Apple Fire Closure?

[chris in redlands]

Does anyone have any insight on when the blanket closure will be revised and some of the trails will reopen? I know that the fire is still active, but virtually every trail in the wilderness is unaffected, and the fire seems to be consistently moving eastward, away from the trails. It looks like maybe the vivian creek trail got nipped a little, but the san bernardino peak, forsee creek, and south fork trails (for example) are miles from the fire and at no risk of being impacted by it.

Here’s hoping some of the trails reopen soon.

[SocalJim]

There’s good news today on containment. Sounds like they’re making a strong effort to minimize impact on the SGW. Unfortunately, last year (I think) there was a rather small fire smoldering between the Mountain Home Village and Forest Falls area that was not really growing, but the FS kept the wilderness closed for a ridiculously long time. That history doesn’t bode well for reopening in the near future, especially since the Apple fire does present more of a threat than that small fire did.

[HawkHiker]

It looks like the closure will be in effect until 9/2, at least. Here’s info I found from the USFS website:

“The San Gorgonio Wilderness is currently closed due to the Apple Fire. A forest order closing the wilderness is in effect through September 1. Depending on conditions, the closure may be modified, lifted early or extended. Forest officials will announce by press release and social media changes to the status of the wilderness as it relates to the fire.”

[stbrnnr]

SBNF Forest Order 05-12-00-20-03 was just posted here:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd775820.pdf

Sept. 1 reopening.  Mandatory day-use permits are (finally!) reinstated.

Still wondering how much damage upper Vivian actually sustained…?

[chris in redlands]

Hallelujah. Hard to quantify the impact of it’s cancellation a couple of years ago, but anecdotally, i can tell you that the impact on popular trails (and in turn, i assume, the wilderness itself) was bad.

Here’s to hoping they decide to keep it around this time, and that they’ll find a more modern way to manage it than the old in-person, via mail, or fax-your-request solution. 🙂

Will be interesting to see…

I’ll bet you’ll be able to see a lot of fire damage to the south from about 10k ft on vivian, but that the trail itself will be lightly impacted? Maybe along the lines of how the Lake fire impacted Forsee? I’ll be up there asap inspecting the situation, and glad to be back in the local hills.

[stockdogranch]

I am also glad that the day-use permits are back!! And you are not alone in anxiously awaiting word that we can get back up there!

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