MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES–The fall season in the Motherlode area of the Sierra Nevada Mountains often brings relief in the form of cooler temperatures, shorter days and an end to fire season. For Mariposa and Eastern Madera Counties this is not the case just yet. The Fork Fire and several lightning caused fires in Yosemite National Park continue to burn in and ...

MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES — The Sierra National Forest High Sierra Ranger District will be closing Dinkey Creek Visitor Center on September 4th and High Sierra Visitor Center (at Kaiser Pass) on September 19th for the 2022 season. The High Sierra Ranger District Office remains open all year around. The District Office is currently open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to ...

WISHON–A vegetation fire is being reported in the Wishon Area near Goat Mountain.  Ground crews and air crews are responding.  We will update this article when new information is available. This is the Goat Fire. The fire is currently 1/2 to 1 acre in size burning on the bottom of the slope. If it gets established and moves up the ...

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST—The Sierra National Forest, in conjunction with the Miami Lookout Group, is soliciting for volunteers to staff the Miami Mountain Fire Lookout for the remainder of the 2022 fire season. The opening of the lookout for the 2022 season was delayed 2 months due to damage to the building caused by severe wind storms in 2020 and 2021 ...

MARIPOSA COUNTY–The Oak Fire has claimed 124 homes since it began burning on July 22, 2022.  A total of 19,244 acres have been burned. Fire Officials are reporting the fire is 72% contained. Today, Monday, August 1st, 2022, the Local Assistance Center opens for anyone affected by the fire. It will be open from 9 to 7 in the Mariposa ...

YOSEMITE–The Washburn Fire, burning in Yosemite National Park, started the first week of July 2022 and is now entering its 4th week of burning. It is almost completely contained and not expected to spread much further. The fire has burned 4,886 acres and is 97% contained. Visitors and residents have returned to the community of Wawona and access to Yosemite ...

MARIPOSA COUNTY–The Oak Fire has been burning in Mariposa County for a week. Fire officials are reporting that 106 residences have been destroyed. While many evacuations have been lifted and people are returning home, others have no home to return to. Even more are returning to their properties to find everything burned around their homes. A wasteland where they once ...

BASS LAKE — Work on the Madera County Roads Hazard Abatement Stewardship Project is set to begin in mid-July. Work will occur throughout the rest of 2022 as weather and conditions allow. There will be hand crews and mechanical teams working on roads near Bass Lake. Teams will begin with work on Road 420 between Road 223 and the private ...

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK–The Washburn Fire is currently burning within the Yosemite National Park (YNP) boundary near the Mariposa Grove area. The Mariposa Grove is closed indefinitely. The community of Wawona has been evacuated including residents, employees and park guests. The southern entrance to YNP via Highway 41 through Oakhurst is closed. We will be adding updates to this article , please ...

I steal some of my best adventure ideas from my friends and some of them had recently been venturing up Beasore Road to see the wildflowers with a stop by Jones Store. So that is what I did . . or tried to do. Old newspaper articles help tell the story of the early days up here before Beasore Road ...