Hwy. 191, AKA The Coronado Trail, AKA The Devil's Hwy. is closed due to a forest fire south of Alpine.
We had the opportunity to ride the Coronado Trail last week. These photos are typical of the burned areas.
We saw the first burned areas about 20 miles south of Hannagan Meadow. Talked to the owner there, reviewed his photo album, and listened to his stories. His lodge and property was untouched but the fire was almost to his property line. The lodge itself was used as a command center and many of the firefighters camped or were housed and fed there. Per the Tucson and Phoenix papers, the lodge was 'burned to the ground'.
The meadow photo shows how the fire jumped from place to place, burning some areas completely, causing only heat damage a few feet away, and sparing entire sections. This is a pattern we saw all the way along, much burned but much spared. A lot of the ground level fuel load was burned away which should, in the long run, make for a healthier forest. It was not the 'moonscape', as described.
The town of Alpine was mostly spared, with five buildings (sheds and small cabins) the only damage. This, per the locals. What they did suffer was flooding and mud flows from the rains that came after the fire was extinguished. Escudilla Mountain, just north of Alpine, was mostly burned and the mountain just to the west of town was burned. The white trunk trees near the top are aspens and in many places have put up new shoots. The darker area below was ponderosa pines and the area just below them shows more heat damage from the ground level fire.
The fire approached Eagar and Springerville, but stayed in the mountains a mile or so to the south. Alpine is roughly 20 miles north of Hannagan Meadow and Eagar is another 25 miles north.
We also rode over to the town of Greer. Several houses were lost but none that could be seen from the road. The fire seemed to burn along the ridges and upper slopes and found the isolated cabins.
The news recently reported the arrest of two men for abandoning their still-burning campfire, the suspected cause of the Wallow Fire.