Yosemite Report

[Darrell Harmon]

I was in Yosemite from July 19 to July 23. The flow over Vernal and Nevada falls was still large. The other falls were beginning to dry up. I did carry the 4x5 a total of about 24 miles during the week, and I will have to post some comments on that later. There were certainly some things that were worth carrying the pack for.

I don't have the 4x5 film developed, but have a few digital pictures I can post:

Glacier point July 21 2008
http://dlharmon.com/~dlharmon/photos/cameraatglacierptjuly212008.jpg

Vernal Falls July 20 2008
http://dlharmon.com/~dlharmon/photos/vernalfallsjuly202008.jpg

Darrell Harmon

[QT Luong]

Looks like it was hazy, like it has been all summer, wasn't it ?

[SamReeves]

It certainly has. Fire smoke has been everywhere in California this summer.

[Preston]

There is a large fire burning on both sides of the river in the Merced River Canyon near Midpines on Hwy 140. It is over a 1000 acres as 5:00 PM PDT today. The town of Midpines may have to be evacuated. The fire started yesterday afternoon.

If you are planning to visit Yosemite in the coming days, the smoke will likely be pretty bad since up-canyon winds will drive the smoke directly into the valley. Also, keep an eye on road conditions for closures. If you are headed to Yosemite, you might want to use CA 120 East, or enter the park from the East Side over Tioga Pass (Hwy 120 West).

-P

[John Kasaian]

Yeah the tankers in Fresno have been flying out of the Air Attack Base here and headed that direction today. It is quite a sight to see them struggle off the deck loaded down with that strawberry colored goop!

[Preston]

Update on the fire near Yosemite...

The fire is now 10,000 Ac and threatening portions of Midpines and surrounding areas. Some evacuations have been ordered, and up to 2,000 structures are threatened. CA National Guard helicopter air support has been ordered.

It looks like this one will get worse before it gets better. Not good. :-(

-P

[don12x20]

I flew north from San Jose to Hillsboro,Oregon on the corporate jet on Friday evening.
extremely smokey from fires (many) burning a few miles inland from the coast all the way up to Del Norte County. It looked like a strong coastal fog -- very thick. Can't imagine how smokey Yosemite must be at this time with all the smoke streaming eastward.

[SamReeves]

Looks like a good time to avoid Yosemite. We haven't seen any of the smoke on the coast…yet.

[Bruce Watson]

Can't imagine how smoky Yosemite must be at this time with all the smoke streaming eastward.

You don't have to imagine it -- there are live webcams like this one from near Tunnel View. (http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/TurtlebackCam.htm) That is mostly smoke with a little haze mixed in. A yellow filter won't help much with this stuff :( .

I read a report that they cut the electricity off to at least some of the valley yesterday or today so that fire fighters could work under power lines. They are already risking their lives; no need to add falling live power lines to their workload.

Oy. Poor Yosemite. Probably a lot of disappointed visitors this summer too. Sigh...

[don12x20]

On tonight's news - Telegraph fire just outside the park has caused El Portal to be evacuated. Flames to 100 feet. Zero containment. Park still open.

[Bruce Watson]

You don't have to imagine it -- there are live webcams like this one from near Tunnel View. (http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/TurtlebackCam.htm) That is mostly smoke with a little haze mixed in. A yellow filter won't help much with this stuff :( .

I read a report that they cut the electricity off to at least some of the valley yesterday or today so that fire fighters could work under power lines. They are already risking their lives; no need to add falling live power lines to their workload.

Oy. Poor Yosemite. Probably a lot of disappointed visitors this summer too. Sigh...

And it looks like the web cameras are down now -- they are showing images from last Saturday.

[Preston]

Here is an update on the Telegraph fire from our local news. Not Good.

Telegraph Fire News from Sonora, CA (http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/kvml/1217331038)

-P

[Aahx]

For daily reports from our National Interagency Fire Center go here:

http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm

And as for smoke, I photograph near fires here in Alaska just for that effect on the sun and light. It can make for some beautiful light if one is distant enough from the fire to not be in danger. Like this image I took a couple years ago of smoke and sun.


http://my.photodump.com/Aahx/Fire-in-Sky-T.jpg (http://www.photodump.com/Aahx/Fire-in-Sky.html)

[John Kasaian]

The aerial tankers have been flying out of the Fresno Air Attack Base all day fairly regularly.

[Keith S. Walklet]

Have my fingers crossed for lots of folks in the path of that fire.

Two good sources of info for up to date status:

http://firefighterblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/telegraph-fire-not-near-no-threat-to.html

http://www.incidentfeed.com/index.php?view=article&catid=1%3Alatest&id=61%3Atelegraph-incident&option=com_content&Itemid=2

[Eric James]

I hoping for the best for my friends within the fires' reach. Nature will get over the scar, but the lives in harms way are precious.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

"I knew this would happen after the glaciers melted and trees started growing there."

Do you mean millions of years ago?