N. Cal route suggestions?

[leikam]

Suppose somebody were riding from Los Angeles to Portland and John Day in the next 10 days or so. What route might be reasonably direct and spare my lungs the worst of it?

 

The CA fire websites make it look like a solid wall of smoke from Bakersfield to the Oregon state line. I'm hoping that some of you who live closer to the action might be able to advise.

 

With the closure of highway 1 at Big Sur, my original route is already shot and it looks like 1/101 between Mendocino and Crescent City is burning up.

[Tank]

Three Ninety Five is better than Eye-Five, I should think...

[Shaman97]

Three Ninety Five is better than Eye-Five, I should think...

 

By far...

[leikam]

Yeah, that's the way I was thinking. Anybody know how the northeast part of the state is doing? Susanville north?

[tgregg]

The fires are West of the Rockies I think! 395 is East of the Rockies so that is where I'm going. I'm leaving early Monday AM and riding 395 North to Alturas. So far the reports I'm seeing make the smoke acceptable there.

[SageRider]

The fires are West of the Rockies I think! 395 is East of the Rockies so that is where I'm going. I'm leaving early Monday AM and riding 395 North to Alturas. So far the reports I'm seeing make the smoke acceptable there.

Replace Rockies with Sierras and you've got it!

 

Still hazy / smoky in this area of the east Sierra / Great Basin but much better than earlier in the week. Visibility above 10 miles. HOWEVER.... today is the highest probability of dry thunderstorms in the area and the entire area ( http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/ ) is under a red flag warning for extreme fire danger.

[tgregg]

YEP I was only a couple of states off.

[leikam]

Thanks Greg. I figured I could go around the Rockies: CA > NM > KS > MT > OR, but those would be some very long days.

[Firefight911]

It has cleared significantly with the onset of the Delta breezes. Placerville has 5+ miles visibility. Barring any additional flare ups or new fires things are slowly getting better.

 

Smoke will still be an issue for at least another week though.

 

395 is prolly the best for visibility at this time. 49 is still touch and go and geographic in its condition.

 

I'd have a couple of routes planned out and pull the pin one or two nights before based on the most current updates.

[leikam]

Thanks Phil. This does look like it will be a last minute decision.

 

For anybody travelling northern CA, southern OR or western NV, this Air Quality Forecast is the best I've found (you'll want the 1hr avg surface smoke view).

[Firefight911]

Here's the hot off the presses fire map update for those who might have an interest.