High Sierra Topix

French Fire is up to 5,600 acres, a 3600 acre increase.
El Portal is up to 3,545 acres, a 485 acre increase.

PS. Sierra NF restrictions during the French Fire: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOC ... 810863.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I also have a trip planned out of the Mammoth area this upcoming week and am putting together some backup plans in case the smoke gets bad. Any ideas on how far north or south I may need to go to minimize the smoke? I'm going with a group of 5, so somewhere where there are no trailhead quotas would be preferable. I'm considering Emigrant or Carson Pass, but I'm not sure if that's north enough to avoid the smoke.

Smoke in both Bishop and Independence for a few hours, today, July 30. Very poor visibility in mountains near Bishop for a while. Local folks say this is the first smoke to impact the towns. It's unclear which particular fire(s) were to blame for the smoke here today. Clear now, no smoke smell or look.

El Portal Fire: 3,900 acres 34% contained, a 355 acres increase.

French Fire: 7,024 10% contained, a 1424 acres increase.

El Portal Fire is at 4,198 acres and 58% contained, up 298 acres. There are concerns
that the fire may continue on to the Merced Sequoia Grove.

French Fire is at 8,207 and 15% contained, up 1003 acres. Monsoonal flow is creating
hot conditions and chances for lightening in the area. This fire is going to impact
many areas in the Sierra, and may grow much, much bigger because of the terrain.

We just returned from a three day walk in the Little Lakes Valley area this evening. Smoke would get fairly thick in early morning and late afternoon. You could certainly smell it and my eyes are fairly irritated from the last few days. Luckily it wasn't all day.

French Fire is at 12,827 acres, and 20% contained, 4620 acre increase from Friday.

El Portal Fire is at 4,689 acres, and 89% contained, a 491 acres increase since Friday.

Just returned from SE Yosemite/Rush Creek to Parker Pass area. Sometime after Thurs (July 30) but before Sat (Aug 2) they reopened Crane Flat Rd after the El Portal fire was sufficiently corralled. As of July 30 Crane Flat road was still closed and the Groveland to Tuolumne part of the drive was choked with smoke, some of it from a small controlled burn to the east, too. While in the backcountry Dana Mdws to Lost Lakes (Rush Creek drainage) to Alger Lakes to Koip-Parker Passes and back to Dana Mdws from July 31 to August 2 the smoke became worse, I presume from the increase in size of the French Fire. When I drove out on Saturday eve (8/2 starting at 530 pm from Danda Mdws) western Yosemite (W of the controlled burn) was nearly smoke free, so I wondered where the smoke in the high country came from until picking up the paper on my return and reading about the French Fire.

I've been in Mammoth since Saturday. When I drove in Saturday, the smoke was very bad. But Sunday, a storm started coming in and it was relatively smoke free, except in the valley near Devil's Postpile starting around 1:30. Back in town, it was smoke free for the rest of the day. It seems like this storm is keeping the smoke away.

I bailed on Bear Lakes due to the French Fire.

I went to SEKI instead. On my way out yesterday, I hiked right into a fire.

Copper Creek Trail is closed due to a small fire near Lower Tent Meadow. (I was escorted out).