We decided to drive about this afternoon to see how far we could go by road up into the Mountain Fire area. We took off on Hurkey Creek road and soon we were in the burn area. We passes houses, camps and finally we got all the way to the Zen Center, smack dab against the hills that had burned so badly last summer.
We only saw one area with signs prohibiting trail hiking but it is clear the area is devastated by the inferno that occurred last year. Some hikers have complained about not being able to hike this section but I can certainly see why it is off limits. In some places the fire was so hot that everything was burned and the erosion associated with this kind of damage is apparent. It will take years to recover enough to allow intrusions into the back country in these areas.
I suppose it is an indication of my lack of compassion but when I heared about two PCT hikers who were cited for hiking in this area, to the tune of $2,500 each, it made me think that sometimes karma actually occurs in this life.
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