In September of last year nearly 5,000 acres were burned during what became known as the Meadow Fire. The park service believes it was started by a lightning strike.
The fire burned an extensive area north and south of the John Muir Trail, east and northeast of Little Yosemite Valley.
The map, below, is a compilation of data from a number of sources. The green, orange, and red areas represent increased levels of burn. The blue line shows the trail. Hikers who intend to begin their John Muir Trial hike from Happy Isles (far fewer this year due to changes in the way permits are issued) will likely encounter this stretch during day one or day two. Depending on your level of fitness and hiking speed, the location of the burned areas could present a challenge. Hikers who get a Happy Isles “Pass-Through” permit are prohibited from camping in Little Yosemite Valley. Instead, they will either have to camp just short of the affected area, where a reliable water source is unlikely to be found, camp within the burned area, which is likely to be unpleasant, or walk all the way through, which means more than ten miles the first day.
Fire is a natural part of the ecosystem, and much of the area that burned was full of dry, dense underbrush. The scar on the terrain from this fire will last well beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this post, but it could have been very much worse. For JMT hikers, this will be the first of two significant burned areas to walk through. The next will occur on the first day out of Red’s Meadow.
We camped in Tioga Pass area during September of last year, a day or two after it started. It was a week or two later we were hiking Clouds Rest and was amazed it was still burning, and knew at that point it was going to really change that region for a while. On the bright side, they got it out, it could have gotten much worse. The week after we went to Clouds Rest from Tenaya Lake, that area got burned too.
We need some rain and snow or these stories will become common throughout the trail area.
Water could be tough to come by in some regions of Sierra by early summer…….hope there is truth to the May flowers and April showers!
Thanks for the comment, Scott. I guess it’s still possible to get some snow, but it seems unlikely.
Here is the real story on the water situation
http://m.kcra.com/news/gov-brown-to-attend-final-snow-survey-in-sierra/32126236
Thanks, Scott. Next year has GOT to be better.
We camped at Little Yosemite as the fire began and as we watered-up before dawn we could smell the smoke drifting down the river. It was not until later as we climbed the ridge did we see the actual fire. All the hikers behind us we prevented from crossing and continuing the hike. We were lucky but the smoke stayed with us for a couple of days. Thanks for showing the burn line I have been curious since last year.
Appreciate the comment, John. Glad you made it through. You are probably the last person alive to have that experience. Look at the Rainbow Fire area nearly 25 years later; it will probably be fifty years before this looks similar to what it once did.