Good Afternoon. I thought we’d start right off with the eye candy. Great shot taken a few weeks back looking west from the top of West Big Pine (WBP) in the San Rafael Wilderness. You can barely see the tip of the Hurricane Deck if you know where to look. There was water at Big Pine Camp but the best time to visit WBP is fall through early summer when the nights are cold and there is a chance of snow. Lets get to it…….
As mentioned last week, the fire restriction order has been amended to allow persons with valid California Campfire Permits to use portable camping stoves in the forest. The official orders are attached. There are still no campfires allowed in the forest but you can bring a portable camping stove or lantern. I do want to apologize for any mixed messages that might have been received with the order and subsequent amendment. At the end of the day, this is a great gesture by the Forest Service in trusting that the forest users will be responsible with our camping stoves. It’s dry out there, be careful everyone. One last note, the State Parks along the Big Sur Coast are also not allowing campfires. The nights are still warm, enjoy the stars………
Earlier this week, September 3 to be exact, marked the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Congratulations to all of us. Really, the whole world should celebrate this day. There have been quite a few events planned In recognition of the Wilderness Act turning 50 and there will be a bunch more through the Fall and into 2015. We’ll keep everyone posted as the events come up, which segues nicely into the SCAPE Wilderness art event on the weekend of September 19-20 – see attached. Come on out and see some beautiful art pieces highlighting the Los Padres Forest Wilderness areas. The Forest Service and LPFA will have booths setup at the Friday night event. Hope to see you there……….
Super volunteer Mike Smith, he of goat fame, continues to chip away at new signs along the Figueroa Mtn network of trails. The signs are hand cut out of steel and designed to match the style of signs that have frequented these trails for the past 70 years. Very cool! There are 5 new signs installed to date. If anyone would like to donate to the sign cause, please let us know: info@LPForest.org
A friend of the LPFA forwarded us an interesting video showing the Refugio Fire of 1955. It’s a classic old news-clip showing why fire prevention is necessary, what methods were used to fight the fire and how post-fire prevention was handled nearly 60 years ago. If you are in Fire or like to see old video of the Santa Ynez Mountains, you’ll like this. Some of you will even notice Los Prietos from back in its glory days:
https://www.youtube.com/
And of course, Ray Ford has a writeup of the Refugio Fire for those who want to dive a little deeper:
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