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.
 
Today’s watch duty report for the Babylon fire says:

“structure protection is underway in the Needles Area, where firefighters are proactively clearing a 10-foot defensive buffer around 34 homes and buildings to safeguard them from the approaching fire.”

Would this be the area around the needles campground? I haven’t been in there for enough years to remember if there are park houses there or not.
 
Thats standard procedure. The get fire $ funds to prep, clean up areas near a fire. See it all the time cleanng up campgrounds, chpping brush along roads. The fire might not even be gong that way or close....

It has crossed the Cathedral Butte / Bowdie Cn road to trhe head of Salt Creek. Its passed the junction of Dark, Peavine and Poision cyn.

One thing, those who like to search for ruins, the fire will clean up the brush so you will be able to find them, if you want to hike the rims of Dark Canyon area. Depending on fire conditions they have crews ahead of the fire clearing around them (ones archeologists know) to keep them from burning the timbers in them. I know of some in Rig Canyon like that, the fire is getting there.
 
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Rockskipper said:
Today’s watch duty report for the Babylon fire says:

“structure protection is underway in the Needles Area, where firefighters are proactively clearing a 10-foot defensive buffer around 34 homes and buildings to safeguard them from the approaching fire.”

Would this be the area around the needles campground? I haven’t been in there for enough years to remember if there are park houses there or not.
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The USFS Manti-La Sal Facebook page has daily video updates: here

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U.S. Forest Service-Manti-La Sal National Forest | Price UT

U.S. Forest Service-Manti-La Sal National Forest, Price. 12,461 likes · 5,277 talking about this · 121 were here. The Manti-La Sal National Forest stretches from central Utah to southeastern Utah and...
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They're deploying fire containment at Kirk's Cabin today apparently, which is not a good sign.

They're probably referring to all the structures in the 211 corridor. The Dugout Ranch, Canyonlands Field Institute, etc. Probably the Needles Visitors Center to some capacity too I'd imagine. I'm not super solid on what those buildings along 211 are on the way in, to be honest. The Needles Outpost is probably included in this too, though it's sort of at the end of the road, literally speaking.

God, I hope it doesn't burn down into Salt Creek.
 
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Newest pic 7/2, for those who want to see where things are.... If you use Caltopo, you can turn on the current fire layer.

Screenshot 2026-07-02 113851.jpg
 
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