Update on the GWNF Fire on Massanutten Mountain

This morning, WHSV reports that the fire continued to grow yesterday, and now has affected 300 acres. The access road and some trails in GWNF are affected, but the good news is that the nearby historic furnace (photo) is not threatened.


Here's a link to WHSV's latest report, which includes a photo of the fire: http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/Forest_Fire_Grows_to_300_Acres_in_Page_County_105744693.html

For ongoing Hawksbill Cabin posts about this fire, click the "GWNF Fires" label below.

I have been speculating about the cause of this fire for the last couple of days, given the terrain up there, and the state of the GWNF camping sites back in that hollow - it's like they've been homesteaded. Lee M., a friend from Luray, offers a possible explanation:

“Since it isn't huckleberry season {spring} it must be a {fall } buck flush out fire...This is the first time I can remember a fall fire that small. It happens all the time, in the spring, on the Blue Ridge. A mountain burned off to increase huckleberry production for pies and what not. They are the first to recover/return and a burn leads to more huckleberry money.”

I doubt the Forest Service would ever come to this conclusion, but it sounds like a good hypothesis to me!

And here's a link to a past blog post about the furnace:
http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/09/catherine-furnace-gwnf-point-of.html