2021 Fire/Smoke Impact Reports

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EOSDIS:

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[wildhiker]

In addition to the entire Eldorado National Forest closure because of the Caldors Fire, which closes the west half of the Desolation Wilderness and most of the Mokelumne Wilderness, the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit has now closed some areas on their side of the divide. The following backcountry areas are closed: Desolation Wilderness, Meiss Country, Barker Pass and McKinney/Rubicon. The closure is in effect from Aug 19 to Sep 19, 2021. View the closure order at https://go.usa.gov/xF7RS
-Phil

[TahoeJeff]

And PG&E has closed the Blue Lakes area too:

https://southtahoenow.com/story/08/19/2 ... n-due-fire

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USDA:

To better provide public and firefighter safety due to extreme fire conditions throughout northern California, and strained firefighting resources throughout the country, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region is announcing a temporary closure of nine National Forests. This closure will be effective at August 22, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. through September 6, 2021 at 11:59 p.m.

“Fires are running very quickly due to the drought conditions, dry fuels, and winds. This makes initial attack and containment very difficult and is even more challenging with strained resources who are battling more than 100 large fires across the country,” said Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien. “We do not take this decision lightly and understand how this impacts people who enjoy recreating on the National Forests.
These temporary closures are necessary to ensure public and firefighter safety, as well as reduce the potential for new fire starts. I want to thank the public for your patience during this challenging situation.”

The closure order can be found at https://go.usa.gov/xF7EM. Affected forests include:
• Modoc National Forest
• Klamath National Forest
• Plumas National Forest
• Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
• Shasta-Trinity National Forest
• Lassen National Forest
• Six Rivers National Forest
• Mendocino National Forest
• Tahoe National Forest

The following persons are exempt from this Order:
1. Persons with Forest Service Permit No. FS-7700-48 (Permit for Use of Roads, Trails, or Areas Restricted by Regulation or Order), specifically exempting them from this Order

2. Any Federal, State, or local officer, or member of an organized rescue or fire fighting force in the Performance of an official duty.

3. Persons with a Forest Service non-special-use written authorization to conduct non-recreational activities, such as harvesting timber or forest products, or grazing livestock.

4. Owners or lessees of land, to the extent necessary to access their land.

5. Residents, to the extent necessary to access their residences.
6. Persons engaged in a business, trade, or occupation are not exempt from the prohibitions listed above but may use National Forest System roads to the extent necessary to carry out their business, trade, or occupation.

Additionally, the Eldorado National Forest is currently closed due to the Caldor Fire until Sept. 30 and has a separate list of exemptions. You can find more info here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/eldorado.

More than 6,500 wildfires have burned 1.2 million acres across all jurisdictions in California, and the Northern California Geographic Area has been at Preparedness Level 5 since Aug. 5, 2021 – indicating the highest level of wildland fire activity.

The Forest Service thanks our partners and the public for their cooperation and understanding of this extreme fire threat. Citizens with specific questions within their area should consult their local forest website or social media pages for more information.

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Lassen NF:

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Eldorado NF:

[TahoeJeff]

From Caltrans District 3:

UPDATE: Highway 50 is set to be CLOSED at 4 pm today between Sly Park Road and Meyers due to safety concerns with high winds expected to impact the Caldor FIre. Mandatory evacuations are now in place between Sly Park and Strawberry. Highway 50 signals in Placerville will again be set to green if necessary to expedite evacuations. Caltrans has staffing set up 24/7 to help respond to this incident as long as necessary.

[erutan]

2021-08-11 to 2021-08-21: North to South Lake Loop

Lamarck Col > Evo Valley > Davis Lakes > Goddard Basin > Valor Pass to Blackcap Basin > Finger Col to Goddard Creek > Ionian Basin > Black Giant Pass to JMPCT > Bishop Pass

The trip was planned to be high - shortly into our first day we were above 10k and wouldn't drop below that until around noon of day 10. This definitely helped - I'm glad I got the trip in (cancelled it last summer due to smoke), but am also glad we exited when we did as there are more fires kicking up. The usual pattern of clear mornings that build in the afternoon to bad evenings ('13, '15, '17) wasn't present.

Days 1-4: North Lake TH to Martha Lake mostly green once we climbed a bit from the parking lot, perhaps some light yellow. Afternoon showers helped (on the way up the col it smelled like rain in a burn scar / dirty cigarettes instead of nice ozone, was clean after that) clear the air up. Thunderstorms from ~2-7 day four, so didn't get over Valor.

Day 5: Smoke started rolling in up Goddard Canyon in mid morning. Valor Pass was still green, but Goddard was getting smoky and it was hazy looking into Blackcap. Progressed into yellow to low orange in blackcap before an evening storm cleared the air.

Day 6: Orange to red for the day. Built in a lot of slack time into the trip, so lazily fished from the ridge between Ram/Eve and Division to Cathedral. Bumped into the former trails manager of SEKI at portal lake and chatted for an hour and a half - learned a lot! The only people we saw for a week or so after leaving the JMPCT and getting back on it ~Helen lake aside from two dots moving across the other side of Ambition the day before.

Day 7: Green! Must just be dixie smoke that got blown with a change of wind. Looked into Goddard Creek from Finger Col and it was hazy, but more in the distance. By afternoon smoke was blowing in from Blackcap. Odd. Camped between 11818 & 10232.

Day 8: Still green, feeling smug about the highly defensible Ionian basin. Slowly wandered our way through the basin dropping packs to do short loops or there and backs when appropriate. Tempted to climb Goddard from the south, but decide to be prudent and put on miles while the air is clear. Turns yellow quickly in the evening.

Day 9: Wake up below Scylla & Three Sirens to orange or high yellow. Turns green to low yellow again as we wiggle around to 11592, then is solid yellow again after the drop to Chasm (grassy ramps and granite fins, I'd been missing you). Pondered why smoke was coming up Enchanted Gorge (the only weak spot in the basin) - was it smoke from the Dixie fire blown south and then north? Camp by 11828 and do a little dayhike south and it's a solid yellow at best - looking towards Black Giant Pass it's blue skies, but we figured we'd get the last of our solitude on the trip.

Day 10: Yellow throughout the day - dropped onto the JMT and it got slightly worse as we dropped to LeConte. Thru-hikers said it was bad the day before. Did the climb to Dusy in a bit over 2 hours and pushed past the stream of camps < 50ft from trail at the lowest lake and past the cluster of trail crew tents to the string of ponds below Knapsack I'd seen from above but never been to. Cut heading over to 11654 & Ladder then dropping to LeConte earlier in the trip due to smoke/storm delays.

Day 11: Woke up to the smell of smoke in the tent. Orange & very hazy in Dusy so we mask up for the climb out of the basin. Bump into SEKI personnel taking a rest day at 11388 and learn about the Walker & French fires. Yellow at the col, and it didn't too much dropping down to the south lake TH. Red in Bishop - crest visible but only in outline. Bumped into dayhikers at the pass that said they talked to some backpackers that cancelled a 12 day trip after ash fall, but they didn't remember where.

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Lassen NF: