More than a little off topic, but I know that a lot of the Whitney folks hike in the San Jacinto area. I heard that there is a rapidly spreading fire in the area and I was wondering if it was near any of the popular hiking areas?

It sure is. The PCT through the area is closed. Here's a link to a San Jacinto hiking message board. Similar to this one. There's a big thread on the fire.

Found this listing of trail closures:

The Pacific Crest Trail is closed from Highway 74 north to Saddle Junction. All of the trails connection to the Pacific Crest Trail are closed as well, including South Ridge Trail, Carumba Trail, Spitler Peak Trail, Fobes Trail and Cedar Springs. Hurkey Creek County Camground, and all of the hiking and mountain biking trails out of Hurkey creek and May Valley are closed

The fire has extended up to the lower Plateau...it appears to have burned over Red Tahquitz, a popular destination from Humber Park.

See InciWeb for map and information.

Mountain Fire Information

Thank you for the links; I have just spent an astounding amount of time reading and viewing photos and videos. I had no idea that the area was so heavily wooded, nor was I aware of the dramatic summit/rock formations and steep terrain. I tend to think -- erroneously -- that all of Southern California landscape looks like Joshua Tree.

Unfortunately, our forests in SoCal are over populated with trees. Where they should be 100/acre there are 400. There should be prescription logging going to thin the forests.

The damage these fires cause lasts for decades. All anyone has to do is travel from Ice House Saddle to Ontario Peak to what has not grown back since the 1978 Telegraph Fire.

More of it will be soon.

Dale B. Dalrymple

Bee, it has now shut down the entire West side of the mountain and all the trails from the small town of Idyllwild. This also includes closure of the very popular and iconic Tahquitz Rock in the area for climbers and hikers alike.

The fire also got uncomfortably close to the Palm Springs Tram which sits on the East side. The thing was a monster that threatened to run over the mountain's summit. We got lucky with a decent storm and some hardworking firefighters.

The tram is open, but I do not believe any of the hiking trails are last time I checked.

My favorite SoCal mountain.

Wow -- thanks for the update. I had been under the impression that the rain was a real game changer, as I had not seen any local updates further north.

Yesterday, I was in Yosemite Valley and the all of the smoke from the southern fires was blowing up and over the Sierra, so that the visibility was terrible (small local fires were not helping, either)

Unfortunately, there is another fire in the San Jancinto area, the Silver Fire. It's burning out of control. There have been at least 4 structures burned so far. Some of the same people that evacuated from the Mountain fire might be evacuating for this fire.

Here's a link to a message board.

Local ABC News channel here.

And to add to this, yesterday, there was a 60 acre fire near the Palm Springs tram. This area is getting hit hard this year.

SJ and its neighboring towns can't seem to catch a break. It's a little heartbreaking to watch. I have a bigger emotional attachment to that peak than probably any other including Whitney. No rain in the forecast to help out this time...

I am really sorry to be reading this bad news. I have always thought that this area held much more intrigue than Baldy & the other popular areas.

Are these area going to be prone to mudslides in the winter?

Bee - The rain that helped bring the Mountain fire under control also caused mudslides and erosion issues. (the Mountain fire wasn't even out and the was silt and mud washing down to Palm Springs) With this fire it's only going to be worse with the winter rains.

And as of this morning, it is 0% contained and over 10,000 acres burned. There a conflicting numbers on the number of homes burned, but there are several families that have lost everything.

Here's a map of the Silver Fire burn area as of this morning.

The reports here in the north have painted a very grim picture: several injuries, structural loss and a fire that has little to no containment.