by the University of Arizona found a direct correlation between historical periods of warmer waters in the Atlantic and more destructive Western wildfires.
And wouldn’t you know it? Current East Coast water temps suggest more multiple fires for us Westerners, on the scale of those in 2002 and 2006.
Besides the tremendous property damage, air pollution, and loss of life, there’s the whole trail-closings aspect to deal with. There’s a huge chunk in the middle of the Angeles National Forest still closed from the 2002 Curve Fire and subsequent rainstorms, and this year’s Day Fire had its way with the Sespe Wilderness.
Of course, these fires are necessary for the ecosystems, but with all the year-end well-wishing going on, it might not hurt to sneak in a toast to a non-disastrous 2007 fire season, too.
Hey, it couldn’t hurt…
Click here for a Google Map of Los Angeles hiking trails.
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