California Wild fires

[jayc2640]

We're currently in Washington State, just south of Olympia.  We're leaving Saturday.  Our original plan was to pick up US-101 in Astoria, OR, and take it down to California Rt-20 in Calpella, to I-5 South to Sacramento.  The wildfires are concerning, especially on CA-20.  Does anyone have any recent intel?  Thanks!

 

[SeilerBird]

Stay out of California for at least the next month. The smoke is horrible and things will only get worse before they get better.

 

[johnaye]

Here is a link for CA highway conditions.  It does not show anything about HW 20, but I would avoid that and 243 at all costs right now.  Cross to I 5 before CA and you should e OK unless there are more fires.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/Hourly

 

[SeilerBird]

Here is the latest California fire map:

http://www.fire.ca.gov/general/firemaps

 

[Tom and Margi]

Google Mendocino Complex Incident Updates for the latest evac status and road closures for that fire.  It will indicate the parts of Highway 20 to be avoided.

 

[Broke Boater]

20 was closed last I heard and that was Monday. I just came down 5 from Ore yesterday and the smoke was better then it was Saturday when I went up there. It all depends on wind direction. 299 east from 101 is closed too. You could stay on 101 to 37 to 80, but that will bring into the bay area traffic during commute hours. Unless there's a reason for coming down 101 into Cali, I think I would cross over in S. Ore somewhere and roll down I-5 this time,,,gregg

 

[jayc2640]

The comments and links that I've gotten here and on other forums has made up my mind.  We're going to go east through Oregon, down through Idaho and Utah, to our ultimate destination in Las Vegas. 

Our daughter is getting married in Las Vegas in mid September, so we have to be there, but there is no hurry.  Our trip into California was really just sight seeing and killing time.

So, we're playing it safe and staying away from fires!

Thanks!

 

[SeilerBird]

Well then you will only be 160 from Zion National Park, which is almost a beautiful as Yosemite, just not so large. You don't even need reservations at South campground. Just show up in the morning and drive around waiting for some one to move out. Or make a reservation at Watchman, which does have hookups. Zion is especially stunning in late September, the leaves are starting to turn.

 

[jayc2640]

Thanks for the heads up!  We like hookups, so we'll see if we can get reservations at Watchman!

 

[zulu]

Remember the smoke folks . . . it's all over the West. And where there's smoke . . .

https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/

 

[Back2PA]

https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/

I?d take that fire map with a grain of salt. I drove right by one of the supposed fires (north of Phoenix) 3 days ago and didn?t see a thing. The fire is reported as active, been burning for three weeks, and the size is now 0.1 acres.

 

[SeilerBird]

Well the smoke in California is outrageous. Check out this photo:

 

[Back2PA]

Well the smoke in California is outrageous.

Certainly not denying that. Just looks like the database info used by the fireweatheravalanche site isn?t as current as it could be

 

[UTTransplant]

Friends of mine in Salt Lake City have been posting pictures of smoke filled skies that hide the mountains. They are having bad pollution days, and the primary cause is smoke from the CA wildfires. Late summer in the west can be like that.

 

[Larry N.]

And we're still getting smoke in the Denver area from those California fires, though there may be a little from other places -- weather folks say it's California, though.

 

[Molaker]

Okay, now they've done it.


Yosemite NP

 

[docj]

Stay out of California for at least the next month. The smoke is horrible and things will only get worse before they get better.

FWIW as of today, the smoke also extends well into OR and Nevada so be advised that it's difficult to escape it no matter where you go.  We've been in the Crater Lake area for the past week and were able to get one pretty decent day at the Lake, but even then the visibility went down dramatically as the day went on.

We drove south to north through Eastern NV getting here and the smoke was so thick you could barely see the sun!

We had committed to coming here and Crater Lake was on our bucket list, but this wasn't the best year to have seen it.

 

[SeilerBird]

Hey Joel, did you know you can hike down to the lake and catch a ride on a boat around the lake? Cool photos.

Meanwhile it is a lot worse than I realized. They are now claiming smoke is making it to NYC.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/10/us/smoke-california-wildfire-reaches-nyc-wxc-trnd/index.html