High Sierra Topix

I will pull off and park the car somewhere if it gets too dicey, not worth trashing the car.

Or paying the $700-$800 dollar towing fee!

Totally smoky skies from Fresno north driving all the way into Reno.

The Whitney cam, I think is better looked at through the time lapse link below the current cam. I think glare from the sun may be giving a false impression. I can see the rays in the Bishop cam. EODIS shows the bulk of the smoke activity.

https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?p ... 0274772645

Air quality and visibility over SEKI was poor last weekend and probably continues to be primarily due to low wind (inversion layers over the southern Central Valley), particulates, dust, etc., despite dry air. Control burns past Road's End and other small burns weren't helping any. The photos I did take weren't clear at all. Sitting atop Little Baldy early Sunday, we could see the relatively dense smog layers creeping up the western slopes in the morning.

The smoggy shot below is from Moro Rock Sunday about 5 p.m. The smoke dispersal from the Detwiler fire shown in worldview shows an unusual very wide northward directed plume reflecting the slow wind patterns. Usually much narrower NE directed plumes are seen.

I'm hoping we do get rain from the projected Mon-Wed thunderstorms to clear the air and cool down the slog up from Taboose.

Today's worldview looks a lot better than yesterday. IIRC, the affected area increased by 20K acres between the 19th and 20th. I wonder if it was largely grassland that caused the huge increase and explosion of smoke?

Just in case: http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/safet ... sentType=3 Even Crowley has smoke.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

No smoke, heat, thunderstorm, or snow cover is going to deter me! HST meetup is HST meetup. A must-do.

- Elizabeth

I'm ready.

k.. you're ready.

Hey All,
I'm writing this post from the Taboose Pass trailhead (there's cell reception!). The so-called "washout" begins 0.8 miles from the trailhead, although IMHO it's more general erosion than a single severe washout. Water apparently ran down the middle of the road, exposing lots of rocks, thus transforming the road into a crazy cobblestone situation.

I'm driving a Subaru Forester (8" clearance), and I easily made it to where the washout starts, but I chose to not continue driving any further. Instead I'll just walk the extra 0.8 miles. My concern is not the clearance of my vehicle, per se, but rather the sharpness of the rocks. The road basically becomes all sharp rocks with no soil. A pickup truck with more rugged tires could probably make it all the way.

If you're driving a passenger sedan, you could probably make it within 1.5 miles of the trailhead.

Anyway, as soon as the sun gets lower, I'll start hiking up the trail and my plan is to camp around 8K' tonight. I'm climbing Split Mountain on Monday, Cardinal (maybe) on Wednesday, and Arrow on Thursday. I'll see y'all Thursday night!