Western Marin County, an area called the Headlands, is less than five miles away, and the Sharp Mountain wilderness is south about ten miles. A portion of western Marin, known as Pt. Reyes, had a major fire about 12 years ago.
Posted by Christopher Swan on July 20, 2006 at 4:27 PMIs it cheating if you own the wilderness?
Christopher: large portions of the Adirondacks burned in 1903 and 1908. http://www.tupperlake.net/MtArab.htm
Bob Marshall Wilderness is less than 40 miles away. There are fires in that wilderness every year.
Posted by Bobbie on July 13, 2006 at 12:31 AMThe Bob Marshall Wilderness, approximately 60 miles from my home, last suffered serious wildfires during the summer of 1997. The Helena Regional Forest, not formerly classified as a wilderness area, burned substantially during the summer of 1988.
Posted by Lynne on July 13, 2006 at 12:24 AMI did slightly cheat to actually look up a definition for "wilderness" before answering this question:
an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammelled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.
Given that definition, and the absence of any definition for how small the area can be and still fall under the definition of "wilderness," I'm going to say the nearest one to me is about 40 miles away. I don't think there's been a fire there at least in my lifetime. That's at least 60 years. And since I don't recall any talk about there being on there ever, I'm guessing that that kind of talk would have come from oldtimers. If they weren't talking about it, I'd guess another 50 years on top of that.
If I wanted to know, and I do now, I'd google it.
Posted by Jane on February 19, 2006 at 12:13 AMEr, wilderness, in Texas? Is that an oxymoron?
I suppose you could call Wild Basin in Austin or Lost Pines in Bastrop wilderness. Burned? No clue.
Consult a state map of parks.
Posted by John S. Quarterman on September 18, 2005 at 5:07 AMThe southern Sierra Nevada are closest. We had fires there last year.
Posted by path on September 15, 2005 at 4:02 AM1. Go look
2. Ask a bushwalker
3. GO bushwalking
4. Get a tourist guide for the area and look
5. Ask a local teenager where their version of "inspiration point" is
6. Keep your eyes peeled in Summer
7. Ask the local council where pre-emptive burn-offs are scheduled
True wilderness? Maybe the Adirondacks, and a fire hasn't burned through it since this nation was formed.
Bayonne has a saltwater marsh that was bruned through as recently as ten years ago. Does that count?
Posted by Christopher Wanko on September 12, 2005 at 8:50 PM
About two miles away. The non-wilderness side of the Mountain (about two feet away)was on fire this Summer.
Posted by Destini on January 6, 2007 at 12:45 AM