To the relief of big-game hunters, the U.S. Forest Service has reopened some areas affected by central Utah’s Pole Creek and Bald Mountain fires, including Diamond Fork Canyon and all roads and trails north of U.S. Highway 6.
Much of the 100,000-acre burn area in the Wasatch Mountains southeast of Provo had been closed since Sept. 12, when high winds kicked two small lightning-sparked fires near Mount Nebo into fast-moving infernos. The closures were originally set to lift Oct. 15, a few days before elk season was to end Oct. 18.
The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, however, recently extended the closure to Nov.