Smoke from Mariposa fire obscures vistas in Yosemite National Park
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Max Zedler photographs Alex Jiggs as the sun rises over smoke-shrouded Yosemite National Park. The Detwiler fire is burning roughly 35 miles to the west.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Visitors catch a glimpse of Half Dome at sunset in hazy Yosemite Valley. The smoke from the Detwiler fire burning near Mariposa is obscuring tourists’ views of some of Yosemite National Park’s most picturesque landmarks.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Visitors watch the sun rise behind Half Dome, in smoke-shrouded Yosemite National Park. Yosemite Valley, which attracts as many as 50,000 visitors on a summer weekend, remains open, but visitors from the across the nation and around the world expressed disappointment over the decrease in visibility as they posed for selfies.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Smoke from the Detwiler fire blankets the entire Yosemite Valley, as seen from the famous Tunnel View outlook in the national park.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Alex Jiggs stand at the edge of a cliff overlooking smoke-filled Yosemite Valley. From the famous Tunnel View overlook on Highway 41, granite monoliths towering over the valley, including El Capitan and Half Dome, resembled gray silhouettes. Bridalveil Fall was barely visible.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Smoke from the Detwiler fire greets visitors taking in the sweeping panorama of Yosemite Valley from the famous Tunnel View overlook on Highway 41.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Visitors watch the sun rise behind Half Dome, in smoke-shrouded Yosemite National Park. Tourists from across the nation and around the world expressed disappointment over the decrease in visibility.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Visitors watch the sun rise behind Half Dome. The Detwiler fire, which has scorched 75,200 acres since it erupted July 16, was 30% contained Saturday morning, officials said.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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The view of Bridalveil Fall is obscured by smoke in Yosemite National Park.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Visitors watch the sun rise behind Half Dome. A tourist from England shaded her eyes and squinted, hoping it would improve the view. “All I see is a lot of potential,” she said. “I’ll make sure to check the California fire situation before I book another trip to Yosemite.”
Smoke was taking a visible toll Saturday on Yosemite National Park, where some of the most picturesque vistas on earth were hidden behind eerie curtains of thick haze drifting in from the devastating Detwiler fire, about 35 miles to the west.
From the famous Tunnel View overlook on Highway 41, granite monoliths towering over Yosemite Valley including El Capitan and Half Dome resembled gray silhouettes. Bridalveil Fall was barely visible.
Earlier in the week, these formations, along with waterfalls gushing with unusually heavy runoff from this winter’s historic snowpack, could not be seen at all through the gray shroud.
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Yosemite Valley, which attracts as many as 50,000 visitors on a summer weekend, remains open, but visitors from the across the nation and around the world expressed disappointment over the decrease in visibility as they posed for selfies.
Among them was Ken Welsh, 60, from New Zealand, who said he arrived at the Tunnel View vista prepared to be “blown away by a technicolor dream.”
Instead, he shrugged, then headed back to the car. “It leaves a lot to the imagination, doesn’t it?” he sighed.
Gabrielle Stacey, 43, of Bristol, England, shaded her eyes and squinted hoping it would improve the view.
“All I see is a lot of potential,” she said. “I’ll make sure to check the California fire situation before I book another trip to Yosemite.”
The fire, which has scorched 75,200 acres since it erupted July 16, was 30% contained on Saturday morning, officials said.
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Jacky Liang, 24, of Santa Cruz, found plenty to like about the hazy backdrop as he photographed his girlfriend at Tunnel View.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “The smoke adds an edgy ambience to the shadows cast by the formations, almost as though they’re cloaked in mist.”
Lindsey Ross, 36, of Austin, Texas, wouldn’t go that far.
“If you’ve never been to Yosemite before,” he said, with a wry smile, “you don’t know what you’re missing.”
Smoke from the Detwiler fire blankets the entire Yosemite Valley, as seen from the Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
The Detwiler fire forced an entire town’s residents to evacuate the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, but over the past week, it has slowed significantly and no longer threatens any large communities, a fire official said Saturday.
But the blaze still may be two weeks away from being fully contained, Cal Fire spokesman Brandon Vaccaro said. Evacuation orders remain in place for several roads in the area.
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The blaze, which began just east of Lake McClure in Mariposa County, has destroyed 60 dwellings and sent a plume of smoke as far away as Idaho.
For four days, residents of Mariposa — a town of about 2,000 not far from Yosemite National Park — were uprooted from their homes and businesses following an evacuation order. They were allowed to return Friday to the town, which was partially covered in ash.
At least one neighborhood outside Mariposa along Highway 140 was destroyed.
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Plumes of smoke rises as the northern front of the Detwiler wildfire burns outside of Coulterville, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters from Apple Valley Fire Protection District help mop up residual fire after the Detwiler wildfire burned through an area outside of Mariposa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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The ruins of a residential neighborhood along Highway 140 lie smoldering after the Detwiler wildfire burned through the area outside of Mariposa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Workers at Happy Burger Place clean up the restaurant in preparation to open the next morning at 6 o’clock after evacuation orders were lifted in Mariposa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Fire climbs up a hill as the northern front of the Detwiler wildfire burns outside of Coulterville, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A home destroyed in the Detwiler Fire along Hunters Valley Road near Mariposa, Calif. The blaze has now burned more than 70,000 acres and is 10% contained.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Fire retardant is dropped on a side of a hill near Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Plumes of smoke rise around Lake McClure, near Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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An ominous cloud of smoke could be seen east of Bear Valley, near Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Marc Silva, left, Greg Bodnar and Mike Foster, firefighters from strike team 2800a from Monterey County, mop up hot spots in a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A home destroyed by the Detwiler fire along Hunters Valley Road near Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A statue sits untouched at the doorstop to a home burned in the Detwiler wildfire in Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A home burned down by the Detwiler fire in Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Helicopters attack the flames in the hills behind the Idle Wheels Senior Mobile Home in Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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The Detwiler fire burns near a residential neighborhood in Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Flames rise behind a vacant house as firefighters work to halt the Detwiler fire near Mariposa, Calif.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press)
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The Detwiler wildfire burns near the outskirts of Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Smoke engulfs Old Highway Road, in Mariposa, Calif.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters monitor flames on the side of a road July 18 near Mariposa, Calif.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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Firefighters monitor flames on the side of a road July 18 near Mariposa, Calif.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press)
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Firefighter Sam Goodspeed of the Nevada City Fire Department stares down the approaching flames of the Detwiler fire July 18 near Mariposa.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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A firefighter sprays down flames July 18 near Mariposa.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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Mike Wright sits in a lawn chair at his home July 18 as flames from the Detwiler fire approach the town of Mariposa.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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A roadside memorial stands next to an area burned by the Detwiler fire in Mariposa, Calif.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A burned-out car sits next to a home that was destroyed by the Detwiler Fire in Mariposa, Calif.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A gas line continues to burn at a home destroyed by the Detwiler fire in Mariposa, Calif.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A chimney stands amid the burned-out remains of a house on July 18 near Mariposa.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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Evacuees from the Detwiler fire at a Red Cross evacuation center in Oakhurst, Calif.
(JOSH EDELSON / AFP/Getty Images)
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A real estate sign is surrounded by flames as the Detwiler fire rages on near the town of Mariposa.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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The Detwiller Fire burns above Lake McClure near Bear Valley.
(Noah Berger / EPA)
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Animal control officers struggle on July 17 with a sheep while trying to evacuate the animal as the Detwiller fire burns nearby in Bear Valley.
(Noah Berger / EPA)
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An air tanker drops fire retardant while battling the Detwiller fire near Bear Valley.
(Noah Berger / EPA)
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Flames from the Detwiller fire rise over Highway 49 in Bear Valley on July 17.
(Noah Berger / EPA)
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A firefighter works to keep the Detwiller fire from spreading up a hillside near Mariposa on July 17.
(Noah Berger / EPA)
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A car burned by the Detwiller fire sits outside a leveled structure on July 17 near Mariposa.
(Noah Berger / EPA)
The blaze is continuing through vegetation in the northeast toward the Stanislaus National Forest, although it’s not expected to reach that area. Vaccaro said firefighters expect to fully contain the fire by Aug. 5.
Officials from Cal Fire and the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office plan to hold a community meeting to address fire-related concerns at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Mariposa County High School Auditorium, at 5074 Old Highway North in Mariposa.
Louis Sahagún is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered issues ranging from religion, culture and the environment to crime, politics and water. He was on the team of L.A. Times writers that earned the Pulitzer Prize in public service for a series on Latinos in Southern California and the team that was a finalist in 2015 for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news. He is a former board member of CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California and author of the book “Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall.”
Maya Lau is a former investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she focused on rapid-response investigations into the chaos inside the USPS, problems with signature verification on ballots and challenges of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. In her prior beat covering the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, she led a team that produced a series revealing how the misconduct of hundreds of deputies had been hidden from judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys for decades, raising questions about whether some defendants received fair trials. She came from the Advocate, based in Baton Rouge, La., where she was the lead writer on a team that won an Investigative Reporters and Editors award for stories revealing the financial dealings of the long-serving warden of the notorious Angola Prison. She graduated from Vassar College.
