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Many roads closed

860 views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Wire-Wheels 
#1 · (Edited)
The wildfires here in So.Cal have been a little too close for comfort. A lot of my favorite riding areas have been burned up. In the last week and a half we have had two very nasty fires within view of the house. The Pilot Fire took out a huge area south of us, closing my favorite riding area, Summit Valley. A lot of roads up in the Silverwood Lake area have been closed. Then just a few days later the Blue Cut fire started. That has taken out most of the Cajon Pass area. A number of old historic ranches were lost. Interstate 15 was closed for a few days and a lot of the people in town could either not get home from or to work. We lost the old Summit Inn, a historic Route 66 road house I had been in a number of times. I'm not sure about one other old road house up on highway 138 at Route 2. I have not heard if it burned or not, but the fire was right there too. The town of Wrightwood on Route 2 is still under evacuation orders. When everything opens up again we'll get the bikes out to go survey the damage first hand. It is not going to be pretty. :( ...J.D.
 
#4 ·
The destruction being done by this fire to structures and the landscape is catastrophic from what I have read. The unfortunate thing is it takes decades for the area to recover. The Hayman Fire just South of Denver, which is the largest wildfire recorded in Colorado, occurred 14 years ago. When I ride through the area I am amazed at how slow the recovery is. There are large areas of fallen timber from the burn and not much growth of any new trees where it was once heavily forested.

I have had friends lose their homes in these wild fires in the Boulder/Nederland area... What I am amazed by is that they choose to rebuild their homes after having gone through such a devastating event and loss.

Bob
 
#5 ·
Latest I have heard is 96 homes lost, but no human lives. A lot of pets and livestock though. I had some friends that had to evacuate, but they all are safe. Wow ! That was a nasty one ! Very fast moving. ...J.D.
 
#6 ·
I pray YOU are ok. Saying "have had,,,two within sight of the house" makes me think you have been spared this season. I hope this is so. We have been very dry here in the North East, that is to say for the North East that is. Our big news a couple of months ago was a 5 acre burn. No one here can really envision a fire of the magnitude of those "out west". I've never ridden the smaller better bike roads you speak of but when I was coast to coast driving an 18 wheeler, the explosive look to CA in the summer months always got me thinking about how a fire could start so easily, and being wind driven, grow so quickly. Keep safe. Pete
 
#7 · (Edited)
Thanks for the kind thoughts Pete. We have been OK. We live on a small piece of desert just north of the burned areas. It has been a rough year. I've had to curtail my riding a lot this year. It has been very hot and dry and my 70 year old body has not tolerated the heat well this year. I plan to get out there Wednesday with an old friend from my teenage years that just bought himself a used "Kawi". We'll get out for an early ride to breakfast while it is still cool out. I plan stay down in the valley. I don't expect the fire mop up to be quite done yet. Best wishes. ...J.D.
 
#8 ·
I feel for you, and have had similarly sad experiences. I like to make a loop out the Tujungas and Angeles Forest. Not now. The fire is out but Little T is still closed. So I switched to ACH to Wrightwood -- until Wrightwood was evacuated for the Blue Cut fire.

Over Memorial Day, I was riding in the San Diego County hills, looking forward to Mount Laguna-- I remembered it being so idyllic. When I got there, I was surrounded by the charred remnants of what had been trees, burned by an earlier fire. Then, in July, I did a week-long tour heading north. On the way up, I saw the smoke from the fire near Lake Isabella; on the way back, I passed near the "Sage" fire (Santa Clarita).

Between drought, the bark beetle, and the underlying climate change, I fear this is the new normal.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I got out for a ride last Wednesday in one of the burn areas. An old friend of mine just bought a bike after not riding for 15 yrs. We rode to breakfast then went up in the Pilot Fire area (hwy.173 & 138). Damage was not as apparent from the road as I had expected, but lots of Foschek along the ridges. Near the Mojave Forks Campground it was burned right out to highway 173 on both sides. They seemed to have done a good job keeping it up in the back country above Silverwood Lake in the offroad recreation area. We saw a lot of powerline crews replacing poles and lines. We returned home up through Summit Valley. We stayed out of the Blue Cut fire area, as mop up was still in progress. We'll check that one out on our next ride. ...J.D.
 
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