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Thread: Smoke smoke everywhere

  1. #91
    Dann Corbit
    Join Date
    Sep 2020
    Location
    Federal Way, WA USA
    Posts
    63

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    Washington and Idaho are also ablaze. Lots of highways have closures. I have 25 acres that might burn to the ground (there is a big, uncontrolled blaze within a mile). I have family in an area plaged by wildfires right now. It seems like they get worse every year.

  2. #92

    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Posts
    9,599

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    Army National Guard helicopter pilots and crews are doing an amazing job evacuating hikers, flying at night in the mountains and using night vision goggles through the fire,smoke and turbulence. They definitely have The Right Stuff.
    This morning I saw another Blackhawk come in from another part of the State to join the effort.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  3. #93
    Drew Wiley
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    SF Bay area, CA
    Posts
    18,338

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    The dicey issue with my friends is that they were attempting a tweak on the so-called High Route mostly off-trail the length of the range all the way from Whitney clear north past Yosemite, and exiting at Twin Lks above Bridgeport, and are therefore unlikely to encounter other fleeing hikers or be intuitively looked for by aircraft. And they probably didn't file any kind of reasonably specific route plan in advance, since current online only options don't accept those kinds of off-trail details. There's little actual fire risk that high above timberline, but I can't imagine trying to hike in that kind of smoke. One of them is lugging at least 90 lbs because they were attempting the entire route without resupply. I did my best to talk them into doing it in sections instead, and at nearly 71, couldn't realistically guide them myself over the whole length in one hypothetical push. There are a number of tricky low-Class-3 spots where it's easy to get off-track onto the cliffs. I can only hope they've sheltered themselves in place at some high lake and are waiting this one out, not realizing that this is an incident that isn't going away for quite awhile. At least they'll have sufficient food and a serious Bibler tent shelter.

  4. #94

    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    San Joaquin Valley, California
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    9,599

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    The dicey issue with my friends is that they were attempting a tweak on the so-called High Route mostly off-trail the length of the range all the way from Whitney clear north past Yosemite, and exiting at Twin Lks above Bridgeport, and are therefore unlikely to encounter other fleeing hikers or be intuitively looked for by aircraft. And they probably didn't file any kind of reasonably specific route plan in advance, since current online only options don't accept those kinds of off-trail details. There's little actual fire risk that high above timberline, but I can't imagine trying to hike in that kind of smoke. One of them is lugging at least 90 lbs because they were attempting the entire route without resupply. I did my best to talk them into doing it in sections instead, and at nearly 71, couldn't realistically guide them myself over the whole length in one hypothetical push. There are a number of tricky low-Class-3 spots where it's easy to get off-track onto the cliffs. I can only hope they've sheltered themselves in place at some high lake and are waiting this one out, not realizing that this is an incident that isn't going away for quite awhile. At least they'll have sufficient food and a serious Bibler tent shelter.
    Drew, isn't spending that much trail time above the timberline hazardous because of lightning? Before the fire started there was quite a bit of stormy weather up there!
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  5. #95
    Drew Wiley
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    SF Bay area, CA
    Posts
    18,338

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    John, the older person involved, now in his mid 40's, accompanied me on several trips where he learned first hand the risk of sudden lightning storms, and therefore how and when to time ridge, high pass, and bare area crossings. We dealt with a number of extreme lightning storms both in the Sierras and Rockies, so I'm not particularly worried about that. He's also done the entire JMT solo twice in autumn, enduring multiple serious blizzards. The so-called Sierra High Route, whether the Roper version or longer ones, basically parallels the Muir Trail, but at higher elevation, but also uses the JMT/PCT itself about 30% of the way. High passes themselves are intermittent; but there are many more up/down intermediate obstacles than the developed trail, some quite strenuous and convoluted. I had my own even higher version before the term High Route was even coined. I wasn't trying to establish any kind of "alternate route" for sake of a guidebook or something like that; it was just about getting as much off-trail and into solitude as possible, almost randomly.
    I was hoping for a weather event in Sabrina basin last week, but it obviously didn't work out. But I did get wonderful cloud formations minus lightning up atop the White Mtns. I had to default to MF gear when the winds acted up, but got some nice 4x5's too.
    You might have heard by now that Cressman's iconic old store was destroyed yesterday when the fire jumped 168. And the couple that bought my property were camping at Edison Lk and among those transported out of there last night by helicopter, but are not allowed to return home. At least the fire is now trending southeast, the other direction. The real extent of loss to places like Meadow Lakes, Alder Springs, and Bretz Mill will be known only after either the smoke finally lifts or it's safe enough for inspectors to enter those areas. Even the Highway Patrol has been asked to leave for sake of their own safety.
    Another positive note is that the northern part of the Sierra Scenic Byway has been spared by the wind reversal, so places like Granite Creek, Jackass Mdws, Beasore Mdws, Fresno Dome, and Nelder Grove seem safe, at least for now. The Shuteye Peak complex - my former living room view - was surrounded by fire, but it's nearly all bare granite anyway, so couldn't have been affected much.

  6. #96

    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Posts
    991

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    At this point, I'm thinking of taking up smoking...for my health!

  7. #97
    Drew Wiley
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    Sep 2008
    Location
    SF Bay area, CA
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    18,338

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    It was a bit surreal just a few minutes ago seeing actual footage of the couple who bought my house on primetime national news aboard a rescue helicopter, airlifting them last night from a camping trip higher up the road. It will probably go international too. These rescues involve people trapped near actual roads, in one instance in a ski resort parking lot. They haven't even begun searching the backcountry beyond the fire zone for those potentially impaired by smoke. There's another huge fire in the very south of the range which hasn't gotten any attention because it's far from anything developed and not a popular hiking area; but it's pumping out a lot of smoke too.

  8. #98

    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Posts
    9,599

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    We just learned that Oakhurst and Coarsegold are preparing for evacuation, A new emergency shelter is being established in Mariposa.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  9. #99

    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Posts
    316

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    A friend of mine was planning to start a High Route hike on Sunday, southbound, but bailed before starting due to the smoke. The Sierra and Inyo NF are now temporarily closed for hiking. He reports just taking a couple of miles walk at Horseshoe Meadows was a lung burner from the smoke.

    I spent a long night once in a tent in Dusy Basin scared out of my wits by a four hour middle-of-the-night lightning storm, but often you can get long stretches of clear weather, or lightning occurs more predictably in the afternoon so you get off the high passes before it builds.

  10. #100
    Drew Wiley
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    SF Bay area, CA
    Posts
    18,338

    Re: Smoke smoke everywhere

    The thermocumulus cloud in this instance was creating its own lighting and very loud thunder. Here on the coast over 150 miles from the fire, we didn't even have a sunrise this morning It's actually darker even now now, mid-morning, than at dawn, darker than an eclipse or moonlit night, with a faint apricot glow every direction of the sky. Wood smoke smell. The color photographic light inland must be phenomenal; but breathing must be a chore. I remember some magical thunderstom nights in Dusy Basin, with the thunder claps echoing back and forth between the sheer cliffs. It was in October the last time. The storm finally ended, the moon appeared, and a then a coyote pack started a howl session that itself echoed six times or between the cliffs for every howl. A unforgettable wonderful experience. But then in the early hours of the morning two climbers tripped over my tent guy line. They had been strapped onto the sheer face of appropriately named Thunderbolt Peak the whole time, and somehow survived, got down, and staggered all dazed back toward camp by moonlight.

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