BC Wildfire Season (again) has it affected your trip planning.

[salmo7000]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Where we live in California is mostly man made fires . It will never be beautiful again for the families who lost their love ones . In California last year where we had fires in Ventura and Santa Barbara , after fires took their homes flooding from rains came next . Many neighborhoods are gone and not coming back soon . They are having to fight insurance companies who don't want to pay , so many decided to move somewhere else . Glad you outcome was good but not everyone's is . Besides beautiful homes lost many other building including a hospital that will never be built back . Besides peoples loved ones , pets , not replaceable pictures , etc. pure devastation. Pat

Oh Patandlinda, I so hear what you're saying, and I absolutely did not mean to take away from folks who have lost everything. Although my house made it through the fire, I had outbuildings that did not, and I lost a bunch of family memorabilia as well as all my notes and papers and original thesis from graduate school. We were able to keep ourselves and our beloved pets safe though, and for that I'm very thankful. My retired smokejumper husband had to identify the burned and deceased bodies of his friends in 1994 in the aftermath of the South Canyon Fire, which took the lives of 14 firefighters in Colorado. He has never gotten over that. Yes these fires can absolutely be devastating and completely ruin lives. I only intended to point out that blackened areas do grow back with time, and in many cases they are even more beautiful than before, and very good for wildlife. My best to you.

[Fox hunt]

i was in Chilliwack Monday lots of smoke couldn't see the mountains. Today Olympia is socked in with smoke and no fires close by.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Where we live in California is mostly man made fires.

The current round of fires, the Holy fire in Orange/Riverside counties was an arson case, the Carr fire up near Redding was sparked by a flat tire on a trailer on highway 299, but no cause yet has been determined for either the Fergeuson fire near Yosemite, or the Mendocino fire complex.

Several of the smaller fires such as the ones near Mammoth, were lightning caused.

So I'm not sure I'd say 'mostly'.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

The current round of fires, the Holy fire in Orange/Riverside counties was an arson case, the Carr fire up near Redding was sparked by a flat tire on a trailer on highway 299, but no cause yet has been determined for either the Fergeuson fire near Yosemite, or the Mendocino fire complex.

Several of the smaller fires such as the ones near Mammoth, were lightning caused.

So I'm not sure I'd say 'mostly'.

John you forgot Idylwild fire , arson . Just talking this year .There are statistics say California fires 90-95 % started by arson . Pat

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by salmo7000

Oh Patandlinda, I so hear what you're saying, and I absolutely did not mean to take away from folks who have lost everything. Although my house made it through the fire, I had outbuildings that did not, and I lost a bunch of family memorabilia as well as all my notes and papers and original thesis from graduate school. We were able to keep ourselves and our beloved pets safe though, and for that I'm very thankful. My retired smokejumper husband had to identify the burned and deceased bodies of his friends in 1994 in the aftermath of the South Canyon Fire, which took the lives of 14 firefighters in Colorado. He has never gotten over that. Yes these fires can absolutely be devastating and completely ruin lives. I only intended to point out that blackened areas do grow back with time, and in many cases they are even more beautiful than before, and very good for wildlife. My best to you.

Thankyou . So sorry your husband has to live with the horror fires can leave behind and your loses . Pat

[LarryandLiz]

https://globalnews.ca/news/4388826/b...edium=Facebook

State of emergency is BC 9:00 am Wednesday

[John in Santa Cruz]

yeah, watching the fire imagery on the MODIS satellites, phew, BC has it bad again this year.

yesterday afternoon's image pass:
https://go.nasa.gov/2MrVDhj

[padlin]

A lot of fires from MI to LA Louisiana), and TX too, unless the red dots are something else.

[sehoyles]

The NE parts of BC in the Peace River/Ft Nelson area, and west of Fraser Lake are smoke free right now and very beautiful. We live in Prince George and have been dealing with the smoke for many days now. Many large fires in the central part of BC. The best time to avoid smoke is often camping in June/July or September. August is often "fire season" unfortunately.

[Chama]

We just returned home to NM on 8/16 after 3 1/2 weeks in OR, WA, BC, MT, ID, UT. At the time Portland OR, Westport WA, Port Townsend WA and Anacortes, WA were smoke free. Chilliwack was very smokey. First day in Lincoln WA on Lake Roosevelt was smoke free but then smoke came in and was nearly unbearable so we left early. Had heavy smoke through Spokane and ID panhandle then clear air Missoula to Butte MT. Got back into heavy smoke and falling ash in Dillon, MT and had smoke from there south through Salt Lake City until over Soldier Summit into UT. Fires were still burning along the road over Soldier Summit. Nice further south to home in northern NM. Hope this helps some with trip planning.
Incidentally, we are experienced RVers but Escape noobs with a 21' Escape on order for delivery December 7th. The Escape Forum is sure helpful!

[cpaharley2008]

Thanks for the update Lorin and welcome to the forum....

[Steve Clark]

Thanks, Loren, and welcome to the forum. We will be heading up that way in about 10 days. We plan a 3 week tour of Yellowstone, Glacier, and the Grand Tetons, so your update is very helpful. We will keep an eye on the fires and smoke and adjust accordingly.

Cheers

[CADreamin]

Many of the B.C. sites list the active fires; however, if you're not familiar with the area(s), it's hard to determine where the fires are located. I found this site which might be of help to those, like me, who need a 'visual'.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSerie...103f65dbcd7538

[Steve Clark]

Originally Posted by CADreamin

Many of the B.C. sites list the active fires; however, if you're not familiar with the area(s), it's hard to determine where the fires are located. I found this site which might be of help to those, like me, who need a 'visual'.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSerie...103f65dbcd7538

WOW! It looks like the entire Province is on fire! So sorry!

[NCBill]

Lots of smoke on our trip up the Alcan last week. Noticed the road we traveled closed shortly after we arrived. So our route back will likely be affected.

Right now we are getting inundated with rain at Denali NP. Hopefully BC will get some of the rain too. Coming up Edmonton was the worst smoke wise. Sky was dark yellow in color. Continued to have smoke almost to Watson Lake. Then it got much better!

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by LarryandLiz

How are other forum Members coping?

I have given up on traveling out West during the summer. I curtailed the California leg of my long trip in 2015 and deleted it altogether from the 2017 trip due to wildfires. I think from now on I'll visit the West Coast during the spring.

[gbaglo]

I'm in the house with all the doors and windows closed ( no air conditioning ) looking up "best air purifier" on "The Wirecutter" and checking "Air Quality" on my weather app ( it's at 10+ which is as crappy as it goes ).

No camping.

[Bobbito]

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

Thanks, Loren, and welcome to the forum. We will be heading up that way in about 10 days. We plan a 3 week tour of Yellowstone, Glacier, and the Grand Tetons, so your update is very helpful. We will keep an eye on the fires and smoke and adjust accordingly.



Cheers

Steve, when we visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks a couple of years ago we learned that the park philosophy on forest fires is to let them burn unless they threaten people or buildings. The prevention of forest fires (which they said was largely natural due to lightning strikes) was a bad idea long term because the build up of fuel meant when a fire did occur it was far more devastating. Initially we thought this was just an excuse to not spend money on fire prevention (cleaning up dead wood; controlled burns), but now I’m thinking it might be a reasonable strategy in some forests. You will have a chance to see this story for yourself in Yellowstone. There was a fire burning when we camped there, but nowhere near any campgrounds or buildings.

Right now we, like Glen Baglo and others in the Vancouver area are disappointed by the heavy smoke every day. The sun looks like a red moon most days.

Bob K

[Steve Clark]

Thanks, Bob! So far, Yellowstone and G.Teton look OK, with moderate-good air. Glacier looks a little dicey, with several blazes on the west side of the park. We plan on camping near St. Mary’s Lake, near the East Entrance. We are going to stay light on our feet though, and be willing to bypass Glacier if need be. Maybe head toward South Dakota, Badlands, Mt. Rushmore if the smoke is bad.
Thanks for the heads-up on the Yellowstone policy. It may play a role in our journey.