Did a trip with the Monterey Bay Area Hiking Group starting July 25 to the 28. We went over Tioga Pass and when we turned south we could see a haze and as we got closer we smelled smoke and by the time we got to Mammoth Lakes we couldn't even see Mammoth Mountain. A little wind cleared it enough to see the mountain. Evidently the fire, named Aspen, is still burning and at this writing is only 20% contained. It has burned 11,000, acres a little NW of Huntington Lake.
Caught the shuttle out of Mammoth Ski Area to Agnew Meadow TH.
We followed the JMT north and turned off to go to Ediza Lake. The smoke wasn't too bad and we encountered a thunder shower that afternoon which cleared out the smoke.
Stayed at Ediza and the next morning headed to Thousand People I mean Thousand Island Lake. Met the ranger on the way out and she said it was a popular place and it was. Set up camp just before it started raining. Climbed into the hammock and watched it rain and just before dinner it let up.
The smoke moved back in overnight but wasn't too bad. Set out on a day hike to Donohue Pass and by the time we got there it was just starting to rain. Wasn't too smoky up on the pass and the rain cleared it out pretty good on the way down. The rain quit just as we hit camp but the smoke was right behind it.
The smoke moved in over night and on Sunday morning was pretty thick. We took the PCT out of Thousand Island hoping to get good the good views but the smoke was so thick that we couldn't even see across the canyon.
All in all a good trip in a really beautiful part of the Sierra
