High Sierra Topix

The latest news relative to our Wilderness revolves around the five Fire Complexes that are impacting Wilderness usage. On July 30th we had over 400 lightening strikes within the western side of the Wilderness and southward for approximately 30 miles. These lightening strikes sparked off five distinct Fires Complexes that have now burned up a total of over 110,000 acres. One of those Complexes has been named the ‘River Complex’ and it is burning in the far western portion of the Alps. So far the River Complex has burned approximately 25,000 acres and consequently that portion of the Alps west of the North Fork of the Trinity River is now closed by Forest Order.

Only the west side of the river. The trail is still open.

However, almost all of our visitor usage is on the eastern side of the Alps, so there is no direct fire danger for the locations you are planning to visit on the eastern side of the Alps. The issue though becomes smoke, and there is no way to predict its whereabouts from day to day. For instance, it was very smoky within the eastern portions of the Alps from August 6th to August 10th. It then cleared up on the 11th and it has continued clear crystal up until today (the 13th). The wind may shift within a matter of hours though, so there is no guarantee that todays clarity will allow for distant visibility tomorrow. Your best bet relative to smoke density is to hike on the easternmost and generally northern portions of the Alps (from about Swift Creek northward).