California wildfires smoke keeping Yosemite closed. Here’s where the fire is, what’s next

California’s wildfires blanketed parts the state in heavy smoke for much of the week, causing hazardous, or near hazardous, air quality in both cities and the state’s national parks.

That includes Yosemite National Park, which remained closed Saturday due to the affects of the smoke. Officials announced the closure on Thursday, in alignment with the closure of other national parks and forests earlier in the week.

Nearby Kings Canyon also closed Thursday and Sequoia National Park closed Tuesday. On Tuesday, the USDA Forest Service extended closures of the Inyo, Sierra, Sequoia, Stanislaus, Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests until Sept. 21.

Did Yosemite reopen Sunday?

Sort of. Through roads are now accessible for drive-through vehicle traffic, and limited services are available throughout the park.

The park, however, remains closed.

The accessible roads through Yosemite are Wawona Road (continuation of Highway 41), El Portal Road (continuation of Highway 140) and the Big Oak Flat and Tioga roads (continuation of Highway 120).

Limited restroom facilities are available on all road corridors, but park visitors should be prepared to drive through without stopping, according to park officials.

Glacier Point Road and Mariposa Grove Road remain closed, as do all lodging facilities, campgrounds, restaurants and visitor centers.

Hiking, cycling, climbing and camping are prohibited.

The Air Quality Index for Yosemite late Sunday morning was 178, according to IQAir, an unhealthy level.

Yosemite will reopen when air quality conditions improve and allow for the health and safety of park visitors and employees.

Updated road and weather conditions for Yosemite National Park are available 24 hours a day at 209-372-0200 (press 1) and nps.gov/pose

So, is Yosemite on fire?

In an update Friday morning, officials with the Creek Fire were clear that Yosemite’s closure was due to the unhealthy smoke conditions — not because of the threat of fire spreading in the national park.

The Creek Fire has burned 248,256 acres in Fresno and Madera counties and was 20% contained as of Saturday morning. The fire has been growing north, closer to Yosemite’s southern boundary, but has remained outside of Yosemite, a park spokesperson said Thursday.

There are smaller fires burning in Yosemite’s High Sierra, including the Bluejay Fire, which has burned 4,061 acres of wilderness south of White Wolf campground and west of the Lukens Lake Trail. As of Friday, it was 40% contained.

Air quality in El Portal, Yosemite Village; closures through weekend

The primary threat to Yosemite is the air quality, which was projected to be in the unhealthy to hazardous range in the park over the next several days. The National Park Service anticipates the closure to be in effect at least through the weekend.

“The park will continue to assess the smoke impacts, air quality index, and fire activity throughout the region. Yosemite National Park will reopen to visitors when conditions improve, and it is safe for visitors and employees to be in Yosemite National Park,” park officials said on Thursday.

All entrances and roads are currently closed. Updates can be found at nps.gov.

Visitors were being evacuated on Friday at all three of the national parks. All visitors inside the national forests had been accounted for and exited with no injuries reported.

At mid-morning Friday, the Air Quality Index (AQI) at El Portal was at 258, considered very unhealthy. That was down from a peak of 545 Thursday evening.

The Friday morning reading at Yosemite Village was in the unhealthy category, with an AQI of 189. It peaked at more than 700 Thursday.

Photos of the park tell the story

Cook’s Meadow, as seen in a picture posted the park’s Facebook page, was orange with haze, its trees obscured behind smoke.

Yosemite Falls was hidden by smoke in the park’s daily webcam footage Thursday.

The waterfall was visible Friday as the smoke cleared to a level that could be mistaken for morning fog.

Got a camping or park reservation?

Day-use tickets, camping and other reservations were not available through the park’s recreation.gov website on Friday.

According to the site, refunds are available in the event of an emergency closure and those with reservations should be contacted from information given through their Recreation.gov customer profiles.

This story was originally published September 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.