My wife and I will be making our annual trek to Yosemite and plan to be in the park from 9/1 to 9/7. The last 2 (possibly 3) nights, we'll be at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge but we'll be in Yosemite West for the first few nights (currently booked in there for 4 nights but may be able to head up to TM a day early). We'll be doing day hikes (on average 8-12 miles but maybe something a little longer...depending on amount of elevation change and roughness of trail). Obviously, we've been watching the fire situation very closely. Given the danger to Wawona, it doesn't surprise me that there seems to be more going on with regards to the management of the South Fork fire but I'm just seeing the same status repeated for "updates" on the Empire Fire so I really don't know what we're heading into. While in the Yose West, the hikes we were most focussed on doing were
Mono Meadow TH -> Panorama Trail -> cross Illouette Creek and continue on Panorama until the trail (don't know if it has a name) heads south along the east side of the Creek -> back out at Mono TH
alternatively, start down the Panorama Trail at GP, do the same loop around the Illouette Creek and back out at GP
Westfall Meadow -> down Alder Creek to Deer Camp Road -> head east to Deer Camp -> the trail that starts south and then loops west to connect back to the trail going back up to Deer Camp Road -> then heading back out through Westfall
alternatively, coming up Alder Creek Trail from Mosquito Creek or Wawona -> Deer Camp Road -> complete the loop heading south & west from Deer Camp -> back out the way we came
plan C: start at Henness Ridge -> Deer Camp -> do that little loop and head back...that's longer than my wife's usually comfortable with but I've done most of that stretch and now that the elevation change is very gradual on the vast majority of the trail) (in case it's not obvious, that's a fairly long hike in any of it's variants, all to check off a tiny part of MY Trail Quest (specifially that little stretch from Deer Camp south & west back to the Alder Creek trail)
It sounds like they're working to contain but not necessarily extinguish the Empire Fire (or am I wrong about that?). Even if it they DO put it out, I'm guessing that anyof my Deer Camp alternatives are still going to be smoky at best and downright unpleasant at worst (especially coming in through Westfall Meadow which is the shortest version of that hike).
Any thoughts on that? Are we going to be gagging even trying to stay at Yose West?
How about the Illouette Creek loop? Does it seem like that will be an OK hike with fire suppression proceeding at the current pace?
Other alternatives are to explore some part of the OCR between Little Nellie Falls and Hazel Green (although I don't know how much of that we'll be able to do as an out-and-back...especially since my wife had some pretty major surgery a few months ago and is still not fully recovered) and/or head up to Hetch Hetchy (although that's a pretty long haul from Yose West and I don't want to spend half the day in the car).
Lots of options for the high country and I don't think any of them will be impacted by fire (except possibly views) or have I missed something up there?
One quick question about high country...is it still very wet up there? If we headed down the GC of Tuolumne to Glen Aulin or a little beyond (probably the extent of what my wife can handle right now)...are the waterfalls still flowing nicely? Are they flowing TOO nicely (i.e., major water crossings on the way)?
I know that a lot of factors come into play with both the water and especially the fires but for those of you who have been to the park in the last couple of weeks and have the experience to guesstimate some of this stuff, your opinions are very welcome.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2017 07:18PM by DavidK42.