Yosemite Tourist Sites Remain Open Despite Rim Fire
Most tourist sites in Yosemite National Park, including hotels, campsites and other concessions, have remained open as of early Monday afternoon, Aug. 26, Pacific Time, despite the Rim Fire, according to the National Park Service (NPS) and InciWeb Incident Information System. The raging fire, which has charred about 150,000 acres, was 15 percent contained at press time.
While White Wolf Lodge, a few campgrounds and wilderness trails, Hetch Hetchy Road and Evergreen Road were closed as a precaution, most of the park "is not affected by the fire and is relatively smoke-free," according to the NPS website.
In addition, all roads into the park are open, except Big Oak Flat Road (the continuation of Highway 120 inside the park) and Highway 120 west of Yosemite between the Highway 49 south junction (outside the park) and the park's Crane Flat Campground. In addition, the Merced and Tuolumne Groves of Giant Sequoias are closed due to fire suppression efforts. "The groves are not currently in imminent danger," the NPS said.
All other roads and areas were open at press time, including Yosemite Valley (home of the historic, four-star Ahwahnee Hotel), Glacier Point, Wawona, Mariposa Grove and Tuolumne Meadows. But the Rim Fire "is expected to continue to exhibit very large fire growth due to extremely dry fuels, strong winds and inaccessible terrain," according to InciWeb. "Rapid fire growth and extreme fire behavior and hampering suppression efforts."
