Fire

While I sit and vacillate on whether to stay home or go to Tuolumne Meadows Sunday morning, I thought I would post this photo. It was taken only last year, in October when I was shooting fall colors in the Easter Sierra. I usually drive up to Olmsted Point for one sunset on this annual trip. This time there was still some fires burning from last seasons fires. The shot was taken near sunset which added some color to the smoke.

It's not any great photo, but this photo came to mind while I continued to try and decide if I should go Sunday.

Pretty dramatic shot John. Will they even let you get this close to Yosemite right now? If they did would you be able to get a view like this or is it all smoky air?

AlanLichty said:

Pretty dramatic shot John. Will they even let you get this close to Yosemite right now? If they did would you be able to get a view like this or is it all smoky air?

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This shot was taken from the parking lot at Olmstead Point. That area is and has always been open during the fires even though smoke has been bad at times. The campsite I have reserved is a few miles east of this spot.

They are making good progress getting the fire contained and so the question becomes how much or how little will smoke affect this area which has always been far from the flames but close enough to receive all the smoke as the wind carries it. I'm thinking/hoping the smoke will reduce in the next few days. There is 20% chance of thunderstorms at this elevation for the weekend, so that could help as well. For the moment I'm now leaning towards going after spending the last week having pretty much written off the trip.

Hey John, I would say this is a very good dramatic image you posted! The fires burning in the distance, the clouds being pink and the face of Half Dome all make for a very good shot in my book.

The image is really cool - and somewhat depressing at the same time. Fire can create some really amazing conditions.

I'd planned to spent a night at one of the high sierra camps a few weeks ago and ended up cancelling due to the smoke. For right now, it sounds like the only access to Tuolumne meadows is from the east side so you may want to check on that. Good luck.

It's a bit sad but still a great photo.

Kyle Jones said:

The image is really cool - and somewhat depressing at the same time. Fire can create some really amazing conditions.

I'd planned to spent a night at one of the high sierra camps a few weeks ago and ended up cancelling due to the smoke. For right now, it sounds like the only access to Tuolumne meadows is from the east side so you may want to check on that. Good luck.

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Thanks Kyle. From my location it was always the plan to come up 395 so at least that isn't an issue for me.

If you need encouragement John, I'm telling you to go!
We need more quality photos of all forms of nature, including documenting fires, floods, clearcuts or whatever. Landscape photographers are perfectionist, and tend to create images that are of pristine beauty and only show nature according to our inner vision, which fires are the last thing in my vision, but a very serious public issue that needs reconciling.
Thanks for including here your quandary, hopefully somewhere in those burned hills is a new forest beginning.

Very nice looking.

This is a nice documentary image, John.