The Sherman Brook campsite sign reads campfires are permitted. The site s been twice burned over in the past decade: The 2015 fire that burned 300 acres was started here by an errant cookfire. CLARKSBURG, Mass. Although the East Mountain wildland fire rolled over close to 1,000 acres of forestland, it just left the Appalachian Trail a little crispy. Not much damage to the trail itself, though we had some damage at our campsite in the fire area, Appalachian Trail volunteer Cosmo Catalano Jr. said in an email correspondence. The fire was a pretty low-intensity event, burning the top layer of the leaves on the forest floor and charring most of the smaller bushes and shrubs up to about 4 feet high.