What's missing?

We've come to a sad realization about our summer backpacking trips to the Sierra. It used to be that one the most dependable elements of those trips was the deep blue skies that we would find above us. There is something about being up at 10,000 feet that helps make those skies truly memorable.

But we're beginning to think that they may well be a thing of the past. Over the past few summers, those skies have almost always been smoggy with the smoke of forest fires, either near or far. You can see this as you explore our photos. What was once blue, blue skies and views that went on for tens of miles are now dingy skies, and the distant peaks are barely visible through the smoke.

It's sad. And given the state of our trees (Will they ever recover from the combination of drought and beetle infestations?) those vistas of deep forests that cover the lower slopes like a blanket may also be a memory that we can only tell our children about. Or show them our photos from years ago.

One slightly happier note is that we noticed both blue skies and healthy trees in our last trip up to the Caribou Wilderness, just to the north of the Sierra--as in the photo at right.

It was lovely. And it made us just a little sad to realize that we hadn't seen either skies or trees like that in a number of years in the Sierra.

Here is a photo of my last trip in the Sierra (a week ago- Moonlight Lake in Sabrina Basin). Still blue skies. It is all timing. Better air quality on the east side.

Smoke during fire season in all of the west is marring clear blue skies, not just the Sierra. But it is not an everyday occurance.

It's not easy to follow the circulation patterns of smoke from various fires--I've experienced a scenario where a plume from the Southern Sierra gets pulled over the range then north, up 395 and back west, over the Tahoe region [choke]. Living in the valley, the last month our skies have been filled with smoke from the coast range and the Sierra foothills. For all I know somebody stole Mt. Diablo in the interim.

Several consecutive above-average winters would help stanch the forest and meadow losses. Restoring the forests themselves will be something perhaps our kids see--we will not. Had a long and somber look from the Rim Fire overlook last summer--a burn so extensive it can't all be seen at once from the ground. It's not hard to imagine more such burns eating up the remaining forest, much as Lake County is in the process of losing much of theirs.