fire

Some Good Wildfire Information Resources

Published by Ray Rippel on July 30, 2018 9 Permalink

As I write this blog, there are more than seventeen wildfires in California. Many have the potential to bring smoke to the John Muir Trail, but the four listed above are the most significant.

The Ferguson Fire is by far the most serious; it is only 30% contained. More information regarding the fire can be found here.

The Lions Fire is 92% contained. More information regarding the fire can be found here.

The Georges Fire is more than 70% contained. This fire closed Whitney Portal for several days in the beginning of July. More information regarding this fire can be found here.

The Horse Creek Fire is a small one that is already nearly 100% contained. More information regarding this fire can be found here.

For more information on fires throughout California you can consult the California Statewide Fire Map.

Note that on the illustration, above, I have indicate the prevailing winds in the area for July, August and September. Winds are generally out of the northwest during the afternoons and evenings. For a few hours each morning it is normal for them to shift from the south. These are prevailing winds, though, which does not take into account daily weather patterns. Winds on any particular day could come from any direction.

One last note: the Carr Fire is much further north, but is so large that is could foul the air above the northern half of the JMT. More on the Carr Fire here.

Good hiking, Ray

Filed under: Blog and Tagged: fire

Wildfires and the Best Month to Hike the John Muir Trail

Published by Ray Rippel on July 23, 2018 16 Permalink

The Rim Fire roils to the north. This photo was taken from near Nevada Fall, when the smoke was blowing northeast.

I have long been a proponent of late summer or early fall for a thru-hike of the John Muir Trial. I am close to changing that recommendation.

Starting in late August or early September has a lot to recommend it. Most kids are back in school by the latter part of August, and by Labor Day just about all of them are. The deep snow is long gone from the passes. With little snow at the highest elevations there is less water in the rivers and creeks, which makes the stream crossings far less problematic.

I happen to really enjoy two nights — with a rest day between — at Muir Trail Ranch. One- or two-night stays for a single or a small group are far easier to arrange later in the season.

Lastly, I hate mosquitoes. It’s unlikely that you’ll complete a JMT hike in September without seeing ANY of those little bloodsuckers, but you’ll see darned few.

That’s an awful lot of good reasons to hike late in the season. Here’s the one disadvantage: wildfires. During previous thru-hikes I’ve encountered the smoke from forest fires that came close to ending my trip. Once, a fire caused me to abandon the trail.

The first occurred in 2009. Two days before I started making my way up to Nevada Fall, a “controlled” burn, near Foresta, became anything but. The forest service was supposed to burn ninety-one acres; by the time the fire was out it had burned roughly eighty times as much (nearly 7,500 acres).

As I ascended out of Happy Isles the smoke wasn’t horrible, but it was noticeable. Three days later, while walking though the Rush Creek drainage, I could hear the build-up of stuff in my lungs. Sleeping was particularly unpleasant, as my noisy respiration kept me awake.

I took an unscheduled rest day at Red’s Meadow and went into Mammoth Lakes to find a doctor. After just one day of some wonderful pharmaceuticals I was nearly 100% and back on the trail.

In 2013 it was the Rim Fire. (This fire would ultimately dwarf the fire of 2009.) The Rim Fire almost disrupted my hike before it began. I acclimated in Mammoth Lakes, and if I had waited two more days before taking the YARTS from Mammoth to Yosemite Valley, I would not have gotten through. The road closed about forty-eight hours after my trip.

Then, on the fifth day of my hike, the wind changed and all the smoke that had been blowing northeast started to blow south. When I reached the top of Donohue Pass I could hardly see the terrain behind me.

I exhibited no symptoms of smoke-inhalation this time, but walking through all that smoke (while breathing hard) just wasn’t much fun. Fortunately, the smoke cleared the next day. Twice more during the next two weeks the wind would change and spoil the air (and the views) during my hike. Each time I considered abandoning the trail if things didn’t improve within a day or two. Each time they did improve.

In 2015 it was the Rough Fire. The smoke came and went the first few days of my hike, starting at Glacier Point and exiting Yosemite via Isberg Pass.

By the time I made my way down from Silver Pass the smoke had really started to roll in. Halfway to Quail Meadow it was thick, caustic, and causing one of the more nasty headaches I could remember. The views were mere shadows in the nearly opaque gray that enveloped me in all directions. That meant it was no fun walking and no fun looking at the Sierra Nevada. That didn’t leave much incentive to continue.

When I reached the bridge over Mono Creek I decided to bail via VVR.

Smoke near Lake Edison

This year we are all dealing with the Ferguson Fire.

So, is all of this a good enough reason to hike early? I don’t know, but it is something you may want to consider. If you decide on a June or July adventure, just make sure you bring the insect repellant!

Good hiking, Ray

Filed under: Blog and Tagged: fire

Hiking on the Right Side of the Rules

Published by Ray Rippel on July 25, 2016 3 Permalink

As interest in the wilderness increases, so do the rules and regulations. Although it could be argued that the Sierra Nevada is much more lenient than many places, where a hiker must get every campsite approved prior to entering the wilderness, there are still opportunities to get yourself in trouble. Here are some simple ways to keep your interaction with Rangers pleasant and friction-free:

Don’t build a fire where you shouldn’t, or in a way that is improper. With all the news about wildfires, does this even need to be said? Sure does. The last time I was at Purple Lake, at the same time that the Rim Fire was raging in the north, I saw a large group build a huge bonfire during a time when no fires were allowed at all. The rules vary based on the conditions, so ask about them when you pick up your permit. There are few rules you can break in the wilderness that might result in you spending the next several Christmases eating Nutraloaf and waiting for your turn to use the weight bench next to the guard tower, but this is one of them.
Don’t camp where you are not supposed to. For most of the trail that means no closer than 100 feet from water and the trail. When you pick up your wilderness permit you will be informed of areas where camping is not allowed under any circumstances, like near the Thousand Island or Garnet Lakes’ outlet streams. You will also encounter areas that are closed so that they can recover. Staying on the right side of the law on this might sound easy, but it takes a little planning. Be sure to pick some primary and alternate spots before you start your hike. You don’t want to reach the end of the day, exhausted, with no good choices except for an illegal site.
Keep your permit handy and be prepared to show it. I’m not sure why – perhaps because I am older; or carry relatively expensive gear; or because I’m 6′ 3″, weigh in around 200 pounds, and am industrial-strength ugly – but Rangers seem to be reluctant to ask me for my permit. In fact, in all my years in the Sierra Nevada, I think I’ve only been asked once. (I have volunteered my permit many times, and always get the feeling that the Ranger in question is relieved that I did so.) Don’t assume you will be so lucky. Have your permit handy. If you are traveling in a group, consider asking the Wilderness Center to split the permit into individual ones, so that everyone can carry their magic ticket, especially if you hike at different paces during the day.
Beware of “day-hiking” the Happy Isles to Tuolumne section. For fast hikers, one alternative to solve the permit problem is to hike the first twenty-something miles as a day hike. Unfortunately, in order to do this you have to do something you probably shouldn’t. Your first choice is to do the hike with the full complement of your gear. The problem with taking your gear is that you may have trouble convincing a Ranger that you are really on a day hike. There are documented cased of hikers getting tickets in just this situation. The second alternative is to hike that stretch without your gear, which, in my view, violates the common sense notion that you should not be a dozen miles from any road or civilization without a shelter, warm clothes, extra food, etc.
Bring a legal bear canister and use it. They may be a pain, but the evidence that they work is overwhelming.

There a lots of other rules, mostly revolving around Leave-No-Trace principles that will get you a ticket as well, but these five are the ones that will land you in trouble quicker than anything.

Good hiking, Ray

Filed under: Blog and Tagged: campsites, fire, permits

The Meadow Fire & the JMT

Published by Ray Rippel on February 22, 2016 8 Permalink

In September of 2014 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.

Good hiking, Ray

Filed under: Blog and Tagged: campsites, fire, obstacles

2015 Hike Abandoned

Published by Ray Rippel on September 15, 2015 28 Permalink

No water and lots of smoke. This shot, taken from the "bottom" of Lake Edison, near the middle, was taken just before I boarded the ferry for the 10-minute ride to Vermilion Valley Resort.

No water and lots of smoke. This shot, taken from the “bottom” of Lake Edison, near its middle, was taken just before I boarded the ferry for the 10-minute ride to Vermilion Valley Resort. In most years the pick-up points is miles away and the ride is 45 minutes.

I got seven days of great hiking, explored a new route between Yosemite Valley and Red’s Meadow, and met some wonderful hikers, but my hope for a third complete Yosemite-to-Mount-Whitney hike ended on September 8, when I exited the trail at Vermilion Valley Resort.

The smoke had come and gone the first week, sometimes being a bit of a nuisance in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes not at all, and never reaching the point of spoiling the walk. After a zero-day in Mammoth, I even had a great hike from Red’s to my campsite at Lake Virginia. By 11:00 a.m. the next day I was sitting atop Silver Pass enjoying some salami and cheese. That was the last pleasant hour on the trail.

On the way down from Silver Pass the smoke started to roll in. By the time I was halfway to Quail Meadow it was thick, caustic, and causing one of the more nasty headaches I could remember. The views were mere shadows in the nearly opaque gray that enveloped me in all directions. That meant it was no fun walking and no fun looking at the Sierra Nevada. That didn’t leave much incentive to continue.

When I reached the bridge over Mono Creek I discussed the situation with a couple of fellow hikers: Christa and Forest. Soon we were joined by Chris and son Sam. Ultimately, Christa pressed on (successfully, I hope), while the rest of us decided to exit the wilderness the next day. VVR did a wonderful job of getting us cleaned up and well fed before we made our way to Fresno (thanks to Forest and Natalie) and onto our next adventure.

This is the third time in three attempts that my hike has been affected by a fire. In 2009 it was a “controlled” burn that got out of control and closed the road from Lee Vining to the valley, fortunately the day AFTER I had gotten through. The smoke was bad enough, though, that I had to take an extra day at Mammoth to get medical care. In 2013 it was the Rim Fire, which was rough on the lungs and the view, although never so bad as to make me leave the trail. (Of course, I was walking AWAY from the Rim Fire, not towards it.) The third time was by far the worst.

Still, it was great to be out there. More to come in the weeks ahead regarding my trip over Red Peak Pass and Isberg Pass, as well as other JMT-relating info.

Good hiking, Ray

p.s. By the way, I would really appreciate it if you took a quick look at one of my non-hiking projects. More about that, here.

Filed under: Blog and Tagged: fire, safety

The Impact of the Meadow Fire

Published by Ray Rippel on March 31, 2015 6 Permalink

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.

Filed under: Blog and Tagged: campsites, fire, obstacles

Is It Time to Re-Think the Best Month to Hike the John Muir Trail?

Published by Ray Rippel on February 4, 2014 19 Permalink

The Rim Fire roils to the north. This photo was taken from near Nevada Fall, when the smoke was blowing northeast.

I have long been a proponent of late summer or early fall for a thru-hike of the John Muir Trial. After my last two successful hikes, I am close to changing that recommendation.

I happen to really enjoy two nights—with a rest day between—at Muir Trail Ranch. One- or two-night stays for a single or a small group are far easier to arrange later in the season.

Lastly, I hate mosquitoes. It’s unlikely that you’ll complete a JMT hike in September without seeing ANY of those little bloodsuckers, but you’ll see darned few.

That’s an awful lot of good reasons to hike late in the season. Here’s the one disadvantage: wildfires. During my last two thru-hikes I encountered the smoke from forest fires that came close to ending my trip.

Filed under: Blog and Tagged: fire, John Muir Trail, obstacles, safety