Activated W5N/PW-015 Hermit Peak today. The trail up from the El Porvenir trailhead is open and clear, with all debris and deadfall from the fire removed from the trail, trail markers are in place at the start of the trail. The actual campground/trailhead area is closed with the gate locked but there is cleared parking just on the other side of the river on the access road and the trail is "officially" open. It's not all char and devastation, much of the understory vegetation is healthy and in full flower, in some areas the larger trees appear completely dead but in others you can see green in the tops. Birds were singing and the insect population has obviously rebounded. Didn't see much sign of mammal life though, either small rodent type or larger. The summit area itself didn't do too badly at all but standing looking out from the top of the rockface you can see just how extensive the fire was both to the north and south. "Interesting" propagation conditions again with at times quite rapid QSB on 15m, still managed to get Christian in F land in the log.
