High Sierra Topix

Can anyone recommend an area in the Sierra Nevada that is free of smoke. I plan an eight day trip into the high country beginning this Thursday, Sept 1. From the reports here on HST the entire Sierra Nevada is smoked out. According to the Forest Service smoke map, Yosemite looks to be okay.

Any info or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Peace.

It's pretty hazy up there. We were on the LeConte divide for a week -- looked great for local views, but sunsets made it clear that the smoke was up there. And distant views were a heavier layer of pollutants than usual to the west.

Thank you very much for your reply regarding smoke in the Sierra Nevada. I spoke with a Yosemite ranger today who said that the air quality in Northern Yosemite has been clear. I'm thinking that might be a good bet for a Sept. 2 through Sept. 9 hiking trip.

On a larger scale, some might think these conditions are just normal weather cycles. I think part of this smoke problem is a sorry consequence of the disrespectful things we are doing to our Mother Earth.

Peace.

From my house in Crowley Lake, it is the clearest day in the past month - no smoke anywhere - we had quite a wind storm yesterday that finally cleared out all the smoke in the surrounding areas - Ritter and Banner are smoke free - whether it lasts through this weekend remains to be seen...

With breezy weather from the low pressure trough pushing through, I abandoned plans to drive up Friday though because wind was forecast to calm Sunday evening into a slack period Monday, considered driving up to Tioga Pass Sunday afternoon and working areas Monday morning for dwarf bilberry and arctic willow. However did not trust the Monday calm forecast and indeed, the cold front moved in more vigorously and will linger longer. Thus the better calm will be from later Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning after flows from the east disconnect from the cool air that poured into the Great Basin. Hence will stay home and entertain working in something the following weekend since it is now looking in the long range to have westerly fair weather flows with light winds and I have the option of taking a day of PTO for a longer weekend making the long drive more worthwhile.

I just returned from a week around the north/south lake area.

it was clear and perfect to us, but perhaps your needs for photography are more specific.