A report of Ray's and Eric's inspection of the damage done to the Tussey Ridge Trail by the forest fire.

Eric and I rode the ridge trail Wedneday after the fire.  We drove up to the Bear Meadows/North Bear Meadows parking lot and started up Tuxedo. Tuxedo is completely un-touched by the fire. We crossed Kettle and went for less than one mile until we saw some workmen and noticed the trail was gone. They got a bulldozer up to the trail and used it to cut a fire break. The photo below shows what the trail just disappears into.

The workmen told us the dozer made break was less than one mile long. We walked up the dozer path a bit and saw on the Treaster side it was all burnt while the other side was un-touched.

We turned around rode back to Kettle and then down to the Camp road. A battle scarred dozer is parked at the bottom. While riding up the road we could see caterpillar marks. I feared the dozer had gone up the Camp trail, but it did not. Near the top of the road, there were two bulldozer paths off to the side going up to the ridge trail. We could tell small ATVs had gone up the trail and gasline. They left only tracks and did not damage anything I saw. At the top of the gas-line we could not see any evidence of fire. We started down the Ridge trail for less than one mile before seeing the burn. It started right after one of the newer rock ramps, right next to that one tight sandy curve most of us should remember.

You can see the burnt area ahead of Eric. The red flagging you can see is the mark of the raked fire break. We went into the burnt area even though it was still smoking. We only went for a little bit, maybe 200 feet before turning back.

It was very depressing; smelly and smoky. Of course the trail is still there, even the logs and ramps are. All the ground cover is gone except for the low grasses right next to the trail.

Some of the trees along the trail are burnt to the point of looking like match-sticks. Most are not, they are just singed. Still I fear many will not survive.