Aspen Valley and Rim Fire

Jim's Aunt and Uncle own a cabin in Aspen Valley which is in the middle of Yosemite.  And by own, I mean that years ago, a family member homesteaded the area before it was Yosemite!  And the cabin has been passed down thru the generations.  It is super unique because Aspen Valley is the only private homes in all of Yosemite.  Aspen Valley is a beautiful meadow that is very remote and contains about 12 cabins that were also homesteaded and passed down thru families.

The Rim Fire headed right towards Aspen Valley and we were worried about their cabin.  I checked in with them and this is the report I received:


"Then-n-n, unbelievably the fire swept up to Yosemite--and eventually right over Aspen Valley. Our cousin, Kevin, a retired Fire Chief, several other fire chiefs that hold property at Aspen forced a meeting with Cal Fire. They had to let Cal Fire know that Aspen Valley was in Tuoulumne County, not Yosemite NP, and Cal Fire had responsibility. 

Fortunately, they responded and a joint effort included spraying all cabins and decks with fire retardant and starting three "burn outs" (back-fires to us) on East, North and West sides (covers everything as South side is the tip of a triangle). Kevin managed to get into Evergreen Rd, and he walked 9 miles into Aspen one morning after staying at our Pine Mtn. House. He found out that all cabins survived unburned. 

On the way he had to cross 15 downed logs that were burning on the road. The road is still closed as they didn't burn-out along its whole length. I guess they got crews and a bull-dozer in by helicopter! The fire East took off to Long Gulch (in 3 minutes) and East Meadow in 30 minutes. I think they are encouraging the remaining fire to burn to a line between the end of Hetch Hetchy Resorvoir (Smith Peak) through Harden Lake to White Wolf. That is very slow now, according to daily maps."