Cowboy Fire burn area in section A.
A few of the early Pacific Crest Trail hikers have had trouble navigating the Cowboy Fire burn area, so yesterday I decided to go see it for myself.
The Cowboy Fire happened back on September 2, 2010 and it burned the PCT in two places in Section A. The first area burned begins near mile 6 and extends northbound for 1.1 miles. The second burn area begins near mile 8.5 and extends northbound for 8/10ths mile. All mileages are Halfmile mileages as used on my maps.
The fire line (right) cut across the Pacific Crest Trail at mile 8.5.
The first area burned should not cause any difficulty for hikers, but the second burn may be confusing. At mile 8.5 a narrow fire line was cut across the PCT at a diagonal that some may mistake for a fork in the trail. It was more confusing because the fire line was marked with orange flagging tape and the PCT had no markings. I have moved the flagging tape from the fire line to PCT and blocked the fire line with more branches.
You never know what you will run into on the trail and this is just another example of why hikers should always carry good maps while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.
More photos are in my flickr photostream.
A news story about the Cowboy Fire is here.
-Halfmile