Western Fires?

[routlaw]

Is there any place out west not inundated with these fires? I have a window of opportunity and would like to take off for several days, but its an ugly mess here in Montana, and hardly worth camping anywhere in the state. How about ID, UT, WY or other areas, anyone been to these places recently? Thanks, odd request for sure.

[marsharini]

We're headed that way in a couple weeks.  Hope it's not too smoky.

 

 

 

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov  is a good resource for current wildfire information.

[routlaw]

Ed and Marsh. Its very bad currently. This mornings paper reported the town of Seeley Lake being evacuated. For a month now visibility here in the Gallatin Valley has been so bad on most days you can't even see the mountains that surround the valley. There are 11 major fires in the state of Montana alone plus we are getting smoke from fires in other states.

 

I had heard as of last week the Tetons might not be too bad and that Wyoming only had one fire within the state. I believe Glacier is about as polluted as our location in the southwestern part of the state. Our daughter and son in law live in Butte which is also a mess, they even had ash falling last week.

 

A lot can happen in two weeks but the long range prediction was there is no end in sight for this stuff clear through Sept. Unless you like to breath a lot of carbon my suggestion would be to have a back up plan.

[ScubaRx]

Is there any place out west not inundated with these fires? I have a window of opportunity and would like to take off for several days, but its an ugly mess here in Montana, and hardly worth camping anywhere in the state. How about ID, UT, WY or other areas, anyone been to these places recently? Thanks, odd request for sure.

 

 

 

Hey Rob, we just returned from most of those places.  We found a beautiful Forest Service campground on the East side of Lake Cascade in Idaho.  It is French Creek Campground.  We stayed there about 5 nights.  I think it was about $5-6.  Lake was filling up at that time from the melt off from the Mountains further to the East.  Should be up by now.  There was fresh water available.

 

We had led a group of 15 fiberglass trailers on a 3 week jaunt thru all 5 National Parks in Southern Utah, camping in several boondocking spots and some pretty nice campgrounds (none over $7-8.)

 

We haven't been to WY in a couple of years.  One of the other members is going soon but he stated that campsites were few and far between due to the coming eclipse. That's probably the case in most place along the path, but you guys shouldn't have too much problem finding a "wide open space" out there!!!!

 

Good Camping

[routlaw]

Thanks Steve, you guys must have been "cooking" down in the southwest this time of year. Quite the inferno this time of year. We've spent a lot time in the Sawtooth Wilderness and Recreation Area but not familiar with Cascade Lake, will check it out. Thanks

[John E Davies]

I'm in Spokane, breathing your fire smoke, and that of BC, we are at 159 right now. There is supposed to be a big break in the weather starting tonight. The winds will finally pick up and shift to SW, so the smoke will be slowly clearing out of the coastal and Inland Empire areas of WA. But it will get pushed right back into MT, so I am not sure what to say to you.

 

The smoke is everywhere, on Wednesday I was in Republic way up near Canada, eh, and it was just nasty. OTH because the winds are light, it does stratify a little. On top of Sherman Pass (5500 ft) it was smoky but way less thick than in the valleys below 3000 feet. I have cancelled a couple of camping plans already due to smoke. We will be staying along the Snake River near Pasco on Wed, and it is supposed to be clear and 82.

 

Maybe consider finding a NFS campground way up high, and use the fire maps to pick a spot that will be out of the plumes...?

 

If you haven't tried the Weather Underground "Storm" app, give it a try. I find it very useful in looking forward 7 to 10 days, since it has lots of wind data and other info. The fact that you can't predict accurately much beyond a couple of days is true, but it makes me feel good to see impending changes even if the numbers turn out to be all wrong ;(

 

I have been thinking about buying a small HEPA filter for my bedroom, that we could also run if we are trapped in smoke while in Mouse. I have this one on my Wish List.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00BWYO3X8/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I22JWOK7HU63U&colid=77ELCXYF0Y8I

 

I have been trying to figure out how many watts it uses, but they don't publish that figure. I am sure it is pretty low, I would be able to run it off my inverter for a long time....

 

I also bought 20 (two boxes)  of these masks, so when we are in central ID in a week, totally eclipsing, we will have a way to filter some of the particles, if it gets bad again ... https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00AEXIS4S/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I1QNNOE3OVNI55&colid=305M5TXY22I7S

 

I do plan to camp a bunch this fall, this last half of summer has been a real letdown.... at least it is not as hot as some places. It has been up near 125 F in the Middle East.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[routlaw]

I just found the following website links that have a great deal of info on the western wildfires, includes satellite photos and all as well as graphics and AQI's that John refers to above. So for those folks considering a trip out west hopefully you will find this info helpful in making your plans.

 

Cutting to the chase it ain't looking good though other than NV, UT further south, NM etc.

 

http://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/

 

https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=topics.smoke_wildfires

 

http://svc.mt.gov/deq/todaysair/smokereport/mostrecentupdate.aspx

[routlaw]

John we have been flirting with triple digit temps all summer until this past week where we have had a cooling trend down to the low and mid 80's and we've even had a shift in winds on some days coming from the east. It has not made one iota of difference ± 10%. That said I'm thinking the Beartooth Plateau with elevations well over 10,000 feet might be above much of this stuff, but even that is crap shoot.

 

Funny I used to live here for the magnificent summers, now we almost look upon them with dread. Most of our summers over the last decade or so have been like this plus or minus.

[John E Davies]

I have a window of opportunity and would like to take off for several days.

 

What dates? How far do you feel like driving from Bozeman? I can report on eastern WA smoke conditions any time, and I will be in the Tri-Cities (Kennewick and the Snake River 30 miles east) on Wed and Thurs.

 

What kind of camping do you prefer? Besides smokeless... ;) State Park, COE or NFS? There are a number of very nice COE campgrounds here that are dirt cheap if you are an OAP like me, over 62. But they can't begin to compare with the stuff in your back yard.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[KarenLukens]

Sitting here in Forks, WA is really nice this weekend, the coast is clear :)

[routlaw]

routlaw wrote:

I have a window of opportunity and would like to take off for several days.

What dates? How far do you feel like driving from Bozeman? I can report on eastern WA smoke conditions any time, and I will be in the Tri-Cities (Kennewick and the Snake River 30 miles east) on Wed and Thurs. What kind of camping do you prefer? Besides smokeless… State Park, COE or NFS? There are a number of very nice COE campgrounds here that are dirt cheap if you are an OAP like me, over 62. But they can’t begin to compare with the stuff in your back yard. John Davies Spokane WA

 

Got busy with a few things yesterday and couldn't get back. Thanks for the comments. We tend to camp in wilderness areas, i.e. BLM, USFS and National Parks rarely with hookups or boon docking depending on how you look at that. We do a lot of hiking, cycling, some kayaking though not so much this summer for obvious reasons. I do have the geezer pass, what a great deal that is. Talk about cheap vacations other than paying for gas to there and back. Got to love it.

 

Unfortunately my window is not big this time around so at this point I'm either considering bagging it until the fall when the skies clear or a short jaunt down to the Tetons or over to the Beartooths on the MT/WY border. I can't seem to get a clear read on whether or not the Tetons have much smoke or not, might give them a call today and see. On the other hand I suspect that place is filling up fast due to the solar eclipse and Jackson being in the middle of the path.

[Spike]

We live in SE Arizona, where the summer monsoons have, once again, made our area green, relatively cool, and beautiful. No fires. I highly recommend camping in the eastern side of the Chiricahua Mountains in the Coronado NF. Check out Cave Creek (not to be confused with the town north of Phoenix) near Portal, AZ.

[routlaw]

I knew AZ was getting some rain, but it would never have occurred to me there is a monsoon season down in the southwest this time of year. Let alone green, and relatively cool. I've always thought of the SW as being the inferno this time of year, shows you what I know. Long haul from here but something to think about.

[Spike]

As an example, just got word from a friend living in the eastern part of our county that her rain gauge, which maxed out at 4.5 inches, was overflowing yesterday from a single downpour. This is my favorite season here. The rain can be intense but short lived. Our summer monsoon season is often referred to as our "fifth season." Attached is a photo of Cave Creek/Portal area of the Chiricahua Mountains.

[routlaw]

Nice! Looks like we are going to need to put this area on our bucket list.

 

In the meantime miracles do happen, its actually raining here in Bozeman today. This might be the first time in a two months been so long don't remember what it was like. I doubt it will be enough to extinguish our fires but it might clear the air for a couple of days at least.