Gotta love dry lightning!


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Posted by Ballpark Frank (24.237.83.208) on 12:02:31 08/18/13

In Reply to: If you're going to be visiting Yellowstone in the next few days... posted by SY

SY,

Thanks for the news flash. I hadn't been following the fires in the park, because overall, they had been fairly "quiet". It sounds like Saturday afternoon got real "interesting".

I'm real concerned about the specific boundaries of the burn as it swept east from the southwest corner of Hayden Valley. In fact, I'm wondering about the old cabin on Upper Alum Creek, the general Glen Africa Basin area, the remnant fence posts from the failed attempt to corral bison in the 1890s, and a few other artifacts of history that could have been in harm's way. Based on the fire behavior description on InciWeb and the NPS press release (linked below), it sounds like there was some significant crowning, which implies forest. I hope it has not gotten into those "tree islands" out in the valley, between Trout Creek and Alum Creek. I know one huge bull elk herd that uses one particular tree stand that is long, east to west, every summer. Over the years, we have seen anywhere from 35 or 40 to as many as 65 or 70 bulls aggregated in the meadows just outside that tree island.

I'm guessing the Mary Mountain trail is likely closed, since the area where it turns out of the valley and into the timber, going toward Mary Lake, is in close proximity to Glen Africa Basin.

It appears the same line of dry lightning storms on Wednesday sparked the Alder Fire at the south end of the Lake. The Druid Fire is a bit older, but was started by lightning.

The fire weather forecast for the next week does not look good.

I'd sure like to see firsthand reports from anyone that has been on or near the scenes.

Ballpark




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