Fire closes part of the AT in Shenandoah National Park

[thestin]

From Shenandoah National Park's Facebook page...

New Closures in Effect:

Skyline Drive is closed from Swift Run, mile 65 to Loft Mountain, mile 79.

The Appalachian Trail is closed from Ivy Creek, mile 77 north to Simmons Gap, mile 73, including the Pinefield Hut.

[GoldenBear]

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4689/
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/4689/

[Shrewd]

Wow, I was on Old Rag yesterday and didn't see a hint of fire

[scudder]

The wind has been blowing the smoke towards Charlottesville. Local media is reporting that the fire has grown to 3000 acres. AT is closed for 12 miles ,from Doyle River overlook to Powell Gap.

[Woodturner]

Has the burn actually reached the AT, or is the closure just due to smoke?

[Gambit McCrae]

Posted 2 days ago

[Trance]

Interesting..... some hikers could be pushing close to there if they started earlier in the year.

I wonder how they get around that...... Skyline doesn't exactly have a lot of ways to get back on it for long stretches.

[Ktaadn]

I hiked in the area at the beginning of the month. I ran into a few thru hikers that were doing non-traditional flip-flops as recommended by the ATC. They had started at Rockfish Gap and were hiking North. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more people planning to do the same thing this month. Hopefully everyone is safe. It wouldn't be a big deal to pick up the extra section when they came back to Rockfish I suppose.

[hikernutcasey]

Interesting..... some hikers could be pushing close to there if they started earlier in the year.

I wonder how they get around that...... Skyline doesn't exactly have a lot of ways to get back on it for long stretches.

I'm following Rabbit, John Goodman and Rhino who all are in SNP now. I messaged Rabbit a couple days ago to tell him about the fire and he is considering skipping ahead and trying to complete what he misses later. It seems the fire is growing and this is bad timing as a lot of folks will be hitting the area very soon.

[johnnybgood]

The recent dry spell , about a month now ,is chipping away at the surplus rainfall we had this winter.
If it were me I'd skip over to the northern district @Thornton Gap when reaching the southern terminus of the park.

There are many shuttlers that could accommodate you from Waynesboro. You skip a small section of miles that could be made up in 3 days.

[Traveler]

Fire danger warnings have been posted for the last week or two in northwestern CT and western MA. We didn't get much snow or rain for that matter this winter in a lot of the eastern US. You can see on drought maps its pretty dry along the AT corridor. Some areas have been more dry than others of course, but this report seems petty accurate.

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/drought/201603

[Tipi Walter]

Thank you Jesus part of the Skyline tourist Harley roaring road is closed, at least temporarily.

[rafe]

Thank you Jesus part of the Skyline tourist Harley roaring road is closed, at least temporarily.

Hikers are impacted as well.

[Poedog]

Thank you Jesus part of the Skyline tourist Harley roaring road is closed, at least temporarily.

Why/to whom is this a blessing? Now it's filled with fire engines, helicopters and smoke.

[gbolt]

I'm following Rabbit, John Goodman and Rhino who all are in SNP now. I messaged Rabbit a couple days ago to tell him about the fire and he is considering skipping ahead and trying to complete what he misses later. It seems the fire is growing and this is bad timing as a lot of folks will be hitting the area very soon.

Rabbits Journal for Yesterday that I read this morning had him thinking he would be able to hike the AT through Park. It was not closed as of yet. However, late morning he was told to turn back. He hitched a ride back Southbound. So they have now stopped Northbound Travel and Rabbit was waiting to find a way or work around the fire.

[scudder]

Lots of info if you search "nbc29 update rocky mount fire". 5600 acres.

[displacedbeatnik]

SNP is closed between the bottom of the park and mile 33 on Skyline Drive (Swift Run Gap). A bunch of trail angels are currently running a shuttle service to bypass the closed section. You definitely can not hike through SNP right now straight through. Though the northern 70 miles or so are operating as normal. There's actually a picture of Rabbit taking one of the shuttles on Instagram right now so he definitely did not hike it.

[hikernutcasey]

Just saw an article about wildfires along the Blue Ridge and it seems there is now a 7 mile section of trail closed around the Hampton area and hikers are being detoured on FS road 293 http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.co...-southern.html

This will impact a significant amount of hikers but at least it's a detour I guess.

[BillyGr]

SNP is closed between the bottom of the park and mile 33 on Skyline Drive (Swift Run Gap). A bunch of trail angels are currently running a shuttle service to bypass the closed section. You definitely can not hike through SNP right now straight through. Though the northern 70 miles or so are operating as normal. There's actually a picture of Rabbit taking one of the shuttles on Instagram right now so he definitely did not hike it.

I thought Swift Run Gap was mile 65.5 (or at least it looks that way on the NPS site)?

Just to be sure, unless they extended it to Thornton Gap (which is 31.5)?

[gbolt]

SNP is closed between the bottom of the park and mile 33 on Skyline Drive (Swift Run Gap). A bunch of trail angels are currently running a shuttle service to bypass the closed section. You definitely can not hike through SNP right now straight through. Though the northern 70 miles or so are operating as normal. There's actually a picture of Rabbit taking one of the shuttles on Instagram right now so he definitely did not hike it.

Thanks! And yes he used the shuttle service to hike from Swift Run Gap. Apparently Trail Magic doesn't burn out!