Yosemite Forum

I have a trip starting Aug. 29 starting in Tuolumne Meadows, going over Donahue and finishing at Red's Meadow with a few possible side hikes:
- what are the current smoke conditions in Tuolumne, Lyell Canyon and to the south?
- with another year of drought will I be dealing with water shortage along the way?
- I want to hike past Ediza Lake to Minaret Lake but one map I have shows a trail to Minaret and one doesn't, is there a hiking trail?
- I'm thinking of camping at Castle Lake or Emily Lake, is anyone familiar with these and know if they're suitable for camping?

Thank you for your feedback.

Current conditions don't matter, since it depends on the wind patterns at the time. There's a wind plotter on the Caltopo map. You can also get wind forecasts at https://wind.willyweather.com/ca.html and smoke at https://fire.airnow.gov/

Some of the streams might be down to puddles but there will be lakes along the way. I'm sure there are trails to all the lakes in the area - use trails get a lot of use there.

Unless the rules prohibit it, those lakes are probably fine for camping....

There's also this site, which I like, as you can tick back and forth day to day, and see the patterns of the smoke.
https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=-125.10892684380988,31.57627894159657,-115.15091903130988,41.65744232774939&l=AIRS_L2_Dust_Score_Day(hidden),Reference_Labels_15m,Reference_Features_15m,Coastlines_15m,MODIS_Combined_L3_Nadir-BRDF_Daily(hidden),VIIRS_NOAA20_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor,VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden)&lg=true&t=2021-08-13-T16%3A00%3A00Z

It really is day to day. We just finished a three day trip into the east side south of Tioga Pass, and had minimal smoke for the whole trip. But just give miles away people were in dense smoke. You won't really know about conditions until a day or two before you start--and maybe not even then.

The days of planning trips far in advance are long gone...

Thank you balzaccom and Almost There, these links are extremely helpful. It is so true that planning ahead is almost useless, what we plan in February and March just gets changed in August and September. I am all packed as we speak with a permit for next week, but my boss sure would appreciate it if I could narrow it down a little .