Tag: Big Sur

Andrew Molera hike in camping to reopen

Reopening of Andrew Molera State Park Trail Camp Campground

BIG SUR, CA: Trail Camp Campground at Andrew Molera State Park will be reopened on 11/3/2016. Trail Camp was closed to the public after the park was utilized as a Fire Camp during the Soberanes Wildfire. Rehabilitation efforts were needed before the campground could be opened. We are pleased to once again provide this camping opportunity for the enjoyment of the public.

Trail Camp consists of 24 tent only campsites. All campsites are available on a first come-first served basis and are walk in campsites, requiring a ¼ mile hike in from the parking lot. Occupancy for each campsite is limited to a maximum of 4 people.

We are making 3 campsites available for Hike and Bike camping due to the current closure of Hike and Bike camping at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The sites will remain available until the facilities at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park are opened. Each of the 3 campsites will be available to those people not utilizing motor vehicles for transportation to the park (parking on the highway and walking in is not permitted). Campsites will be available on a first come-first served basis with a maximum of 4 occupants per campsite. Hike and Bike camping fees are $5/night/person and payment is required upon entry to the park.

For park information please call (831) 667-2315 or online at http://www.parks.ca.gov

Big Sur Community Market

Vanessa Share made up a flyer for this post, but unfortunately, I couldn’t see it or even download it from my email program. Probably on my end, not her’s, but in any event, I took a screen shot from her FB page. It doesn’t say, but usually these take place at the Loma Vista Gardens, 1-6 pm, weather permitting, next door to the Big Sur Bakery.

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Rain Report, 10/28/16

9:30 am – been quiet since 9 am, when I glimpsed a lot of blue sky before the clouds closed in on me. Big Sur Station reports 1.4″ of rain, a report of 1.1″ in Seaside Highlands, and another local reports the highway is clear from River Inn to Lucia. So far, so good, but several more storms to go, yet.

7:00 am – I woke at 12:30 am to the sound I had been waiting all day for – the patter of dogs and cats across my roof – or so my rain gauge told me. The rain rate was 1.23″/hour or well past the 1/2″ rate that triggers debris flow – raining cats and dogs is a favorite saying of my rain gauge. I was still up an hour later and noted that we had had that 1/2″. My worry began for my neighbors to the north and to the east, particularly Palo Colorado Canyon.

Eventually, I did get back to sleep and re-woke at 6:30 am. Now, the rain is soft and gentle, and I note no other periods of heavy rainfall while I slept. It is now 1.1″ since midnight. I check the CHP site and see roadway flooding notes all over Monterey County, particularly along highway 101, but none here? Really? Meredith Gafill commented on my post on FB of a problem by Lucia, but it is gone when I check. I will continue to keep an eye out and hope those of you who can will share reports with the rest of us. We have rain predicted on and off through Tuesday, so this could become a very long weekend, particularly near the burn scar of the Soberanes. Be safe, everyone.

Here are the 24 hour totals. Some automatic gauges did not work, thus an “M” for missing.

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Sandbag Locations & Links

From MoCo Public Works:

Hi Kate,
In case you do not have this information. PW crews were coming today with second 1,000 sandbags. If you did not already have sandbag info links, they are below. All recently updated.

maia

Public Works crews have delivered 2,000 sandbags for those in the Soberanes fire scar. Sandbags are located on Palo Colorado Road at the fire station, the Hoist and Botchers Gap and on Garrapatos Road at the Glen Deven ranch.
There are sandbag stockpile areas throughout the county for those in need.
Public Works Sand Stockpile locations:
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showdocument?id=13937
Sandbag distribution list:
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showdocument?id=13973

Upcoming Storm

I’ve already got rain here, despite contrary predictions. Nice that everything is wet, and more seemed to be coming as dawn arrived, before I got enshrouded in clouds, but the big story is the storm this Thursday and Friday.

From NOAA NWS: “The trends seem to indicate that the heaviest rains with the late
week system will be focused somewhere between the Santa Cruz mtns and Santa Barbara county putting the central coast (i.e. Big Sur) potentially in the bullseye for an incoming southwest flow system. The ecmwf has been pretty consistent with this solution for days
now and the latest 06z gfs is more or less in line. Given the trajectory of the incoming low would expect the heavier rains with the late week system for the southern portions of the district most notably the Santa Cruz mtns and Big Sur hills where 1-4 inches may occur with the late week system Thursday into early Friday.”

And from my SLO forecaster: “In Northern California, a slow moving cold front associated
with this trough of low pressure will push southward today spreading rain as far south as Monterey Bay by tonight, before stalling over Big Sur and dissipating on Tuesday.”

From LPNF Supervisor

“This evening (this was sent late last night), the Soberanes Wildfire was reported at 100% containment, with a total size of 132,127 acres, and 83 days in duration.

I wanted to extend my thanks to all the firefighters, incident management teams, partners, cooperators and the public for the cooperation and teamwork with the Los Padres Forest Staff to collectively bring this exceptionally challenging wildfire to full containment.

The public should be aware that smoldering areas will continue to put up smoke, but are well within the fire perimeter. This will continue until a season-ending rain event occurs. A cooling and moistening trend is expected this week with a high probability of rain over the weekend.

Work continues on suppression repair, approximately 297 out of 384 miles repaired, and BAER efforts for the remainder of the fire area are planned. Attached are the PIO, Operations, and Progression Maps for your reference. (I have not included them)

Fire camps at Molera, Rana, and Toro are scheduled for breakdown and relocation to a consolidated camp at the fairgrounds in King City.

The Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest remains closed to public access. The only recreation sites that remain open are Plaskett Creek and Kirk Creek Campgrounds, Pfeiffer Beach, Sand Dollar Beach and Willow Creek Day Use areas. All trails are closed within the Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness Areas.

We will continue to put “life first”, make sound risk based decisions, and evaluate exposures and risk in Suppression Repair and BAER as we have in suppression operations.

For more information, visit: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4888/ or follow us at http://www.facebook.com/LosPadresNationalForest or http://www.twitter.com/LosPadresNF.

Thanks for all the continued support,
Bob

Robert Baird
Forest Supervisor
Forest Service
Los Padres National Forest”

Soberanes is 100% contained

Finally! The forest is still closed, and the burned areas will likely remain closed all winter,  if history is any indication, as it is too dangerous with slides, debris flows, and falling trees. The land and the critters need time to heal. Please allow them to do so. This was day 83.

Upcoming Storm Series

Here is one graphic of possible expected rain by John Lindsey of SLO Co:

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NOAA NWS is predicting 100% chance of rain on Friday in Big Sur, expected to be in the 1/2″ neighborhood. Keep an eye out for mudslides, but especially after the rains stop as the water makes its way down hillsides.

Season ending rains later this week?

As Paul H. Commented on yesterday’s post (please read), we have the potential of a storm with significant consequences heading this way. Here is what NOAA and the NWS had to say today:

“A more significant pattern change is expected to begin Thursday as a broad upper level trough approaches the region. This system is progged to tap into a plume of moisture over the Pacific with precipitable water values in excess of 1.5 inches. As this system approaches it will bring precipitation into northern Sonoma county Thursday afternoon and evening. While models have fallen into agreement on this there is still some disagreement with the timing and intensity of the rainfall for Friday. The Euro (ECMWF) is the more aggressive of the two models and brings rain as far south as the Monterey Bay Thursday night while the GFS keep rain changes north of the Golden Gate. The GFS appears to catch up to the Euro Friday night as it pushes the main rain band through the region. The Euro however remains the wetter of the two solutions.

Periods of moderate to locally heavy rain is anticipated Friday across the region. Heaviest precipitation is expected across the North Bay. Models indicate there will likely be a break the rain (GFS) or hit and miss showers (Euro) Saturday on the back side of the main frontal band. However a second round of showers is expected Sunday as the second boundary moves across the region. With a moist atmosphere in place the second boundary will have no trouble spreading widespread precipitation across the region. Rain is expected across the forecast area and will likely bring the season ending rains that the fires burning across the region have been waiting for.”