balzaccom
Trail Wise!
Waiting for spring...
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Post by balzaccom on Sept 18, 2022 19:06:47 GMT -8
We were all set to spend three days in the Mokelumne Wilderness, starting at Carson Pass and then moving on to Emigrant Lake this weekend. But Friday, as we drove up Highway 88 in the morning, the smoke from the big Mosquito Fire first appeared on the horizon, then got thicker, then got really bad. So bad, in fact, that we bailed on the trip.
Welcome to our new world.
We turned around, headed for our cabin near Sonora, where the smoke was not evident, and I spent the day working there. On Saturday we went up to Pinecrest Lake and took a hike around the lake, noting that the outlet was roaring, and the inlet was trickling. Must be that time of year when they lower the level.
It was a pleasant enough hike, with loads and loads of other people, but it was a far cry from Mok Wild. The lake was down at least twenty feet.
Meanwhile, one of the other volunteers hit Carson Pass later in the day, and told us that the wind had shifted, and his hike was very pleasant.
Nuts.
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Travis
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WYOMING NATIVE
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Post by Travis on Sept 19, 2022 5:22:22 GMT -8
Somke is the new snowstorm It's been a long time since I got caught in somke, but every year I get into some deep sonw. |
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Post by swmtnbackpacker on Sept 19, 2022 5:45:48 GMT -8
Smoke is increasingly a showstopper. Not only unpleasant blocking views, making it tough to breathe (especially with any sort of breathing problems), smelling the place up, but scientists increasingly say it’s very unhealthy to breathe in. I’d add especially for hikers breathing in deeply.
For the far west, thinking about a really ultralight kit to get max miles in before the inevitable smoke season arrives (maybe a “Zpacks” pyramid tarp with the bonus the gear is bio-based polymers if my read of their lit is correct).
Then there’s heavier gear to get deeper in winter and spring with various degrees of snow, maybe the “4 corner” states when monsoon [usually] hits and thunderstorms clear the air.
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rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 19, 2022 9:01:29 GMT -8
My trip a little over a week ago was cut short by smoke. That turned out to be good, as otherwise I'd have been hiking toward a road that would have been closed by fire when I got there. Still learning how to cope with this, but increasingly feeling that 2-way communication (as we had; my BiL had just got a Garmin mini that let him text with his wife) is a good idea, to get better info on what's causing the smoke and why.
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Travis
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WYOMING NATIVE
Posts: 2,579
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Post by Travis on Sept 19, 2022 19:38:07 GMT -8
Most of the smoke in my area has been from fairly distant fires. They leave a higher altitude haze that doesn't create an obvious breathing hazard. That's our piece of Montana, Oregon and California.
Despite the drought, we've been fortunate in not having large fires close and upwind recently. The one we did have a few weeks ago I found easy enough to plan around and avoid.
But that smoke, no matter how tolerable on the ground, is to me a sobering (almost depressing) reminder of the patterns of climate change and our deep need to take them seriously as a nation and as individuals. I think that as people who enjoy the outdoors we have an inclination to seek out the scenic, the beautiful, the peaceful and the impressive.
I've "forced" myself to hike through recent fire areas that are hardly any of those. Nature does not subscribe to our personal views of esthetics. There seems to be a yin and yang to the life and death cycle of a forest ecosystem. Fire, to the extent it is natural and not man-made, is a part of the cycle. We might as well experience what our own lives are an inevitable part of.
But there remains for me a foreboding sense that civilization's cancerous need to grow and consume is promoting disastrous consequences in the places where we seek natural beauty.
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Post by Lamebeaver on Sept 20, 2022 7:02:03 GMT -8
Sadly, drought, fire, and smoke are the "new normal" in the west.
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balzaccom
Trail Wise!
Waiting for spring...
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Post by balzaccom on Sept 20, 2022 11:54:50 GMT -8
Somke is the new snowstorm It's been a long time since I got caught in somke, but every year I get into some deep sonw. Ya know, I resisted correcting the title in deference to Travis' joke here...but someone else wasn't so thoughtful. |
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zeke
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Peekaboo slot 2023
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Post by zeke on Sept 20, 2022 12:06:17 GMT -8
Since SMOKE was the discussion, and the Search function works on spelling, 2 Mods agreed to correct the spelling. This will allow others to find this discussion in the future.
There is a resistance to correcting spelling and grammar within the text, but the title can be useful in the Search function.
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Post by swmtnbackpacker on Sept 22, 2022 6:12:58 GMT -8
Semi-seriously it could cause hikers to change their plans, and perhaps burn money. Some ‘21 PCT Southbound long distance hikers had to switch to the CT to southern CDT as a result of California forests closing due to fire/smoke in that year.
This thread deserves its own soundtrack courtesy of Cheech and Chong (trigger warning: parental advisory for those who need it):
They are singing about plant matter lit on fire ..
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