Wilderness Permits For Trips Starting Out Of Rock Creek Canyon Cancelled Till 7/26

[giantbrookie]

This explains some of what we noticed while staying at Bear Lake (Morgan Creek above Pine Creek TH) the night of Jul 21-22 and what we saw looking down Little Lakes Valley/Rock Creek in the morning of Jul 23 crossing Peppermint Pass and then Not Cox Col (ie high point N of actual Cox Col) before heading for Gabbot Pass. In the early morning of Jul 22 at Bear Lake I smelled smoke which seemed odd because the air seemed brilliantly clear (stars showing clearly). Then on Jul 23 when looking down Rock Creek/Little Lakes Valley from Not Cox my daughter Dawn asked "why is it red over there". Initially I answered that there were reddish rocks in that area, but the red color was just too red to be bedrock so I suggested that it may be some kind of fire retardant that had been dropped there. This turns out to be exactly the area of the Iris Fire. I didn't see this post until this morning (Jul 30) after returning from out 8-day trip late Jul. 28.