Fire escape
Everything was going well on our short Sierra backpacking trip into Kaiser Wilderness in southern Sierra National Forest. Our group of 6 arrived before sunset on Friday at beautiful Lower Twin Lake with a perfect campground that we had all to ourselves. Next morning after sleeping in, we day-hiked to two more lakes, swam, had lunch and enjoyed the scenery, until...
On this blue-sky day, an ominous thunderhead appeared in the west around 1:00 p.m. Before long, black-orange smoke was mixed in with it. The "Creek Fire" had just begun, and the smoke plume was growing rapidly. Not knowing if we might be trapped by a major forest fire, we headed back to base camp and prepared to abandon the trip. We had to hike out six miles from George Lake to the cars, but got out safely.
Conditions were much more dangerous for campers caught at Mammoth Pool Reservoir, 8 miles to the WNW. Over 200 people were surrounded by flames and had to be rescued under very perilous conditions. The fire at last report has grown to almost 250,000 acres, one of the fastest forest fires on record in California. Satellite timelapse images show the plume growing explosively, like an atomic bomb had gone off.
Fire escape
Everything was going well on our short Sierra backpacking trip into Kaiser Wilderness in southern Sierra National Forest. Our group of 6 arrived before sunset on Friday at beautiful Lower Twin Lake with a perfect campground that we had all to ourselves. Next morning after sleeping in, we day-hiked to two more lakes, swam, had lunch and enjoyed the scenery, until...
On this blue-sky day, an ominous thunderhead appeared in the west around 1:00 p.m. Before long, black-orange smoke was mixed in with it. The "Creek Fire" had just begun, and the smoke plume was growing rapidly. Not knowing if we might be trapped by a major forest fire, we headed back to base camp and prepared to abandon the trip. We had to hike out six miles from George Lake to the cars, but got out safely.
Conditions were much more dangerous for campers caught at Mammoth Pool Reservoir, 8 miles to the WNW. Over 200 people were surrounded by flames and had to be rescued under very perilous conditions. The fire at last report has grown to almost 250,000 acres, one of the fastest forest fires on record in California. Satellite timelapse images show the plume growing explosively, like an atomic bomb had gone off.