It is a beautiful second weekend in November. Temps are soaring into the 70’s. it is a great time to do some hiking along the trails at Pilot Mountain. There is a problem though, it is closed. The mountain is on fire!! Yes, the great Pilot Mountain, that stands alone in the northwest piedmont, with it’s distinctive Big Pinnacle, is covered in smoke and flames for a third straight day. As of Saturday evening, 700 acres have been charred.
This all began from a prescribe burn that went badly wrong. It was supposed to begin and end on Thursday 11/8, yet the fire jumped the lines and has now burned free for 2 days. Officials claim to have it contained and no homes are at risk. 1000 acres are estimated to be burned by the end. When all of this is said and done, what will this mountain look like? Is prescribed burning a good idea? If they do it to prevent wildfires, but end up causing one instead, I would say not!!
Below are some photos of the Pilot Mountain Fire from today 11/10/12. Also is a photo from this summer showing Pilot Mountain before the fire.
Hard to see a landmark site such as Pilot Mountain on fire. I visited it some years ago; I’m a NC native originally.
Beatiful pictures. I too, was really sad to hear about the burning and love hiking up Pilot on weekends like this one. But reading more of the articles, I’m not so sure I’m going to criticize the fire starters. I did the longer trail from the visitor center a couple of weeks ago and the leaf cover made it difficult to see where the trail was. (Can’t remember the names of the trails, but I think you start off on Corridor-marked white, then go to the red marks and finish on Ledge Springs). From what I’ve read, the trees have not been damaged, it is contained to the undergrowth. I’m going to go with this being beneficial in the long run. I hope so, I’m doing a race up there next month!
that is a sad view of the mountain pilot mountian bured alot of acres