Well we were supposed to go to Yosemite next week....

[Alyssa]

But it's bordering a fire that's the size of Chicago.  It's been burning for a week now and it's only 7% contained.







The wind is blowing it towards the northeast but it's already hitting the northern border of the park.  We got a campsite right in the valley back in April but it's making me wonder if we should trudge forward and go for it or try to make alternate plans.  I hate this up in the air feeling of not knowing what to do.

[Deleted]

I would cancel for another time.

[sunshinedaydreams]

Oh man, that sucks. I agree with PP, though, I'd probably cancel. It's a long way in and out of Yosemite if you need to get out quickly. I'd maybe call the NPS and see what they're suggesting if you're still considering it.

[jewel]

Don't go. The whole valley is full of smoke. Even if you aren't in danger, you won't want to spend any time outside.

[Alyssa]

:::sigh:::

The purple on the outside is the latest section of destroyed land.  It's moved towards the SE which is towards the valley area.  They 're saying it's 20% contained as of today, we're on day 10 of this fire.

Sorry to whine.....I'm so bummed, we got time off work for this trip.  My sitter has already made plans to spend next week in San Diego so if we don't go, we either have to stay home to watch the kids or have to figure out a last minute trip somewhere else.  I don't know what to do.

[dearprudence]

We just got back from Yosemite last week. We stayed in the valley and it was definitely being affected, even early on. My husband woke up on Saturday night and said it seemed smokey, but when we asked about it, they told us it was probably just due to the campfires at Curry Village. It stayed smokey when we went up to Tolumne/Lake Tenaya/White Wolf though and as we left Monday the 19th, my BIL was one of the last to get out before they closed 120. If it felt smokey back then, I would think it would be bad with the continued growth/burn.

[Deleted]

I'm so sorry, we are dealing with this too. I'm up in Sacramento this week for work and it is all over the news. We were supposed to be headed up to Tahoe next weekend but with the air quality we have now cancelled our plans. Probably time to thinking about a last minute trip. We are thinking about heading to Monterey instead.

[CloudBee]

Where are you coming from? Could you travel to SFO and do the city, or visit the redwoods instead?

[mdgirl]

Aug 27, 2013 14:44:29 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Where are you coming from? Could you travel to SFO and do the city, or visit the redwoods instead?

This is what I was going to suggest, especially if you have plane tickets or something. You have my sympathy on the whole situation, too. I do so much planning for my trips I hate it when I have to change stuff around after getting so excited for it.

[curlygirlygirl]

This makes me so sad. I've been following it on their facebook feed. We were there at the beginning of the month and commented on how devastated one area looked due to burn damage, and there were fires we could see there while we were on the road.

I'm certainly hoping for the best. Yosemite is definitely one of the most amazing places I've ever visited. We stopped there before going to Tahoe (yeah, we apparently attract fires...) and were going to go to SF afterwards, but felt there was still so much to see so we doubled back and got ourselves an annual pass in the process!