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You won't see anything current, for next week. Conditions are changing by the minute. But, Winthrop and northward/westward is pretty much unscathed. Mazama was never threatened. Up the Chewuck, over to Pearyguin is all clear, but that could change tomorrow. Getting there might be a challenge. Highway 20 was closed at New Halem, and Diablo is evacuated, but I hear the highway is open again. Yes, there's a fire on the west side too. Winthrop is still evacuated with only a few hanging around. 153 to/from Twisp is closed, or at least has rolling closure. 20 up over Loop loop might be a slow route to get to. Concunully was evacuated three days ago. And the back way to Okanogan/Omak was on fire yesterday. Going through the mountains -banker pass might be an option. Get on one of the GIS fire maps when you're planning on traveling so you know what's going on. Closure of the national forest isn't likely unless there's a fire 'there' at the time. BLM or state land might be a different story. On Facebook, join Methow Valley fire information. Lots of up to date information there. Good points. Thanks. But what about a heavy presence of smoke? I hunted Mazama 4 seasons ago and with the smoke at the time, it was awful. Every year since then, tag out a buck and there was no smoke. I am wandering if I should wait for muzzy.-Steve
You won't see anything current, for next week. Conditions are changing by the minute. But, Winthrop and northward/westward is pretty much unscathed. Mazama was never threatened. Up the Chewuck, over to Pearyguin is all clear, but that could change tomorrow. Getting there might be a challenge. Highway 20 was closed at New Halem, and Diablo is evacuated, but I hear the highway is open again. Yes, there's a fire on the west side too. Winthrop is still evacuated with only a few hanging around. 153 to/from Twisp is closed, or at least has rolling closure. 20 up over Loop loop might be a slow route to get to. Concunully was evacuated three days ago. And the back way to Okanogan/Omak was on fire yesterday. Going through the mountains -banker pass might be an option. Get on one of the GIS fire maps when you're planning on traveling so you know what's going on. Closure of the national forest isn't likely unless there's a fire 'there' at the time. BLM or state land might be a different story. On Facebook, join Methow Valley fire information. Lots of up to date information there. -Steve
So if the fires stay clear of the Winthrop/mazama area what are the chances they keep those NF roads open in that area?
Quote from: Martinhunter on August 21, 2015, 05:27:32 AMSo if the fires stay clear of the Winthrop/mazama area what are the chances they keep those NF roads open in that area?Remember the Tripod fire? The Pearygin/Ramsey side to the east of the Chewuck. While that was burning, I had full access to NF on the west side of the Chewuck. But, last years Falls creek fire during summer, closed 8mile road for fire support even though the fire was one ridge to the north. Yet, we could drive all the way north to Thirty Mile and had full access to Sweetgrass via Cub creek road or Goat creek road. Access to Harts pass was certainly open too. It's going to be hit and miss with these fires, spot fires, continued dry conditions and threat of lightning as storms will eventually push in as summer ends. The winds today are forecast to pick up. Peak gusts just around last midnight look to have been 18mph across the region (Winthrop and Mazama are calm 2mph by comparison), but with that low pressure cell coming down from Canada today, gusts to 50 are forecast. You can't stop a fire with that kind of oxygen being generated. I actually like the fact that 20 is closed right now. Less opportunity for a human caused fire along that route. We were over a couple weeks ago looking at land from Tonasket to Palmer lake to Oroville... Wife's not so sure now...-Steve
