Reynolds Creek fire

[Marta]

A major area of Glacier NP is closed, including much of the CDT through the center of the Park. It's a horror. I've been there hiking for the past week. Camped at Reynolds Creek Sunday night.

Services in the area are widely disrupted because of the evacuation of Rising Sun and St. Mary. Many trails and backcountry campsites are closed.


http://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/news/w...es-acreage.htm

[Jelf]

We have reservations at both sides of Glacier park in Sept.

Below is a link for an online map of the Reynolds fire at Glacier National Park.

The map displays (1) the Google aerial, (2) fire hotspots from satellite sensors and (3) a rough running forecast for wind in 6 hours. Each time the map opens, the most recent fire data hosted on the federal servers is displayed.

To see the map legend, learn how to turn data layers on/off and get other tips for using the map, click “About this map” in the upper left corner of the map.

http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap...ires_basic.txt

The map is displayed by Gmap4. I am the developer of this enhanced Google map viewer. This project is a public service and part of my way to “pay it forward”.

The wind forecast comes from a NOAA server. The fire data comes, in part, from a federal server operated by the GeoMAC team. If data is collected to show the fire perimeter, then (1) the feds will post that data to the GeoMAC server and (2) the above map link will always show the most recent perimeter data that has been posted to that server.

Joseph, the Gmap4 guy

[10-K]

I camped at Reynolds Creek!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mankind117]

This is too bad. I camped at Reynold creek last year. It was one of my favourite sites. It a rather strategic site for CDTers and any hiking north south or east-west.

[Marta]

I camped at Reynolds Creek!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stephen and I camped there 36 hours before the fire broke out. There was a two-point buck who was hanging around on the trail just before I crossed the GTTS Rd at Jackson Glacier Overlook, who stood there for long enough that I got some good pictures of him. The memory of the place and the animals just before the fire haunt me.

Yesterday the Park Service announced that the GTTS Rd. will reopen to Logan Pass from the west side. There are still significant trail closures, including a section of the CDT.

[chiefiepoo]

Marta, any knowledge about the west side campsites being topped up with refugees from the east side? I'll be on foot and using the shuttle to work between Apgar, Sprague and Avalanche hiker / biker sites. I have a reservation at Glacier Highland resort the evening of my Amtrak arrival on 8/4.

[Marta]

Right during and for a couple days after the evacuation of St. Mary, the other areas around the Park were crowded. At this point things have died down. A fair number of people have canceled their plans to come to Glacier at all, it seems.

I think everything is reopening now except Rising Sun, a stretch of the eastern part of the GTTS Rd., and trails in the affected area. The Park Service is warning motorists that there will probably be congestion and delays on the GTTS Rd. west, and that they should take the shuttles if they can.

An article I saw in the Flathead Beacon today said they think the fire is probably human-caused, and may have originated in the Reynolds backcountry site. Sickening.

[bearcreek]

This conversation from the Facebook CDT 2015 page might be helpful:

The main trail hits the Cut Bank Trail at 28-138XL, about 3.8 miles south of the closure at Three Ocean Pass. If you turn right there the trail will take you out to Hwy 89. Then it's a 23 mile road walk to Babb and the turnoff to Lake Sherburn and Many Glacier. It's 12 miles to Many Glacier, where you can choose either the Waterton or Chief Mountain finish.

It is 40.2 miles from 28-13XL to Many Glacier via the closed trail. The hike out from the official trail to Hwy 89 looks to be about 8 miles. Also, there is a dirt road on the west side of upper Saint Marys Lake that you can walk to avoid about 8 miles of Hwy 89. It leaves just north of the community of St. Mary and leads directly to Babb, and has a campground on it. It is out of the park so I think that is probably still open so you might be able to avoid some pavement there. Total distance should end up being 3-4 miles longer than the closed trail.