Wildland Fires 2026

I've camped at Black Rocks and I don't recall a road in there, and I'm wondering how they crossed the river - they must've left their boats on the railroad side. I had friends who called to ask if I thought they should go down the river that weekend and I said no and I haven't heard from them since, though I'm thinking they're OK.

One raft trip down Ruby-Horsethief a number of years ago we came upon a still-smoldering camp site - a good 10 or so tents burned to the ground with personal stuff strewn everywhere, still smoking. We were half-afraid we'd find people, but it was totally abandoned and about to catch everything else on fire. Nothing we could do but report it when we got out to the Westwater ranger. We later got a visit from investigators. They wanted to know the details of everything we saw. Apparently a large group had set themselves on fire - no one injured, thankfully, but I think they got a few fines or whatnot.
 
Rockskipper said:
I've camped at Black Rocks and I don't recall a road in there, and I'm wondering how they crossed the river - they must've left their boats on the railroad side. I had friends who called to ask if I thought they should go down the river that weekend and I said no and I haven't heard from them since, though I'm thinking they're OK.

One raft trip down Ruby-Horsethief a number of years ago we came upon a still-smoldering camp site - a good 10 or so tents burned to the ground with personal stuff strewn everywhere, still smoking. We were half-afraid we'd find people, but it was totally abandoned and about to catch everything else on fire. Nothing we could do but report it when we got out to the Westwater ranger. We later got a visit from investigators. They wanted to know the details of everything we saw. Apparently a large group had set themselves on fire - no one injured, thankfully, but I think they got a few fines or whatnot.
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My wife and a handful of her friends float that section for 3 days/2 nights every year, and they do it on paddleboards since it's usually so calm. Seeing the whitewater churned up by the winds in some of the videos of that section was pretty eye-opening when we saw them yesterday.

Safe to say their August trip down that way is somewhat on hold for the time being. Super scary stuff.
 
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