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If anyone with insight into whether the National Parks might follow the lead of the National Forests and close, I'm sure many of us in the group would appreciate information. ?Especially if anyone knows people within the National Parks who is familiar with the current thinking. ?Like many others, my plans to enter on the east side via an Inyo trailhead was automatically cancelled and refunded. ?But I was lucky enough to get a permit from Sequoia National Park last night for the High Sierra Trail. ?However, I am reluctant to make plans and fly out from the east coast fearing that the next shoe to drop will be the National Parks.
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You may have a bigger issue on the HST than possible Park closure:? where do you finish your hike? You can't exit through a Forest, so you have to make it a loop.? I would take the fact that you have the permit as an indication of the Park's plans, but you will have to make it a loop or a point-to-point within the Park.? You can also monitor the Park website, and call the Wilderness Office for info on closure plans
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Yeah. Maybe Ravi can hike till Big Arroyo and turn back. It’s better logistically as well.?
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On Aug 31, 2021, at 7:26 AM, Peter Hirst <peter.p.hirst@...> wrote:
?You may have a bigger issue on the HST than possible Park closure:? where do you finish your hike? You can't exit through a Forest, so you have to make it a loop.? I would take the fact that you have the permit as an indication of the Park's plans, but you will have to make it a loop or a point-to-point within the Park.? You can also monitor the Park website, and call the Wilderness Office for info on closure plans
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I would plan a loop, probably over Colby Pass, since there would be no exit to the east.?
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I'd be worried about NPS closure too. But even if they stay open why would you come out to this smoky state now? It's really awful here. I wish I lived somewhere else. Our backpacking plans are basically done until winter.
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Exactly...having been smoked out three years with INYO closures, we "backed" up our INYO reservation date of 8/6/21 out of OV with another same date / similar?mileage route in Yosemite. So far, it's still a go but like you said, waiting for the other shoe to drop.?
On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 5:52 AM ravi_jmt2013 < ravi@...> wrote: If anyone with insight into whether the National Parks might follow the lead of the National Forests and close, I'm sure many of us in the group would appreciate information.? Especially if anyone knows people within the National Parks who is familiar with the current thinking.? Like many others, my plans to enter on the east side via an Inyo trailhead was automatically cancelled and refunded.? But I was lucky enough to get a permit from Sequoia National Park last night for the High Sierra Trail.? However, I am reluctant to make plans and come out fearing that the next shoe to drop will be the National Parks. ?
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I'll speak for our group as to why we would attempt hike in our smoky state. We have been keeping a diligent eye on smoke reports for both INYO and Yosemite. The BETA I have seen from backpackers along the Lower JMT has been little to no smoke back there. East side Sierra 395 corridor yes but little at upper Elev. Same for Yose -- the webcams & trail reports have shown smoke to be a minimal issue up to now. Taken as an aggregate some days may be worse than others but that's relative to minimal smoke being the worse. So, living in California, we can afford to wait until the last minute to bail if conditions change. We are under no illusions that conditions will stay this way but for now...it's wait and see (for Yosemite).?
I'd be worried about NPS closure too. But even if they stay open why would you come out to this smoky state now? It's really awful here. I wish I lived somewhere else. Our backpacking plans are basically done until winter.
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I’ve seen mixed reports and some encouraging reports of less smoke at higher elevations which is the only reason I’m still considering making the trip. ?I’ve sent an email to SEKI asking them to confirm my understanding of legally being able to hike as long as one stays within the NP and I’ll post if I get a reply.?
On a related topic, I received an email from MTR stating that they remain open and are on private land so they aren’t having to close up. However, obviously getting there from the JMT north or southbound involves travel through a national forest which would be closed at least through 9/17. Understandably, they cannot refund resupply fees once they’ve brought buckets up to the ranch but they can return buckets as long as they were sent priority mail.
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"The BETA I have seen from backpackers along the Lower JMT has been little to no smoke back there."
I'm not sure what the "Lower JMT" means but my recent experience over a 2 1/2 week period was smoke every day except for 3. It was never so bad that I felt it unhealthy, at least for me, but I could see it (instead of the clear views I've known from the past), smell it, and often taste it.
If you can read the tea leaves better than the weather forecasters and figure out where the smoke from multiple sources, north, west, and south, will be blowing then I tip my hat to you.
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As of Tuesday noon PDT the following is on the Yosemite NP web
“ Yosemite National Park is NOT affected by closure of California national forests. Yosemite is open.”
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On Aug 31, 2021, at 8:06 AM, fredxz via groups.io <fredxz@...> wrote:
?I'd be worried about NPS closure too. But even if they stay open why would you come out to this smoky state now? It's really awful here. I wish I lived somewhere else. Our backpacking plans are basically done until winter.
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Lower JMT = southern end. Not claiming to be a prognosticator, in fact the opposite. Using past info weighs into a future decision. It’s a moot point anyway since the CA NF are close. Good day sir (said with a tip of the hat).
"The BETA I have seen from backpackers along the Lower JMT has been little to no smoke back there."
I'm not sure what the "Lower JMT" means but my recent experience over a 2 1/2 week period was smoke every day except for 3. It was never so bad that I felt it unhealthy, at least for me, but I could see it (instead of the clear views I've known from the past), smell it, and often taste it.
If you can read the tea leaves better than the weather forecasters and figure out where the smoke from multiple sources, north, west, and south, will be blowing then I tip my hat to you.
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FWIW: Just hiked Mammoth to Tuolumne Meadows on the JMT with my son. Little to no smoke. Exited Monday 8/30.
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For Yosemite at least you need a reservation to enter the park. I have a wilderness permit this weekend entering Hoover Wilderness through the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest which is still open…so far. Reservation.gov has not cancelled it like they are doing with other permits and campground reservations. I appear to have a golden ticket!
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Well maybe we were just unlucky. At the moment Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows webcams look clear and the NOAA forecasts show blue skies for the next week.
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On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 12:56 PM, Will Cronan wrote:
Lower JMT = southern end. Not claiming to be a prognosticator, in fact the opposite. Using past info weighs into a future decision.
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This page has current information on Lodgepole in SEKI and a chart of air quality trends over the past several days. It doesn’t seem too awful at the current time but of course that can change. There is also a notice on the SEKI website stating that the park is open and not impacted by the closures. But I wonder for how long and what the rationale is for keeping the parks open but the forests closed. It might just be a matter of different bureaucracies that have yet to coordinate.
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Another very useful resource. You can zoom in and get air quality data for multiple locations.?
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Also:
For SEKI:
For Yosemite Valley:
I was in the Valley on Friday when the AQI was 132. That's the "orange" level which translates to "unhealthy for sensitive people". That doesn't too bad but it was sure ugly and you could definitely smell it. That was how most of my JMT was. I wasn't concerned about my health. But I didn't take very many photos of anything further than about 100 feet away. The views at the passes weren't worth capturing.
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Well Humboldt Toiyabe joined the other National Forest closures but not as strict. Day hiking and camping in established campgrounds is allowed but no overnight camping including Hoover Wilderness. Happy Labor Day!
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Good to read this thread and I got to thinking as to why the other parks are to be closed...
1. So they do not have to hunt for people to evacuate in case of a fire.
2. So they can move resources to support other parks as needed - thus limiting resources for support in one park or another.
Hopefully people do not enter closed parks and cause problems - damage, fires, etc.
TwoDogs
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We often have problems with people in fire areas that then limit fire fighting abilities. I’ve been told that once people are noticed it sometimes changes the mission in to evacuation, vs fire fighting and also that they are unable to use their full arsenal (water and retardant dumping) if there’s non-fire fighters on the ground.
Carol
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ravi_jmt2013
Will Cronan
chris ford
Derek Koonce