Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board SMOKE

I checked and my permit is still in their system. However I just had it cancelled out because the odds of them opening the road by then are next to zero and if I'm going on my alternate (Mineral King) hike then I need to start setting my sights on it now.

Agree that no chance of opening 180 by 9-4. Active fire still close by. There are twice daily fire updates with maps that can be found at http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/4456/28425/ I cancelled a High Sierra Trail hike starting 8-26 because of amount of smoke in Sequoia. Current containment is 25%. Unchanged since 8-25. At community update meeting on 8-25 fire command was optimistic about gaining control absent weather problems. Have rescheduled HST hike for 9-10. Hoping smoke cleared by then and no snow per Doug's recent post. Did Cloud's Rest yesterday. Yosemite Valley was clear. Coming into Bishop last night heavy smoke.

Camera looks terrible today. Is it that bad up higher as well? I was going to try Onion Valley to Whitney over Labor Day weekend but its not looking great. Ranger made it seem like it wasn't so bad south of Kearsage.

You're just going to have to take your chances. The conditions change hourly depending on the wind/weather patterns.
I was up there last week from Tue to Fri morning. Looked great at first & of course the morning (Thurs) I was going up the MT you couldn't see across the valley. It wasn't particularly thick but I was bothered by it. When I got to Trail Crest I was surprised that the west side was clear with the smoke being further off in the distance. By about 10 or 11 it blew out & the valley was clear....
It seems it's worse north of LP most of the time but it moves around.
Keep watching the webcams & air quality reports. Maybe have a Plan B...

Yeah, the fire is just getting bigger. The way it's going, the road may not reopen until next spring.

The SEKI Wilderness Office told me this morning that it's very unlikely that Cedar Grove will reopen this year.

I just hope the fire doesn't reach the Cedar Grove area. It's been moving relatively fast in that direction recently (and the winds normally blow in that direction anyway). We could really use a decent-sized early storm.

The fire update for 9/1 AM says that the "fire progresses northeast toward Stag Dome above Cedar Creek and east along the King River. Structure defense preparations are being completed around Cedar Grove as a precaution." Saying as a "precaution" sounds optimistic for Cedar Grove. The daily briefing map for 9-1 also shows the fire heading north or uphill along the Kings River near Cedar Grove rather than proceeding directly east along the Kings River to Cedar Grove. So here's hoping that they protect Cedar Grove

Imagine if this were in the Yosemite Valley. It would be international news and the boards would flooded with posts. But it's not, it's 'only' Kings Canyon: the park that can only thank Yosemite for distracting the crowds away from it. Even my local newspapers don't mention the Rough Fire. They only talk about the Washington fires.

Just got home from Miter Basin and Whitney trip.
We lucked out and had only moderate smoke at times

ranger station has had lots of permit cancellations.

From Crabtree Pass out to Crabtree Meadows and around to Guitar Lake we only saw 2 other people all day long. Not until Guitar lake did we see 5 or 6 tents. No line of headlamps going up the next day. Did seem to have a normal amount of east side hikers, though.

It was nice to meet Kurt Wedburg at the top.

I started up the Kearsarge Pass trail yesterday afternoon in clear, sunny weather. Camped at Matlock Lake. By 5:30 the peaks around the lake were blanketed in smoke Another hour and it was so thick at the lake I could smell and taste it and the highest peaks were barely visible. I had planned to spend 5 days on the west side of the pass but decided to scrub the trip and came back down today. I decided there was no sense ruining my lungs for this one trip.

Was there much smoke in Whitney area?
When were you there?
Thanks!

summited 8/30. Nice day on top with most of high level smoke to NW of us in distance. Looking down to Owens Valley, however, was socked in. Could barely see White Mts.

all depends on the winds. The 70,000 acre Rough fire will be there for weeks.months

smoke in Owens Valley seen from Whitney summit Aug 30. Picture was taken about 11 am. Conditions improved later. View in direction NW toward the Rough fire was actually much, much better than this. (This view suffered from smoke settled in the valley, and the angle of the sun with camera pointed into it.) Wind direction made the amount vary considerably depending on the day. We came over from the south ; New Army Pass- Miter Basin- Crabtree Pass and had only slight haze those days and bright full moon at night enough to wear blinders to sleep.

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view to NW at same time was only light haze
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Hi Winds very strong yesterday afternoon and most of the night in the Valley keeping the smoke N/O Independence and the Whitney Area clear, we have been very lucky this past week ,the smoke and ash is North I talked with a person from Mammoth last night and his report was they are getting smoke most every night and some afternoons, some locals are not going out.

Temps continue to drop in the Portal , we reached 55 about noon today.

Gavin started this AM for a 80 hour record for the JMT he did 3 days to Reds early this summer so he has it in reach.Spent the last few days talking with him and he has his head screwed on straight. Knows it will be tough until after the smoke but his plan was a 30 hour push before stopping, that should get him in the cleaner air.

Well damn, Doug! After scrubbing my hike over Kearsarge Pass earlier this week because of smoke I decided to go farther north. My plan now is to start on Labor Day from Pine Creek TH to Lake Italy, then over Gabbott, Mono and Morgan passes back to my car (and hope it hasn't gotten an Abandoned Vehicle citation in the meantime) in a week. Your post makes it sound like I'm headed into thicker smoke up there than what I saw on Kearsarge. I know it all depends on the winds but what's your crystal ball say?
B.

Per the earlier post, all depends on the wind, but the maps on the fire incident web site mentioned above include daily Google Earth maps with the fire perimeter plotted. When you zoom out on Google Earth you can see that the fire is directly west and north west of Independence. Today the summary says "Smoke that does rise out of Kings Canyon, will be slowly transported to the north, with potential impacts in the Owens Valley." One channel to the north is the S. Fork of the Kings River and then up Paradise Valley and another is the Middle Fork of the Kings towards Bishop. So a westerly or southwesterly wind may pollute Independence northward. The smoke is usually kept down in the AM by the colder temperatures and begins to move once it warms, which might not be until early afternoon. Last Saturday, the smoke came pouring into Bishop at 1pm looking like a river in the sky. Whitney Portal only gets affected if a northwest or north wind hits the smoke as it comes across the range pushing it southeast or south. So the Bishop area has been a casualty of the smoke. And still only 25% contained

I'm planning a trip up the fork of Big Pine to see the Palisades Glacier and the lakes, any idea how the smoke is affecting Big Pine or the Palisades?

Thx

As others have said, it depends upon the wind. Saturday I went to Bishop Pass from South Lake in thick smoke and occasional ash, and Bishop itself was very smoky. Monday I did a day hike of Whitney, and it was clear and beautiful. (Probably a good time to sneak up for a quick hike. Monday morning at 8 the rangers had 27 permits for day hikes.) Since Big Pine is north of the fire, the prevailing winds will send the smoke to the lakes.