The Forest Service has opened up access to this trail and the Panjab Creek trails once again. However according to Inciweb almost all the trails in the northern part of the Wenahah Tucannon were effected by this summer's fires. So I hiked today to see how bad the fires were.
No problems at all accessing the trail, the woods around Panjab campground were spared and I had no problem crossing the creek via the large downed log that's been there for a while. Along the trails, it's a mosaic of old and new fire damage, with some untouched living trees here and there. I think the frequency of burns in this area protected it from getting walloped by the fires this summer as much.
The trail was easy to follow for the most part, there are a few places where it's easy to confuse with game trails but the country is so open it's impossible to get lost. I followed the ridgeline up to Red Fir Spring, wandered a bit off trail to peer down in the Tucannon River canyon, then turned back. A nice fluffy coating of snow started at about 5000 ft, but it wasn't enough to make me regret wearing trail runners. Lots of elk and deer prints about, but the only animal I sighted was a black-backed woodpecker on a dead ponderosa.
Despite the sunny weather and it being a weekend, it was quiet today. Ran in to one hunter and a few solo hikers, and a large family. The family was camping nearby, told me they'd hiked Panjab Creek the day before and it was completely burned, which is sad to hear.
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