Entire Coconino Forest AZ closing Wednesday

[MotorVation]

Here's the link to the USDA news release
https://myemail.constantcontact.com...esday.html?soid=1132418723099&aid=22zf3vS_gOk

I came back to try to edit the title as I put AZ in it. Looks like it's the entire forest period

 

[MotorVation]

Looks like Kaibab also

 

[crofter]

More links to info posted in the "fire danger" thread.

https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=41099&pid=541260#pid541260

Sounds like big penalties for crashing the closure order.
-crofter

 

[MotorVation]

I didn't see that, thanks. I came back home to Florida from Flagstaff two weeks ago. I've been pretty miserable about that choice until now. It sucks here but I'm at home in the AC

 

[maki2]

Just found that out, I am camped in Kaibab. My 14 days were up tomorrow anyway. I will have to decide in the morning which way to head. Maybe to Oregon or Washington. Hopefully not as bad a fire season as lst year was up that way.

 

[crofter]

.... I came back home to Florida from Flagstaff two weeks ago....

Just in time for hurricane season stay safe.

As for me, battened down in the Sonoran desert and looking forward to relatively cooler temps this week. So sad the forest is closed.
-crofter

 

[MotorVation]

Just found that out, I am camped in Kaibab. My 14 days were up tomorrow anyway. I will have to decide in the morning which way to head. Maybe to Oregon or Washington. Hopefully not as bad a fire season as lst year was up that way.

It's one hell of a wake up call. I hope everyone affected has the resources to get out of there quick

 

[MotorVation]

Just in time for hurricane season stay safe.

As for me, battened down in the Sonoran desert and looking forward to relatively cooler temps this week. So sad the forest is closed.
-crofter

Well, at least I have the van to head out in if there's a hurricane headed my way.Thanks. Off topic but I'm starting to consider moving out to the desert. This place (St Petersburg/Tampa) is frigging wall to wall people

 

[crofter]

...wall to wall people

What I like about the Sonoran desert in summer is gets back to small town vibe with many fewer people here. 

Still though the same concern with global warming sending the temps too much higher & fire danger with oily plants like mesquite, creosote bush, cedars etc.
-crofter

 

[jacqueg]

Just found that out, I am camped in Kaibab. My 14 days were up tomorrow anyway. I will have to decide in the morning which way to head. Maybe to Oregon or Washington. Hopefully not as bad a fire season as lst year was up that way.

It's HOT here. Fires are coming as sure as you're reading this. 

By hot, I mean the forecast for Sunday for Klickitat is 107. For Seattle, it's 90+.

 

[user 30781]

99 today in the Wenatchee valley.

This is a disaster for so many people, I am sorry to read this.

 

[Malamute]

Just looked this up after talking to a friend west of Flag.

https://azdailysun.com/news/local/r...cle_b3408457-8f59-521f-89e7-2b689e64ce74.html

 

[jimindenver]

We were camping near Parks, Az last night. We had planned on moving this morning anyways so luckily I had spent the day packing up.

We all got emergency alerts for the evacuation happening down by Cottonwood. Just as we were looking that up a second alert came for Garland prairie being put on ready status. Garland Prairie was 14 miles south of us. Parks is heavily wooded.

So at 10:30 at night we had a group meeting as where to go if we needed to move that night as well as where we planned on trying for in the long run. I hitched up the trailer at 11 PM and slept with the phone on my pillow.

Today we moved to the other end of Flagstaff in Walnut Canyon. I went back in to town to shop and dump when someone walked up and told me Coconino was closing. I looked it up and confirmed it before letting the rest of the group know. By the time we discussed alternatives we found out that Kaibab and Prescott were closing too.

Oh boy

We did get a visit from a ranger explaining that the gates were closing at 9 AM Wednesday. He wasn’t sure about Tonto but later someone said all the National forest in Arizona were closing. I haven’t confirmed that yet.

This is going to displace a lot of people. There are not a lot of alternatives. The ranger said go north but without altitude it’s hot. He said don’t go east because New Mexico has its own fire issue.

The parks are booked for the holiday. I think that any parking lot that allows overnight parking in Flagstaff is going to be packed. People don’t know where to go.

My group is lucky. One has a driveway in Flagstaff. Another is heading back to Nevada for medical test and I am heading to private land owned by a friend of a friend. I would be heading to Colorado were it not for that.

Stay safe people. As they say This is not a drill.

 

[bullfrog]

The dry hot weather will be hard to avoid. There are still several unfilled jobs that are in hot areas that will supply an air conditioned room/housing or a full hookup site and be able to run an air conditioner, something to consider as even though there are higher elevation camping spots available in Nevada and Utah most will be in remote locations and flats will occur and the cost of a couple of new tires would almost cover an extended stay at an Escapees park ( many of these do a rotating stay policy so most likely you would never be turned away or have to do without hookups for long). Stay safe out there and remember the heat can kill you.

 

[jimindenver]

I was looking up Tonto National forest and did not see the forest wide closure like in Coconino, Kaibab and Prescott. The backbone fire does affect it.

I was also looking at the Arizona fire map and found out that there was two small fires closer to us than the Rafael fire. One just west of Garland Prairie which is across I 40 from Parks. The other was on the north side of 66 between Parks and Bellemont. It’s now listed as contained but yikes, that’s too close.

 

[shadowmoss]

Currently, June 22, the Tonto Natl Forest is only closed around the backbone fire area.  There are some boondocking areas south of Payson near Rye that I'm aware of.  The problem with them is you are only around 4K' elevation and it is hot here.  If anyone is looking for someplace to go, check the various apps for camping around Rye or the Mazatzal mountains.

 

[user 30781]

Just saw a post on Reddit that the Walmart parking lot in Flagstaff was full of campers. It would be nice if Flagstaff businesses would open their parking lots to displaced nomads/campers during this.

 

[shadowmoss]

This afternoon it was announced that most of the Tonto Natl Forest will close on Friday.  The closure map will be released tomorrow.

Parts of I 10 in the southern part of AZ are closed due to smoke from the Walnut fire.

Check az511.gov for road closures if you are traveling in Arizona.

 

[bullfrog]

Utah is ranked as the number 1 place for severe wild fires to occur I understand although it is less populated than most states. Colorado was getting pretty crowded but maybe someone there could verify. Beginning to look like northern Nevada or the sandy desert areas with a generator and air conditioner may be the only choices besides the Pacific North West unless you have access to private land in my opinion. Anybody got any better ideas of where to go to get away from wild fires and closures? Upper Michigan or mid west maybe?

 

[crofter]

The northern plains will have cooler nights but dry hot days: lots of camping at huge Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs. Higher elevations in the Rocky Mountains in the northern plains will be cooler, as well as other mountain areas.
-crofter

Link to burec site.
https://www.usbr.gov/recreation/