Months before the Rim Fire was sparked in California’s Sierra Nevada, my husband and I booked a campsite in the Yosemite Valley, as we do every summer. While the fourth largest wildfire in California history has been burning on the northwest outskirts of the park, the valley floor – home to the famous waterfalls and sheer granite cliffs -- has been untouched. On Friday, we decided to make our way to our campsite for Labor Day weekend.
The wildfire, has shut down Highway 120, the common route from the San Francisco Bay Area to the northwestern entrance of Yosemite. This photo shows the gate where we usually enter the park.
August 30, 2013 - Yosemite National Park, California, U.S. - Fire fighting crews converge on Yosemite National Park's Big Oak Flat entrance.. Crews were expected remove potentially hazardous trees and ladder fuel (branches low to the ground) inside the park that could create fuel for the Rim Fire. Tourist traffic is typically congested during the Labor Day weekend, but the Big Oak Flat entrance into Yosemite remains closed. (Image: © Tracy Barbutes/ZUMA Wire/ZUMAPRESS.com)
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We were able to enter the park from the western entrance and while skies were clear when we arrived on Friday afternoon, shifting winds soon blew smoke right over the valley floor.
Image Credit: Grace Hwang Lynch
On Saturday morning, we woke up to the smell of smoke and an orange sun in the sky. Even though our campground was under the shadow of Yosemite’s famed Half Dome, we couldn’t see it – or any of the stone walls surrounding the valley.
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Image: Grace Hwang Lynch
Visibility and air quality were at their worst on Saturday afternoon. Usually, a rock formation called the Royal Arches can be seen behind this meadow, but it was completely obscured by the smoke.
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Image: Grace Hwang Lynch
Bulletins were posted around tourist areas, warning people about poor air quality. We avoided hiking, choosing instead to relax by the Merced River. The smoke and drifting ashes were at their worst on Saturday afternoon.
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Just a few miles away, firefighters were busy protecting one of our favorite hiking spots -- the Tuolomne Grove of giant sequoias, from a back burn intended to stave off the wildfire.
September 1, 2013 - Yosemite National Park, California, U.S. - Rim Fire firefighter, ROY BOND, from the Mississippi C50 crew, stands watch during a back fire near the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite National Park on Sunday, September 1, 2013. BOND has been working on the Rim Fire for eight days. (Image: © Tracy Barbutes/ZUMA Wire/ZUMAPRESS.com)
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The smell of smoke was gone by Sunday morning -- although, as we set off for a hike, rangers warned us that people with asthma or other respiratory problems were likely to find it hard to breathe, telling us that if we experienced any shortness of breath to make our way back to a lower elevation. Shifting winds cleared up the air significantly by Sunday afternoon. This photo, taken on Sunday, shows a tour bus overlooking the Yosemite Valley, near Highway 120.
Sept. 1, 2013 - Yosemite National Park, U.S. - While the Rim Fire rages in the northwestern area of Yosemite National Park, everything looks beautiful at the Tunnel View overlook to tourists taking the Valley Floor Tour. (Image: © Al Golub/ZUMAPRESS.com)
As of Monday, the Rim Fire is 60% contained. The National Parks Service website has updates about the fire’s effects on Yosemite.
For an interesting look at how the Rim Fire might affect the Sierra Nevada ecosystem, check out this article on Wired.
News and Politics Editor Grace Hwang Lynch blogs about raising an Asian mixed-race family at HapaMama.