Many CA National Forest SHUTDOWN

[1der]

Found another picture that is kinda close!

[carringb]

My sister evacuating from Detroit Lake State Park near Salem, early yesterday morning, heading westbound into Mill City (which is now gone):

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

Personally, when camping in the forest, I rarely have a fire in summer even when allowed. A far bigger worry for me is how I would know if there was a fire nearby as it would be nearly impossible for anyone to warn me. That's just another reason I love camping in the winter, I hope all my California friends stay safe..................

Not just no fires. No stoves. So no hot coffee.. And the forests are technically closed - no dispersed camping. They’ve never gone this far before, that I know of. But then it’s never been dark and orange at 11:45 am before either.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by rallypanam

Not just no fires. No stoves. So no hot coffee.. .

Not possible! I'm a danger to my self and anyone around me prior to morning coffee. I'll just pull the curtains and hover over my inside stove till the waters hot. Or...better yet, just stay out of the forest for now. Hurry up winter...........

[daveb]

Heck back in the 70's we had times where you could not even smoke in a vehicle...no open flame at all but they didn't close it off the forest...only high risk areas. It's all high risk right now.

[NomadQ]

I hiked up above 10,000+ft west of Mono Lake this Friday/Saturday. It was gorgeous: 80*F, last of the snow melt feeding pristine Sierra lakes. When all of a sudden the sky turned smoke red! Hmm.. i thought all of the fires were closer to the SF Bay (Santa Cruz and North Bay). The only other 2 hikers up this high with me agreed we had to get off of the mountain, or else get choked out by the ash. Turned out to be this Creek fire, which was 100 miles south of my location. Early rumor is it was caused by a f#n "gender reveal firework"??!! But I don't spread rumors, so you didn't hear it from me..Stay safe SMBFers.

[joefromsf]

As of today, ALL the National Forests in CA are closed.


Due to unprecedented and historic fire conditions throughout the state, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region is announcing a temporary closure of an additional ten National Forests, meaning all eighteen National Forests in California are now closed. The closure of the additional ten forests will be effective at 5:00 pm today.

[Wowbagger]

One of many reasons I wanted enough battery in my SMB to be able to use electricity to cook. "Fire, Mr Ranger? There's no fire here. Generator? Nope, none of that, either."

[Glenn P.]

I was up in the Mammoth area over the long weekend and the smoke was bad. I also headed up Tioga Pass and escaped some of the smoke doing some hiking. What I had never seen before however was down by Hot Creek outside Mammoth. The BLM/Forest Service land out there that is popular for us SMB types to utilize DISPERSED camping was completely overrun by the fleeing masses likely from the Mammoth and and other nearby Sierra campgrounds and the off-roaders. Places where I normally see a vehicle here and there now had encampments of 10 trucks here, 5 trucks there, even a 20 vehicle gaggle and I am talking even in the places I normally drive way back to to get away from the ONE other vehicle nearby. It looked like Burning Man had relocated to the Hot Creek area! Then these bozo's are having campfires!!! I saw the BLM ranger out there the next morning busting people for the fires and as I rolled out I saw BLM, Forest Service and the local Sheriff having a pow wow so I figure they were about to crack down hard on these folks that were breaking every rule of Leave No Trace and dispersed camping imaginable.

Let's all practice being role models for how remote camping should be done regardless of the irresponsible masses out there.

[BrianBlair]

Originally Posted by Glenn P.

I was up in the Mammoth area over the long weekend and the smoke was bad. I also headed up Tioga Pass and escaped some of the smoke doing some hiking. What I had never seen before however was down by Hot Creek outside Mammoth. The BLM/Forest Service land out there that is popular for us SMB types to utilize DISPERSED camping was completely overrun by the fleeing masses likely from the Mammoth and and other nearby Sierra campgrounds and the off-roaders. Places where I normally see a vehicle here and there now had encampments of 10 trucks here, 5 trucks there, even a 20 vehicle gaggle and I am talking even in the places I normally drive way back to to get away from the ONE other vehicle nearby. It looked like Burning Man had relocated to the Hot Creek area! Then these bozo's are having campfires!!! I saw the BLM ranger out there the next morning busting people for the fires and as I rolled out I saw BLM, Forest Service and the local Sheriff having a pow wow so I figure they were about to crack down hard on these folks that were breaking every rule of Leave No Trace and dispersed camping imaginable.

Let's all practice being role models for how remote camping should be done regardless of the irresponsible masses out there.

The scene in the Eastern Sierra last weekend was just infuriating. It makes me want to sell my van to be honest. I'm reluctant to visit places like Mammoth or Bishop now as there's such a stigma attached to these vehicles. The locals just look at all of us like the stereotypical "vanlifer" that's only there for an Instagram photo shoot.