2016 Pinchot Fire to close Cabin Loop trails

[chumley]

The Pinchot Fire was started by lightning on August 29th and has burned a whopping 67 acres.

Despite rain completely dousing this fire, managers are using it to ignite and burn a total of 5,000 acres. The ignitions are planned to begin Monday 9/26 after allowing the forest to dry out after recent rain.

At that time, the Houston Brothers Trail will be closed from the Barbershop Trail intersection to its northern terminus at Pinchot Cabin. Portions of the U-Bar Trail and Fred Haught Trail will also be closed in the vicinity of Pinchot Cabin and the junction with the Houston Brothers Trail.

A map is attached here, and further information on the incident is available here: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5030/

At this time, no information has been published indicating when the fire project or trail closures will end.

[Grasshopper]

The ignitions are planned to begin Monday 9/26 after allowing the forest to dry out after recent rain.

The official CNF closure order was signed on 9/23/16 and remains in force until rescinded or until October 23, 2016, whichever event occurs first. I appears to me that the closure area has now been extended South to now border FR300 between FR139 and FR95. This now includes and closes driving/hiking entrance down perimeter road FR398 and unfortunately now cancels my planned Oct 4th Big Tooth Maple Autumn :FG: day hike into Upper West Bear Canyon http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=16685 . Let's hope that the planned burning of these 5,000 acres DOES NOT include the large stands of old growth Big Tooth Maple that reside in this West Bear Canyon drainage section.

Here is the signed order and revised closure MAP for anyone else interested--> http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOC ... 519190.pdf (scroll down to view Closure Map).