Outdoor enthusiasts hoping to hike or mountain bike west of Bend should be aware that trails in the popular Phil’s Trail network west of Bend are closed due to the Two Bulls Fire.

Trails and forest roads north of Century Drive and farther north to Skyline Forest are closed, according to Jean Nelson-Dean, a Deschutes National Forest spokeswoman. Shevlin Park is also closed, as is Skyliners Road west of Summit High School.

Nelson-Dean said the forest service has posted numerous signs at trailheads to keep the public out of harm’s way.

“The main thing is, we don’t want folks to get back in there and then we have to evacuate them in an emergency or we don’t know that they’re there,” Nelson-Dean said Monday. “The thing that people need to understand is we are looking out for their safety.”

She added that probably no one would want to venture into those areas anyway because of the smoke, but that smoke alone should not be a factor in determining areas to avoid. A wind-driven fire like Two Bulls, she said, can move quickly — so quickly that a relatively smoke-free area is not necessarily safe.

“Given the conditions, this fire could be very dynamic,” Nelson-Dean said. “We certainly hope we can keep it out of that area. It’s important that people don’t think, ‘Well, if I smell smoke’ … no. That’s not going to work, because fire can overtake areas pretty rapidly.”

Because it involves public lands, the closure area is different from evacuation areas, which are mostly on private lands with homes.

The closure area includes trails that were planned to be part of the Blitz 2 the Barrel mountain bike race on Wednesday evening. The race was postponed Monday afternoon, and organizers are hoping to reschedule it for a date later this summer.

— Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com