The Bobcat Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains

Mojoe Outfitters

Adventurist
The Bobcat Fire started Sunday afternoon near the Cogswell reservoir on the West Fork of the San Gabriel River which is just north of the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains above Arcadia and Duarte in CA. The fire has already breached the 5,000 foot ridge above the city and is now moving down the steep slope. The fire is also starting to encroach on the Big Santa Anita Canyon where I own one of the historic hike-in cabins built over 100 years ago throughout the canyon complex.

The Mount Wilson Observatory has an amazing view of much of the San Gabriel Mountains including the Big Santa Anita Canyon that is directly below the mountain top. There is a webcam on the 100 foot high Solar telescope that is pointed in the direction of where the fire broke out. The camera takes time lapse videos of the view and I have attached a few of them below. I thought you folks would like to see how scary and powerful wildfires can be. The Big Santa Anita Canyon can be seen at the lower right of the image.

http://c1.hpwren.ucsd.edu/archive/wilson-e-mobo-c/large/20200906/MP4/Q5.mp4

http://c1.hpwren.ucsd.edu/archive/wilson-e-mobo-c/large/20200906/MP4/Q6.mp4

http://c1.hpwren.ucsd.edu/archive/wilson-e-mobo-c/large/20200906/MP4/Q7.mp4

http://c1.hpwren.ucsd.edu/archive/wilson-e-mobo-c/large/20200906/MP4/Q8.mp4

Cam
 
Wow! That is amazing but scary to see. Best wishes sent to you Cam for your cabin and to everyone fighting the fire (or any fires) and to the people living in the area.

Any word on what started it? Seems like a normal day then bam, smoke.
 
The fire blazed all the way though our canyon. No one is allowed in. We have no Idea if our cabins are standing. The media keeps saying that no structures were burned. They have no clue.

Cam

Oh man that sucks... praying for you and your cabin Cam!
 
This photo of the Big Santa Anita Canyon was taken by a fire fighter at the Chantry Flats trailhead that drops 500 feet (elevation) into our canyon. There are 80 cabins scattered about the canyon complex and can only be reached by hiking one to four miles. As you can see, the canyon walls have been torched of all vegetation. There is a glimmer of hope though as the green belt along the creek bottom where most of the cabins are seems largely intact. I can actually see the oak grove that covers my cabin in this picture and it looks unburned We still have no information about the status of our cabins.

We had a Zoom meeting with all the cabin owners last night. It was highly emotional. This canyon community has some of the finest, salt of the earth people that I know and can personally call most of them good friends. When hiking in for a weekend stay, you have to count on your hike taking 2 - 3 times longer than normal because you will bump in to other cabin owners and chat for a half hour on the trail.

We do know that the Adams Pack Station at Chantry Flats has survived unscathed. It is the only year round pack station in California. This is huge because the only way to get heavy building materials into our cabins is on the backs of donkeys! The Pack Station is also the hub of our community and most of us stop in there before and after our visits to say hi and maybe have a beer and catch up on Canyon news. The Pack Station was recently purchased by Maggie Moran. She is an amazing woman. She has a really tough go ahead of her because the canyon will most likely be closed to the public for at least a year and she relies on the public for most of her revenue. As we have done in the past, the cabin owners will step up and do whatever it takes to keep her solvent. We will absolutely need her in the rebuilding effort.

Cam

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