Sad to say the wildfires in California have become a recurring theme in this diary. They didn't impact any of my hikes of recent years in the region but places where I travelled have been badly affected since then. The latest is the Caldor fire which has moved relentlessly across the Sierra Nevada mountains burning over two hundred thousand acres so far.

 Back in 2019 I used the Pacific Crest Trail (top photo) and the Tahoe Rim Trail to explore the Meiss Meadows. This area has just reopened after a month of closure as the fire passed through. It reached Echo Summit and jumped Highway 80 into the mountains beyond (second photo). Big Meadow (third photo) and the trail I took to Scott's Lake remains closed as the fire is raging there. The adjacent Desolation Wilderness (last photo) has also now reopened after a month's closure. Judging by fire maps the conflagration passed near the southern end of Desolation but didn't enter the heart of the wilderness.

  I thought Tahoe might be spared this kind of catastrophe. A lot of water drains into the Tahoe basin; areas like the Meiss Meadows are really quite marshy in parts and criss crossed by streams. I hiked hereabouts in late July and there was still a good deal of snow on the ground. I had a gruelling two hour hike uphill over thick snow near Echo.

 In fact my first plan was to cross the Desolation Wilderness. When I phoned the Ranger Station in early July to book a wilderness permit I learned the snow was still so deep that I thought better off it. I was seeking wildflowers not an alpine crossing. Instead I opted to circle round the Meiss Meadows which are noted for their remarkable displays of flora. I did do a day hike into the Desolation Wilderness- on 27th. July to be precise. En route to Lake Aloha I was passed by two hikers heading for higher elevations with skis strapped to their backpacks! 

 It's important to bear in mind that this landscape has frozen and burned across millennia but it seems to be especially volatile in recent times. Surely human activity is influencing these extreme climate events.