Lightning started a fire a few days ago in the next canyon to the south. Last night it came over the ridge down into South Willow Canyon. They evicted all the campers and me this morning. Guess I'll wander around for a few days. Maybe go up to the Uintahs. Meadow and Onyx are definitely NOT happy campers. Maybe I won't have a campground manager job after this. We'll see.

Sebastian

Thats my biggest fear!

I don't want to be away from the campground if a fire causes an evac, because my trailer will be there... but I sure don't want to be there and deal with all the displaced campers.

Good luck. Hopefully it will bypass you, or better, they will get it contained long before it would reach you.

*Signed: California Wildfire Evac Veteran*

Well . . . . better evicted than hickory-smoked or rotisseried . . . . .

So much better to be safe than sorry. May your travels find you safe from harm!

Sabastian, what's the latest on the BugOut? Are you still on the road?

Well, I visited friends in Salt Lake for a few days. It was nice to have a selection of decent restaurants to go out to and spend time with friends. Then I went out to another American Land & Leisure campground in the Uintahs for a few days. The least the company could do was put me up with a free site. One of the cg managers took me around and showed me sites that she thought I might be interested in. Very helpful and I really appreciated my stay there. Actually, I stayed an extra day before heading back.

Got back to my canyon one day short of two weeks. They closed the lower three campgrounds for the rest of the season and probably through next spring run-off. Now I'm down to 19 campsites from 33. Wonder how that will affect my salary.

It's Friday. I can't wait to hear all the grousing about the closed campgrounds from the campers tonight. For joy. All 33 sites where just about always filled on Friday nights. Now with only 19, it might not be overly pleasant. Maybe they should give me a raise.

Stay amused
Sebastian

Why did they close sites in the middle of the season? Fire threat?

The hillside up canyon is pretty well deforested in spots with five inches of ash. They are concerned about flash floods if we get heavy rains. The lower campsites are right down next to the stream and the canyon gets somewhat narrow there. It's REALLY not going over well with the locals.

Last Wednesday I pulled into Kirk Creek CG on Hiway One between Big Sur and San Simeon. Although there was some smoke around, the first people I talked to said the fire was at a safe distance from the campground. After settling into a nice site overlooking the ocean and putting in my envelope in the "safe", I could see smoke at the top of the ridge nearest the campground. It was then that I found out the campground was under voluntary evacuation and the wise campers had already left. As the helicopters moved in and started to carry buckets of water from the ocean to the ridge above, I got a pretty convincing pitch to leave from the camp host and the guys emptying the trash cans. The host retrieved my envelope and check from the "safe" and I moved a few miles south on Hiway One to Plaskett Creek CG. While walking the dog before dawn the next morning I could see the fire burning its way down the mountain toward Kirk Creek CG. I don't know if it actually reached the Hiway, but didn't hear of any road closure. It rained Saturday morning in that area, hopefully reducing the threat of fire. Incidentally, there is a lot of toasted scenery along the hiway near Big Sur from the fire this summer. Hiway One was open and there were quite a few tourists, including many tent campers and rental mohos.

You did the right thing. Living in a fire proned area, I can tell you you did a big favor to those that need to get the fire out.

It may be a minor inconvenience to you, but trust me, you being "in the way" may be a contributing cause to someone losing their home.

I evac at voluntary.. I don't need to be told twice. The house thats saved may be my own.

The campground I worked in all summer is a housing CG for the forest service and prison camp firefighters when needed. As a paying customer, I am happy to give up my site for them. As a host, I am happy to cater to them.. even the prisoners.

Evacuation and eviction are NOT synonyms. You were evacuated.

I thought evacuation is what happens when one drinks MoviePrep...

BTW, the "safe" is known in the Natl Park/Forest lexicon as the "Iron Ranger".

Sorry, Dan, I was trying to be humorous.