Lightning and Fire, July 2013

We headed up the mountain to try to catch a glimpse of a small fire burning somewhere near the Prison Camp area (reported at 240 acres on July 1).

At Hairpin Turn we smelled smoke, but in the sunset and storm we could not see any signs of fire in the Prison Camp area and even the smell of smoke was gone as we passed the (closed) entrance to Prison Camp. At Thimble Peak Vista we enjoyed the view and decided to head back down, but when we turned around and saw the storm and lighting... A few images - a short hike up a ridge just off the Highway:

2013 July Lightning 01. Charles Miles. 7/1/2013.

2013 July Lightning 02. Charles Miles. 7/1/2013.

The storms slowly moved away and we started down the mountain again - I didn't have much hope of seeing the fire (extinguished by the storm perhaps?) but Alison spotted the orange points of light above the old Prison Camp area just in time to pull into the Bug Spring Trailhead parking. From a few minutes up the trail:

2013 July Prison Fire 01: Earlier today this fire was reported at 200 acres - as we drove by just after sunset we could not see the fire (although we smelled it at Hairpin Turn), but later we could see the fire as points of light. Charles Miles. 7/1/2013.

2013 July Prison Fire 03. Charles Miles. 7/1/2013.

HikeLemmon

On the Landscape of the Santa Catalina Mountains

Lightning and Fire, July 2013

Created by cmiles on 7/2/2013.