Backpacking and the 2013 Rim Fire

[denisseattle]

I just completed a very successful 6-day loop in the SE portion of Yosemite 9/3-9/8/13, despite the then-raging Rim Fire in the NW part of the park. Below are some fire-related resources I used before the trip to help me decide where and whether to go.

My original route included Ten Lakes and El Capitan but that area of the backcountry closed just days before I started. The wilderness office sent me an e-mail a few days after the closure; I had already called and they reassigned my permit to another trailhead, no hassles. With steady strong winds from the south, my trip was almost completely smoke-free. When a mild wind shifted to the north on my last day, the smoke impacted the whole park within hours. Visibility dropped to 5 miles or less and air quality reached dangerous levels.

N95 masks: If you go hiking while the wildfire is still burning, invest $5 in a lightweight mask that will filter airborne particulates. The "N95" designation clearly marked on a mask indicates that it filters 95% of particulate chemicals. You can get N95 masks at any hardware store, look in the paint department. It weighs an ounce and makes a real difference if you get stuck hiking in forest fire smoke. The more common pollen masks do NOT do the same thing.

Here are the URLs, I hope they're useful to someone. Sorry, I thought I knew how to create a link in phpBB but evidently not.

YOSE Rim Fire page
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/rimfire.htm

Rim Fire Info blog
http://rimfireinfo.blogspot.com/

Wunderground smoke map - extremely useful
http://www.wunderground.com/fire
(be sure "Display Smoke Cover" is checked; to reduce clutter uncheck "InciWeb")

Webcams and Air Quality
http://www.nps.gov/yose/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

Inciweb Rim Fire page
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3660/

NOAA Satellite showing smoke plume
http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/loopsat.php?wfo=mtr&area=west&type=vis&size=1
(The smoke plume is not always visible from space.)

NOAA Air quality page (small map of health alerts in CA)
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/