I told Kevin I'd hike up Carr today if I wasn't called in to work. I wasn't, so by 11:17am Sadie and I started our ascent. The forest was noticably greener today, and a small FS team from Coconino National Forest was on the trail prepping for the fire season by trimming back a lot of the manzanita along the trail. Another smaller team from the Southwest Conservation Corps was also working on the trail near the Sawmill intersection.
I took my time today as there were birds everywhere, but I was too slow getting most of them on film. I'd stop and sit on a rock for a bit to listen to the bird songs. Today's hike was definitely no record setter, but today that wasn't the mission. I came today to check on wildlife and to spot for fires. There were no other people besides the trail crew.
Weather was expected to be hot and gusty, but it felt cool and breezy for most of the hike. I wore a tshirt and shorts and never put on my windbreaker. The hotter, dryer temperatures are due back tomorrow and should stay.
When we got over the hump on the Carr Peak trail overlooking Bathtub saddle, I could see the four fires of northern Sonora 40 miles away. There are now four fires burning south of the border, two which merged into one. A new fire that started yesterday north of Sonoita off Greaterville Road in the Santa Ritas, was only puffing out brown haze from that direction.
The aspens are leafing and are looking healthy for now, other herbaceous plants are growing, and things are starting to look summery. Still no wildflowers (other than some kind of lupine) though as now there's no water in the drainage that feeds the Carr waterfall.
The horizon toward our north and over Sierra Vista was hazy but not by much. You couldn't tell there was a new fire in the Santa Ritas.
The FS work crew was chilling at a picnic site as I got back to the truck and I chatted with them a bit. Zach from the Sierra Vista district was in charge; he has a work crew through tomorrow clearing the paths. Tomorrow the crew will remove the downed trees off the Miller Creek trail. Zach said he noticed the clean bathtub at the Saddle this week and thanked me for cleaning it. I should have asked him if his crew cleans the tub, too!
When I got home at 3:30pm I read an email from Pat Call, the District 1 Cochise County supervisor through the Emergency Center's Mike Evans:
“ … If the wind turns around in the next several days and starts blowing from the southwest again, lower Cochise County will again be under smoke from several different fires in northern Sonora and Santa Cruz County .
Currently there are 4 fairly large fires that will bring smoke back into Cochise County. There are 3 good size fires in Sonora. The Little Pines fire north of Imuris, about 18 miles south of the border, has burned around 12,000 acres and continues to burn for a third week.
The Borregas Fire, which is where 2 separate fires have merged into one, is southwest of Nogales , Sonora . It is currently up over 15,000 acres. The Bull fire has been burning on both sides of the border and is west of Nogales with approximately 10,000 in the US and over 20,000 acres on both sides of the border.
A new fire northwest of Sonoita started yesterday and was putting out a good amount of smoke. It is estimated at over 3,000 acres and with the wind will continue to grow.”
From today's inciweb.org:
Significant Events: Firelines held through gusty dry winds Monday as firefighters continued to extinguish hot spots close to the edge of the fireline. The fire did not increase in size and fire managers say control objectives are successfully being met. Smoke from the Arizona portion of the fire area has decreased significantly. Firefighters today will work on securing about 2 miles of fireline on the northern flank of the fire which is on Ruby Road.
Fire Activity: On Monday, the fire smoldered in large dead-and-down fuels.
General Information:
The Incident Command Post for the Eastern Arizona Incident Management Team is located at Calabases County Park, Santa Cruz County, AZ. The fire is currently burning on lands administered by the Coronado National Forest within the Nogales Ranger District
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