High Sierra Topix

See the official text here:

https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazo ... __002_.pdf

From what I've gleaned from it, the following are closed until July.

- Whitney Portal (Bummer, I had a mid june permit)
- Reds Meadow Road
- Mammoth Lake Basin Roads, pretty much every major trailhead out of Mammoth.
- Pine Creek Road

The rest of the closures don't really seem like they'll impact the backcountry. Seems they are targeting fisherman and climbers.

I too have a Whitney permit for mid June, I was gonna do Russell or Muir. My permit has not been cancelled or refunded. Maybe they are waiting to see how the next 2-3 weeks play out.

Something seems odd about that PDF. It says that the closures went into effect on April 14, but if that were the case, we would have been hearing about it before now. Also, it's not signed by the Inyo Forest Supervisor, and I don't see a copy on the Inyo NF's website. Kind of looks like it might be a draft of something they were thinking of doing but never officially issued??

GGC23 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:54 pm Something seems odd about that PDF. It says that the closures went into effect on April 14, but if that were the case, we would have been hearing about it before now. Also, it's not signed by the Inyo Forest Supervisor, and I don't see a copy on the Inyo NF's website. Kind of looks like it might be a draft of something they were thinking of doing but never officially issued??

There was a meeting about it today. I’ve been trying my best to follow. Thing are fluid clearly. I just figured this was worthy of a post here.

Thanks for posting this, schmalz. My wife and I have reservations at Coldwater at the end of St. Mary Road that now seem to be cancelled if this becomes official. We haven't heard from Recreation.gov yet, but I expect we will soon. The letters from the various officials in the PDF seems like it will become policy. I just made alternative arrangements (which will also probably be cancelled--it's going to be an interesting summer).

This is ridiculous.

FWIW, these closures look like what we've been dealing with for weeks in the Bay Area. Popular areas get closed, but they can't police everywhere. There are many worthy mountains out there to enjoy.

It’s odd the pdf is dated two weeks ago. I assume this was up for discussion or still is and hasn’t been finalized. Fingers crossed things settle down enough that we can safely enjoy the summer.

Sensible limited directive. The climbing community has themselves to blame given bro attitudes in news a month ago. Car campers given fishing season would be worse.
Most backcountry trailheads remain open. Hiking enthusiasts need to understand their toys may be taken away too if they don't play nice. If front country visitors mob the small mountain communities like they usually do, areas may close regardless. Given below normal snowpack, higher elevations will open a bit earlier this summer.

My suggestion is to be logistically self sufficient, bringing in food, drinks, and supplies bought from where one lives while just stopping at gas stations without going inside to their convenience stores. I've been playing that drive to game locally while hiking 5 times this last 2 weeks.

Lacking testing and treatment, I do not expect the opening back up of society to go well as there are just way too many clueless and or those with resistant attitudes. Many are likely to continue to die with fear strangling our world.

Duplicate.