+RoyalRed Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Took my brother-in-law from Georgia up to Centralia to do some caching and take in the sights of the great burning town. The last time I was there (about 3-5 years ago) the ground was spewing jets of hot, sulfric smoke and you could cook a meal on most places. This time we had to search for any smoke and only located a small wisp of smoke half-way down the closed section of route 61. Found 3 hot spots and a few areas were sulfer was evident in the air. Took a lot of abuse about how smokey this place was from the BIL since we found virtually nothing. Did find lots of racial slurs spray painted on 61. So I guess the fire has moved on past Centrailia now? Or did I just hit an inactive day? Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 (edited) Took my brother-in-law from Georgia up to Centralia to do some caching and take in the sights of the great burning town. The last time I was there (about 3-5 years ago) the ground was spewing jets of hot, sulfric smoke and you could cook a meal on most places. This time we had to search for any smoke and only located a small wisp of smoke half-way down the closed section of route 61. Found 3 hot spots and a few areas were sulfer was evident in the air. Took a lot of abuse about how smokey this place was from the BIL since we found virtually nothing. Did find lots of racial slurs spray painted on 61. So I guess the fire has moved on past Centrailia now? Or did I just hit an inactive day? No, no, the fire is still there, and will never leave Centralia, best I can tell. From what I know, this is the definitive Centralia website. When I found the Earthcache (July 29th, 2005 apparently) there was no smoke visible anywhere in town, and I drove all over the whole former town. So I guess I hit an inactive day too. The smell was terrible though, sort of like burning tires. [EDIT] Yeah, I guess none of the Centralia websites really pinpoint the fire from year to year. I don't know, maybe surf the listings in nearby Ashland, find someone who is a local, and contact them through their profile? The cache owner (whom I happen to know), is not a local, he's from Buffalo, N.Y. Edited September 4, 2007 by TheWhiteUrkel Quote Link to comment
+HaLiJuSaPa Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Ironically, the only cache we ever went for in the rain was this one (during the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto exactly one year ago this weekend) and ironically there was plenty of smoke then. I guess it just comes and goes...... Quote Link to comment
+RoyalRed Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Yes I know the fire is still burning...just wondering if it has now moved past Centralia. I know there is serious worry that if the fire is not put out within the next 10-years that Ashland will be the next victim to fall under the same state as Centralia is now in. Just was totally amazed at the change from my last visit. If the fires were still raging under Centralia and my visit was just a mild day I would assume that the plant life would still be all bleached out and dead. But the plant life seemed to be thriving with very little bleached out and dead material. Quote Link to comment
+HaLiJuSaPa Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 (edited) quote name='TheWhiteUrkel' date='Sep 3 2007, 02:30 PM' post='3050056'] [EDIT] Yeah, I guess none of the Centralia websites really pinpoint the fire from year to year. I don't know, maybe surf the listings in nearby Ashland, find someone who is a local, and contact them through their profile? The cache owner (whom I happen to know), is not a local, he's from Buffalo, N.Y. In an even weirder coincidence, the cache owner lives in the same exact town as my sister, though I asked if he knew her and he didn't Anyway, a good cacher group to contact may be frenchfrynfrosty, they live about 20 miles away from the earthcache but seem to know a lot about the general area and have many many hides in literally a 50 mile radius, many of which related to local history, etc. Never met them personally but have made a lot of email contact with them on area caches since they live very near a "2nd home" some family members of ours own nearby so I can tell you that they're very friendly and responsive (they started caching after us and when I noticed their many new hides before a trip there opened contact by tipping them off that Centralia is a nearby earthcache, which they appreciated). Good luck! Edited September 8, 2007 by HaLiJuSaPa Quote Link to comment
+Worf's Pack Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 When we went it was dry no smoke. Saw lots of burnt tree and such. But in some places the ground was very hot. Quote Link to comment
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