High Sierra Topix

The map published on the extent of the Rim Fire shows it burning between Cherry Lake and Lake Eleanor and reaching NNE towards Kibbie Lake. It looks like it may have taken out the old Kibbie Lake trail from Lake Eleanor.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3660/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The fire has been greatly expanding, so it is likely that a much wider area will burn. Since much of the area near Kibbie and near Hetch Hetchy was burned not so long ago, I can only guess that this fire will take out the leftovers.

The Hetchy Hetchy road and backpacker's camp is closed.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/rimfire.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The smoke columns are visible a hundred miles away. Newspapers report evacuations near Groveland. Hard to see this fire stopping until it hits granite. I worry about the area between Kibbie and Flora, and perhaps the whole Kibbie Ridge again--or whatever did not burn last time.

"And the fire had established at least a foothold in Yosemite, with at least 17 of its 196 square miles burning inside the park's broad borders, in a remote area near Lake Eleanor where backpackers seek summer solace. Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said that the park had stopped issuing backcountry permits to backpackers and had warned those who already had them to stay out of the area." http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sectio ... id=9217721" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not surprised by any of these fires. We know in this state they will happen, but we don't spend money here on prevention based on probability; We wait until it actually happens and complain about how much money it costs to fight the fire.

Personally, I'd love to see more responsibility put on those who live in areas that get overgrown to prep the protective space around either their property or gated community. If the area around them burns, well that's natural. If it's caused by a campfire or an accident, those happen as well, given people sometimes do have accidents.

I saw some great examples of homes or groups of homes on my way back from a trip late June between the dinkeys and beasore where homes were perfectly prepped. And then others that i know CalFire would just say. sorry.

I'd love more prescribed burns adopted in late spring. It's back to the homeowners at that point. do you want controlled areas of impact to be taken out or just end up with a wasteland.

at least we know that granite will stop a fire cold.

russ

http://news.yahoo.com/yosemite-fire-bri ... 24441.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting how the Valley skies a crystal clear but all the smoke is effecting
Reno miles away: http://www.rgj.com/article/20130823/NEW ... ck_check=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Carson City is still socked in today. Tomorrow I'll gas up my car and head south on 395 until I find relatively smoke free skies. Hoping for Virginia Lakes Trailhead...will settle for lunch at Whoa Nellie and a stop at the Mono Lake Visitors center for new hiking books.

Talked to my son at Burning Man (No. Nevada) last night and it was pretty smoky way up there!

Just got back from short trip to Green lake/East Lake, Hoover Wilderness. Smoke rolled in yesterday afternoon, cleared at night. Slightly smoky in Bridgeport. Smoke really thick near junction to Sonora Pass and all the way to Tahoe. Cleared up once over Echo Summit. The NWS forecasts show the areas of smoke - mostly on the east side north of Lee Vining. It was very windy so smoke is really getting blown around.

I just returned from Miter Basin where the smoke and ash from the Fish fire seemed to be collecting. From the ridge above Soldier Lake I could barely see the base of Mt Pickering. When I left Cottonwood TH this morning it was clear, although there was a small amount of smoke the night before. By the time I reached MB at 2:30 it was bad enough to call it a day and hike out. Some hikers could see the fire from NAP. I avoided OAP and NAP on the way out as the smoke was really bad in that direction. Smoke in Owens Valley was heavy around Alabama Hills and Lone Pine at 7:30 pm. Whitney not visible. The latest update show 1,000 acres / 5% contained:

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3701/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The following very long link will start Gmap4 and display a map that always shows the most recently available fire perimeters for all significant forest fires in the USA that involve the feds. The map is zoomed in a bit on southern CA.

The map also shows wind direction and speed to give you an idea of where the smoke is going. Note that the wind data is always 3 hours old.

Wind legend:
http://nowcoast.noaa.gov/LayerInfo?laye ... ata=legend

Map:
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.p ... sion=1.1.1

Joseph, the Gmap4 guy

Thank you Joseph,

Based on that, it appears as if some old backpacking haunts have been burned, but for those of us who love to pack in NW Yosemite/Hetch Hetchy/Emmigrant the decisive times are still ahead.

Miguel Meadow shows as being burned. I wonder if the ranger station survived. Swamp Lake is in the burn zone. The south shore of Lake Eleanor is all burned, so that trail will be a mess. The Lake Eleanor campground on the NW shore shows as in the burn zone.

(Obviously, the road from 120 over to Cherry Creek Dam goes right through the heart of the burn zone.)

It looks as if the burn yesterday got very close to the Shingle Springs trailhead. The trail from Eleanor to Kibbie looks to be burned for about half the distance. The good news is that the map does not show this as getting much closer to Kibbie over the last day.

I am worried that it could take off up Frog Creek to Laurel Lake, Beehive, and beyond, or continue up to Kibbie, or continue over to the North shore of Hetch Hetchy. Would it jump Cherry Creek and threaten Emigrant? The degree to which this fire damages popular backpacking trails and destinations will probably be determined over the next few days.

And yes, I know fire is a part of nature and I know that all this will eventually recover. But it will mean saying goodbye to some familiar places for my lifetime.

Interesting perspective on the RIM fire from the air -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-qffUgbp_M" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;