Hwy 120 to Yosemite Closed Today

Word yesterday was they were confident they could stop it before Ferretti Road. Word today is it has jumped Ferretti Road. It's also moving fast on the other side toward Yosemite. Camp Mather and Evergreen Lodge are being evacuated now. The fire has also crossed Cherry lake Road in several places. They are moving lots of resources to the west side of the fire to try and protect Pine Mountain Lake. The DC-10 aerial bomber is there now too.

The fire moved North West and jumped back across the Tuolumne River. It's about 1/2 mile from eastward most homes, but it has to burn down into an arroyo then up the other side. I suspect the bombers will make quick work of it. That's why it an advisory rather than mandatory.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/3660/20597/

Incident: Rim Fire Wildfire
Released: 45 min. ago
An Advisory Evacuation for all of Pine Mountain Lake has been issued.

So, CalTrans didn't alert them until they got all the way to the 120 turn off! Today the CHP will stop them at Moccasin. It's either turn around or take 49 thru Bagby to 140. There are gonna be a lot of carsick people. 140 still has the 45' length restrictions, so longer rigs will have to go all the way to Oakhurst and in on 41.

The first sign isn't until the split between 120 and 49. Or at least yesterday that is where I saw the first sign saying 120 was closed. There is an electronic sign just out of Oakdale, but yesterday it didn't have the road closed message on it.

What I did find out yesterday is it is possible for a 38' class A to go down Old Priest Grade. I know this because as I was going up there was one about halfway down and pulled off to the side unhooking his toad. He got half way down and must have had some close calls because he decided he should at least let the wife drive the toad the rest of the way. I guess all those giant signs up there at the top that said 7 ton weight limit and no trucks and RV's must not have applied to him. On my way back I didn't see him stuck on the road or any sign that he went over the edge, so he must have made it all the way to the bottom.

There are a couple of signs alerting travelers that the road is closed, but they don't seem to pay attention.

At this point they are saying the closure is indefinite, but you are probably right.

Sounds like Highway 120 is going to be close for at least several more days. As I was driving down the mountain yesterday I saw quite a few rental RV's still heading east on 120. There are other RV parks up there, but I bet most were heading for Yosemite and just didn't know the road was closed. They are going to have a very long detour.

I went up there and the fire was heading toward PML, but everybody is confident they will stop it. I'm pretty sure my land is safe. There is easily accessible terrain between the fire and PML right now and they think they will be able to stop it. If the fire gets to my land (unless it comes around from a different direction than where it is) it will have meant several hundred houses have burned. So I think they are going to be able to stop it.

The map link http://rmgsc.cr.usgs.gov/outgoing/GeoMAC/current_year_fire_data/KMLS/CA-STF-HV2F%20Rim%208-20-2013%200130.kml
can also be pasted in the search bar on Google Maps. The perimeter spans 5 miles of 120 centered on Buck Meadows. Not much difference between the 8/19 and 8/20 maps.

msmith1199 wrote:
That map is from yesterday. Today it's coming back west. They are evacuating Yosemite Acres and PML is on standby to start evacuating. I have a few thousand dollars worth of tools in a shed up there so I'm going to drive up now and get one I can out of my shed.

No, the map I posted is from this morning. On the incident site there is a link to the most current map, but requires Google Earth

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3660/

There is an arm of the fire that is burning west towards Ferretti Rd. and now 2500 structures are endangered. I hope they let you in to retrieve your gear