High Sierra Topix

Thanks Mark, sounds great. I really appreciate the reply. Hopefully, conditions will continue in their current near ideal state.

Herm

I just returned home this evening from a trip over Duck Pass. On the drive out of the Mammoth Lakes Basin, it became evident that something bad was going on in the vicinity of Yosemite. A huge plume of smoke rose behind Mounts Ritter and Banner, with the smoke being blown north and east by strong winds. Otherwise, during my trip Thursday through Sunday, there weren't any such issues. Hope this fire can be quickly corralled.

Herm

Noticed that fire today on the Yosemite webcam. NPS says "The Meadow Fire is burning in the greater Little Yosemite Valley area and is at 400 acres."

100 hikers evacuated, Half Dome and LVL closed. Fire at 2,582 acres.
http://www.savingadvice.com/articles/20 ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nps.gov/yose/blogs/fireinfo.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2600 acres. http://www.modbee.com/2014/09/08/352766 ... acres.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow, you evev cannot see El Captain on the "El Capatain" webcam, and only Half Dome
on the "High Sierra" webcam from the dense smoke:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As requested by Mav -
Mammoth Lakes Tuesday morning 10:00 AM.
This morning awoke to no wind. This probably explains the totally blue skies and no trace of smoke to be seen anywhere over the Crest.
Highs in the mid 70's - lows in the 30's...Maybe the smoke effects Yosemite visibility that far westward but no evidence of any fires/smoke to be seen around the lakes here east side.

Off fishing today and will report any change later if I see anything around the Minarets.
Mark

Thanks Mark.

Fire is at 4434 acres, grew 1834 acres since 9/8.

Yosemite NPS:
Features and facilities that are closed include, but are not limited to:

-Little Yosemite Valley
-The John Muir Trail between Little Yosemite Valley and Long Meadow.
-All routes on Half Dome including the Cables, NW Regular Route, and Snake Dike.
-Sunrise and Merced Lake High Sierra Camps and backpackers' camps.
-The Sunrise Trail south of the Tenaya Lake Trail junction.
-Clouds Rest, Sunrise Lakes, Emeric Lake, and Babcock Lake.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/blogs/Meadow-Fi ... osures.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

maverick wrote: Fire is at 4434 acres, grew 1834 acres since 9/8.

According to YubaNet the big jump in acreage from 9/8 to 9/9 was mainly due to helicopter use:
"Fire increase in size is a result of helicopter access to GPS fire."

Also interesting/frightening:
"Bears continue to be a major issue with crew safety in spike camp and on the line. Extensive measures are being taken not to attract bears to food and supplies."

maverick wrote:Thanks Mark.

Fire is at 4434 acres, grew 1834 acres since 9/8.

Yosemite NPS:
Features and facilities that are closed include, but are not limited to:

-Little Yosemite Valley
-The John Muir Trail between Little Yosemite Valley and Long Meadow.
-All routes on Half Dome including the Cables, NW Regular Route, and Snake Dike.
-Sunrise and Merced Lake High Sierra Camps and backpackers' camps.
-The Sunrise Trail south of the Tenaya Lake Trail junction.
-Clouds Rest, Sunrise Lakes, Emeric Lake, and Babcock Lake.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/blogs/Meadow-Fi ... osures.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I witnessed the flare up and large plume from the west slope of Ritter and from atop Ritter on Sunday. That day, smoke blew northeast and left me with clean air and expansive views. I may post some images in a Ritter area thread later. Monday, I came over Tioga Pass and stopped by Happy Isles before heading west out of the park to home via Merced. I saw closure signs at the trailheads entering the areas listed above. Most of the fire crews seemed to have parked near Happy Isles. Smoke was not much of an issue in the developed areas I drove through and stopped at on Monday. There was significant rainfall in the high country near Tioga Pass. Obviously smoke conditions will change with the winds. I'm not sure if anyone has posted something like this map before (click the fire box and scroll to the area you are interested in to see where the smoke is):

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;