This morning’s fire map shows the northerly movement through yesterday of the Horseshoe Fire. Today’s moderately strong winds have been driving the fire further north than this map depicts, although not at a very fast rate. For reference, the blue box on the map is around Portal Peak, which the fire is approaching as it burns to the northeast.
Since this map was printed, I was told that the fire has burned downslope more into the South Fork and Log Canyon drainages, filling in some previously unburned areas. This map also shows in the lower right corner the lightning-ignited Darnell Fire of 2002. Many people in the community will remember gathering in Rodeo that summer for our 4th of July festivities, against a backdrop of the Chiricahua Mountains aflame in the night: that was the Darnell Fire.
The photos below show smoke rising from behind those cliffs which frame Portal (and which hide any view of Portal Peak from town), and the last shows a column of smoke behind Portal Peak itself, taken from a vantage along the Portal-Rodeo Road.
