High Sierra Topix

My wife and I awoke Thursday morning to a lot of haze and smelling smoke. This was at Lake Marie on our way to Bear Creek Junction and Italy Lake and Italy Pass.

We briefly wondered if something had flaired up near us and if we were going to have to alter our plans. The smoke hazed out a couple of the mountains near us.

We later met a woman that thought we had a wind shift that was blowing the Kings Canyon smoke our way.

On a side note...
There sure seemed to be a lot of people up in the Paiute Creek area earlier. I didn't realize it was such a popular place. We came in over Pine Creek Pass and met at least 12 people while we fished the area for a couple of days.

I was hiking in the Rae Lakes area a couple of weeks ago. The Sheep fire had turned the air pretty brown in the Cedar Grove/Roads End area. It didn't get better until we had hiked out of Paradise Valley towards Woods Creek.

At the end of the trip, I talked to one of the firefighters at Cedar Grove. She said that they were watching the fire, but were letting it burn. The area has an over-accumulation of fuel.

Last week, a friend and I were hiking off Tioga Road. we were supposed to do the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, but a fire had caused the White Wolf leg of the trail to be closed.

So, instead, we hiked the Ten Lakes loop. When we were descending from the 10 Lakes area, we could see a part of the Tuolumne Canyon. There was definitely a lot of brown air coming from the White Wolf end of the canyon.

Here's a link for all of the forest fires that the forest service is tracking:

http://inciweb.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How's the Sheep Fire right now?

We're intending to head for Pear Lake/Tablelands tomorrow. Looks like the fire and the smoke are north of there; but wondering if the smoke is wandering south/southeast in our direction at all.

- Elizabeth

I was out from Thursday thru today, and saw no smoke in Pioneer Basin, or that
vicinity.

There are two fires in the Hetch Hetchy area that are contributing to the air quality. Here is the one burning above Lake Vernon.

Yose published this: http://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/current_fire.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Smoke on 9/23 above Middle Fork Kings,

I was in Miter Basin and Crabtree Lake 9/25 - 9/27. It was lovely and clear.

Was in Humphrey's basin this past weekend, air quality was superb. Driving just west of Yosemite there was lots of smoke in the air.

If you check the link above, it will tell you the up-to-date acreage that is acively burning.

Today, it was 8,987 acres burning.