Wildfire Update: Ingalls Creek Closes, New Map Tool

In the last few days, thunderstorms and high winds continue to complicate the tapestry of wildfires on the eastern slope of the Cascades. Below is a partial list of the new trail closures throughout the state since our update on Aug 2.

Washington Trails Association has also added a new map overlay to the Hike Finder map to give hikers and campers more context about closure areas.

Tips for hiking during wildfire season

• Research your hike carefully. Conditions can change quickly, so it's a good idea to double check the status of the area before you leave.
• Respect the signs. Fire conditions can change quickly, and there can be an information lag between conditions and both the Inciweb and wta.org websites. If you arrive at a trail with a Wildfire Closure Area sign, you may not see smoke or evidence of an active fire. Please respect the signs anyway, for your own safety and that of the firefighters.
• When volunteering with WTA, your safety is our first priority. If you have signed up to volunteer with WTA for a day, a weekend or a week, know that your safety is always our first priority. We are in close contact with land management agencies about the trails you'll be working on. If there is any fire danger, your trip will be moved or cancelled, and we will notify you.

New trail closures, including Ingalls Creek

A new fire (the Hansel Fire) that started west of Hwy 97 near the Ingalls Creek trailhead has prompted the closure of the Ingalls Creek drainage. As of Aug. 4, closed trails include:

• Beverly-Turnpike (#1391) from the Wilderness Boundary to Ingalls Creek Trail (#1215)
• Ingalls Creek Trail (#1215) from the trailhead to the junction with Beverly-Turnpike Trail.
• Forth Creek (#1219)
• Hardscrabble Creek (#1218)
• Cascade Creek (#1217)

Another new fire (the Shoo-Fly Fire) up the Little Wenatchee drainage off of Hwy 2 has also closed a number of trails:

• Little Wenatchee River (#1525)
• Cady Ridge (#1532)
• Cady Creek (#1501)
• Top Lake (#1506)
• Heather Lake (#1526)
• Lake Minotaur (#1517)
• Little Wenatchee Ridge (#1543)
• Poe Mountain (#1520)
• Snowy Creek(#1531)

The Pacific Crest Trail (#2000) remains open in the area. Also open are the Smithbrook Trail (#1590), Rock Mtn Trail (#1587), Nason Ridge Trail (#1583), and the trails on the south side of Nason Ridge.

Fires are also burning on the Colville Reservtion (Devil's Elbow Complex) and north of Ellensburg (Snag Canyon Fire).

New overlay on the Hike Finder map

To help make your hiking research a little easier, we've added the official fire map overlay to our Hike Finder map. It will help give you a little more context for where fires are burning in relationship to your favorite trails.

A few notes about using the overlay:

• To turn the overlay on and off, toggle the button in the top left that says 'USFS Fires.'
• Note that the orange-shaded areas show the closed areas, not where fires have burned.
• The map is not real-time. Some fires may need to reach a certain size or will have been burning for a few days before they make it to the map.
• To get more information about a fire, click on the green triangle, which will provide you a link to the relevant Incicweb site.

The official USFS fire overlay of the Duncan Fire in the Entiat Mountains on Aug. 7.