Aftermath report: The road along the upper river is now open. I took a drive up river Monday (8/2) to see what damage the fire had done. While there were some bad areas and the horrible damage it had done to homes, I was surprised to find the river is such good shape. Most of the damage is on the west side of the river and the hills above the east side.
The first thing you notice as you head up river is the hills to the east of the road are burned to the soil and you start to realize how much soot, ash and soil will be washing into the river when the rains come.
This picture of the hill across from a campground shows the burned hillside
However, on the west side of the road everything seems OK at all the campgrounds.
They are still closed at this time but the Forest Sevice may open them soon.
The worst scenes are in Riverkern
Farther up river you find some remaining hot spots and the damage on the west side of the river is evident. Again, the east side along the river is OK.
The fire came close but spared this familiar landmark
The canyon above Goldledge is fine on both sides.
Traveling south along the river the scorched hills are a reminder of effect of future runoff along much of the canyon from the watershed on both side of the canyon. Hopefully, the resultant silting of the river will not be as bad as I first thought, but it will be bad.
I'm sure the reason the damage is not what it could have been is the amazing work the ground crews and the water dropping aircraft have done. Once again, we owe these amazing firefighters our thanks! Hopefully they will catch the people responsible for starting this fire!
In the meantime, the river looks great, all the campgrounds are fine and the fishing is great.
Pages: 1
Major fire in Kernville area (Read 144 times)
