If Leavenworth was the plan for a fall dog trip, most of the trail network north of town isn’t available right now. The Forest Service’s Little Giant Fire closure order covers the Wenatchee River and Entiat Ranger Districts through Oct. 31, and it isn’t a narrow, single-trailhead thing. It’s most of the Chiwawa River drainage, a big piece of the Entiat side, and the trails that make this corner of the Cascades one of the better off-leash destinations in the state.

We’ve covered wildfire smoke drifting into Portland and a closure order across the Owyhee Canyonlands this same week, but hadn’t written about this fire specifically — and it’s grown into the kind of story that changes an actual trip, not just an air quality forecast. If Lake Wenatchee, the Chiwawa, or Icicle Ridge-adjacent trails are anywhere on your radar for the next two months, read the closure order before you load the dog in the car.

Quick Verdict: What’s Happening and What to Do

Detail	What You Need to Know
Fire size	128,000+ acres as of Aug. 14, 2026
Containment	7%
Started	July 15, lightning strike, in the Chiwawa River drainage roughly 30 miles northwest of Leavenworth
Closure order	Effective Aug. 1 – Oct. 31, covering the Wenatchee River and Entiat Ranger Districts
What’s closed	31 campgrounds and day-use sites, 80+ Forest Service roads, 90+ trails
Key roads closed	Chiwawa River Road (6200), Phelps Creek Road (6211), Entiat River Road (5100)
Key trails closed	Little Giant Trail 1518, Chiwawa River Trail 1550, Phelps Creek Trail 1511, Twin Lakes, Carne Mountain, Entiat River Trail 1400
Structures lost	26 — 2 primary residences, 3 cabins, 21 outbuildings
Evacuations	Level 3 “Go Now” active for the Trinity area; Level 2 from Chikamin Ridge Road to Twin Creek Road
Your dog, today	Don’t plan a Chiwawa or upper Entiat trip through at least October. Check the order the morning you leave

Why This Fire Is a Bigger Deal Than It Sounds

Twenty-two miles doesn’t sound close if you’re used to thinking about fires threatening a town directly. But the Little Giant Fire didn’t stay in the wilderness where it started. It’s currently the top-priority wildfire in the country, and the trails it’s burning through — Little Giant Trail, Buck Creek, Chiwawa River, Phelps Creek, Twin Lakes, Carne Mountain — are exactly the routes people drive from Seattle for. Long approaches, alpine lakes, real elevation gain, and enough space that dogs can be off-leash without running into a crowd every quarter mile. That’s the appeal, and it’s also why a closure here hurts more than a closure somewhere less trafficked.

The fire started July 15 from a lightning strike in the Chiwawa River drainage, inside the Glacier Peak Wilderness near the Little Giant Pass trailhead. Firefighters who moved in early got pulled out within days — steep, inaccessible terrain and erratic fire behavior made it unsafe to hold a line, and the fire kept growing through late July and into August largely unchecked. By Aug. 14 it had burned past 128,000 acres with containment sitting at just 7%, per KIRO 7, with more than 2,200 personnel assigned. Numbers like that shift fast on an active fire — treat anything here as a snapshot and check InciWeb’s Little Giant Fire page before you commit to a trip.

What the Closure Order Actually Covers

This is the part worth reading slowly, because “the Little Giant Fire is burning near Leavenworth” undersells how much trail access it’s taken off the table.

The official closure order — Order No. 06-17-07-2026-28 — runs Aug. 1 through Oct. 31 and prohibits entry to roads, trails, campgrounds, and day-use sites across both the Wenatchee River and Entiat Ranger Districts. In total, it closes:

• 31 campgrounds and day-use areas, including Atkinson Flat, Alpine Meadows, Silver Falls, Riverbend, Schaefer Creek, and several Graham Harbor sites
• 80-plus Forest Service roads, led by Chiwawa River Road (6200) closed from Atkinson Flat Campground to the road’s end, Phelps Creek Road (6211) closed along its entire length, and Entiat River Road (5100)
• 90-plus trails, including Little Giant Trail 1518, Chiwawa River Trail 1550, Phelps Creek Trail 1511, Twin Lakes, Carne Mountain, and Entiat River Trail 1400

That’s the Chiwawa drainage and most of the upper Entiat, effectively closed. If your usual dog-hiking loop starts anywhere off Chiwawa Loop Road or the Entiat River Road corridor, it’s inside the order.

Is the Little Giant Trail Open to Hikers?

No. Little Giant Trail 1518 is closed under the Forest Service’s Aug. 1–Oct. 31 order, along with the rest of the Chiwawa River drainage trail system — Twin Lakes, Carne Mountain, Phelps Creek, and Chiwawa River Trail among them. The trailhead sits inside the fire’s active footprint, not just its evacuation buffer, so this isn’t a case of checking back in a week. Plan on the closure holding through the order’s stated end date at minimum.

The Fire Jumped Lake Chelan — And Nobody Expected That

Here’s the detail that made this fire different from a typical Cascades wildfire: it crossed open water. Officials had counted on Lake Chelan acting as a natural firebreak, the way lakes usually do. Strong winds carried an ember roughly 2.5 miles across the lake and ignited vegetation on the far shore, according to operations section chief Kristian Litz, who told KUOW, “I’m not from around here, but everybody I’ve talked to was pretty sure that it was not going to jump the lake. Unfortunately, it happened.”

That’s the kind of fire behavior that should change how you think about “safe distance” if you’re weighing a trip anywhere near the perimeter, dog or no dog. A body of water a couple miles wide didn’t stop this fire. A ridge or a highway won’t either.

The fire has since destroyed 26 structures — 2 primary residences, 3 cabins, and 21 outbuildings, per KIRO 7 — a jump from early August, when officials reported roughly 1,800 structures threatened but none yet lost. Evacuation levels have moved with it. Level 3 “Go Now” is active for the Trinity area; Level 2 covers the stretch from Chikamin Ridge Road (Forest Service Road 6210) to Twin Creek Road (Forest Service Road 6209); Level 1 extends from Twin Creek Road to Alder Creek Road, according to KPQ. Crews have also built a community protection line running from Big Meadow Creek to Twin Lakes and Chiwawa Ridge — which tells you plainly that Twin Lakes isn’t a “check back next month” closure. It’s inside the fight.

What to Actually Do If You Had a Leavenworth Trip Planned

• Don’t assume Leavenworth itself is affected the same way the trails are. The town isn’t under evacuation. The backcountry north and west of it — Chiwawa, upper Entiat — is where the closure and the fire both live. Check the order before you cancel a whole trip you didn’t need to.
• If you’re anywhere near the Level 1 advisory zone or beyond, still have a real exit plan. Cell coverage thins out fast once you’re off Highway 2, and this is a fire that’s already proven it doesn’t respect the boundaries people expect it to. The same logic behind our GPS collar guide applies to knowing your own location, not just your dog’s.
• Redirect south or east of the closure, not to its edge. Icicle Creek and the trails immediately around downtown Leavenworth sit outside the order, but conditions and smoke can change day to day — don’t treat “outside the closure line” as automatically clear.
• Check air quality before you hike, even outside the fire perimeter. A fire producing pyrocumulus clouds pushes smoke well beyond its footprint. Our wildfire smoke and AQI guide covers what to check before your dog is already coughing on trail.
• Don’t leave a dog in a parked car while you figure out a rerouted hike. A closure detour usually means extra time sitting at a trailhead sorting out plan B, and August heat doesn’t care that you’re rerouting because of a wildfire. Our hot car guide covers how fast that turns dangerous.
• Call before you drive if you’re not sure a specific trailhead is covered. The Wenatchee River Ranger District can confirm current status at 509-548-2550, and it’s a two-minute call against a wasted drive to a locked gate.

Where Else to Take Your Dog Instead

The Chiwawa and upper Entiat drainages are a big piece of what makes this region worth the drive, but they’re not the only dog-friendly terrain in the Central Cascades. Trails around Icicle Creek and lower-elevation routes closer to Leavenworth proper sit outside the current order — just verify current status before you go, since fire footprints and smoke both shift. If you’d specifically planned around alpine lake access like Twin Lakes or the Carne Mountain approach, that trip is better postponed than substituted; there isn’t a real like-for-like replacement nearby this season.

Bottom Line

The Little Giant Fire has burned more than 128,000 acres with containment still in single digits, and the Forest Service’s closure order takes a huge chunk of the Wenatchee River and Entiat Ranger Districts off the map through Oct. 31 — 31 campgrounds, 80-plus roads, and 90-plus trails, including Little Giant Trail, Twin Lakes, and Carne Mountain. The fire has already done something officials didn’t expect, jumping Lake Chelan and destroying 26 structures, and evacuation levels have moved more than once as it’s grown.

If a Chiwawa or Entiat trip was on the calendar, it isn’t this season. Check the closure order and InciWeb before you drive out — this fire has been active for a month straight, and nothing about the last two weeks suggests it’s close to done.

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Fire statistics, containment, and personnel figures from KIRO 7, current as of Aug. 14, 2026. Closure order details from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. Lake Chelan jump and structure-threat details from KUOW. Evacuation level boundaries from KPQ. Check current fire status at InciWeb before any trip into the Wenatchee River or Entiat Ranger Districts — containment, acreage, and closure boundaries can all shift within a single day.