What Is Closed in the Sierra Right Now

The emergency order that closed the Chilnualna Falls trail ran until 11:59 last night unless extended. It was extended. The park's own conditions page this morning still lists the Ostrander Lake Trail and everything south of it as closed, along with Chilnualna Falls and the routes toward Buena Vista and Crescent lakes, with the closed area running east of the Wawona Road between Chinquapin and Wawona. No new expiry has been published, so treat it as open-ended.

Everyone is watching the Dome Fire, so two ordinary closures are going unnoticed. The trail between the wilderness center and Lembert Dome is shut for construction, with an alternate available. And a trail along the Merced River is closed on weekdays through December for bridge work, which means a midweek trip and a weekend trip are different trips. Both are on the park's conditions page, below the fire notice where nobody is reading.

The Timber Fire started on August 9 and has reached 25,443 acres at 59 percent containment, with 704 personnel still assigned as of mapping done this morning. The Plaskett Fire started August 26, reached 29,993 acres and is 97 percent contained. Both are on the Los Padres National Forest.

The Fish and Wildlife Service rule that opened 1,450 hunting and fishing opportunities across 32 refuges and rescinded non-lead requirements at nine of them is still open for comment until October 1. We reported the rule and should have said so at the time. Also open: a Bureau of Land Management notice to amend the Vernal resource management plan for oil and gas leasing, to October 5; a proposed change to the Pacific halibut catch sharing plan, October 5; and a proposal to delist the Gila chub, which closes Thursday. Comment through the docket on the Federal Register listing rather than by email.

The closure order the Yosemite superintendent issued last week runs until 11:59pm on Wednesday, September 23 — tonight — unless otherwise extended by a subsequent order. That conditional wording has been there from the start, and with the fire still growing it should be read as a minimum rather than a reopening date. Check the park's closures page before you plan around it.

A procession of first responders accompanied the two pilots killed on Sunday from Mariposa Airport to Modesto on Monday. Firefighters, law enforcement officers and other first responders from across the country stood along the route. Greg King, 56, and Ryan Cutter were doing bucket work on the Dome Fire when their Type 1 helicopter went down southeast of Ostrander Lake. The FAA and NTSB are investigating and have released no cause. The incident team has ordered critical incident stress management support for crews still working the fire.

A Type 1 helicopter doing bucket work on the Dome Fire crashed on Sunday afternoon, killing both pilots aboard. They have been identified as Greg King, 56, and Ryan Cutter. The aircraft, a Eurocopter Super Puma operated by the Oregon company Fly Precision under contract to the Forest Service, went down southeast of Ostrander Lake.

The Park Service expanded the closure on Monday. The Ostrander Lake Trail and all areas and trails south of it are now shut, on top of the Chilnualna Falls trail and the routes from the top of the falls toward Buena Vista and Crescent lakes. The closed area still extends east of the Wawona Road between Wawona and Chinquapin. Both lakes remain reachable from the east.

The latest interagency mapping puts the Dome Fire at 3,047 acres with 15 percent containment, measured Sunday evening. That is up from 1,177 acres and no containment on Wednesday. Five hundred and eighty-one personnel are assigned, against 187 last week, and the cause remains undetermined.

National Public Lands Day and National Hunting and Fishing Day both fall on Saturday. Volunteer projects run at parks and forests nationwide for the first; state wildlife agencies run free family events with open ranges and borrowed equipment for the second. The thing to remember, because it catches people every year: Public Lands Day is not on the fee-free list for 2026. Volunteers at participating parks may be handed a fee-waiver coupon, in limited numbers and varying by park. The next actual fee-free date is Theodore Roosevelt's birthday on October 27.

A policy overhaul took effect on January 1 and it has been reported badly enough that it is worth setting out plainly. The America the Beautiful pass now comes in two tiers. The $80 annual pass is the version you already knew, formally designated the resident pass, covering entrance and standard day-use at roughly 2,000 federal sites run by the Park Service, Forest Service, BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps.

The fire above Wawona that closed the Chilnualna Falls Trail on Tuesday was mapped at 100 acres that afternoon. By Wednesday afternoon it had reached 1,177 with no containment at all. The latest interagency perimeter mapping puts it at 1,976 acres with 10 percent contained — the first line crews have managed to hold.

Constitution Day is one of the fee-free dates on the National Park Service calendar, so entrance fees are waived today. New for 2026, that waiver applies only to US citizens and permanent residents; non-residents pay the regular entrance fee and, at eleven parks, a $100 per-person surcharge on top. It is the last free date until Theodore Roosevelt's birthday on October 27, and National Public Lands Day on September 26 is still not on the list. Camping, tours, timed entry and backcountry permits are all payable as usual. Yosemite is now cashless at its entrance stations.

A wildfire that started Tuesday roughly a quarter-mile north of Chilnualna Falls had grown to about 100 acres by late afternoon, and the Park Service closed the Chilnualna Falls Trail along with the routes running from the top of the falls toward Buena Vista and Crescent lakes.

A stretch of the Appalachian Trail through the Appalachian Ranger District remains closed, with a detour in place at Iron Mountain Gap routing hikers around the last few miles, from roughly a mile south of the destroyed Cherry Gap Shelter to about a mile north of the gap. Fire restrictions have been in force in the Roan Mountain area since the storm raised the fire danger, and crews are still laying gravel by the thousands of tons on forest roads.

The Sierra National Forest lifted its Garnet Fire closure in June and the Mammoth Pool boat launch is open again, though the burn area still holds hazards. Much of the Caribou Wilderness remains open but rough after the 2021 Dixie Fire, with downed timber and faint tread; hikers report some clearing has been done. North of Chester the Pacific Crest Trail is still choked with thorn brush and blowdown. Verify with the managing agency before committing to a route.

National Public Lands Day falls on Saturday, September 26, the 33rd time it has been held and the largest single-day volunteer effort on American public land. Organisers have stretched the event window to run from September 12 through October 10, and this year's theme is tied to the country's 250th anniversary.

Flash flooding through the Bright Angel and Phantom Ranch area at the end of August killed at least one person and left others unaccounted for. It also badly damaged the sole pipeline carrying water to millions of visitors a year, complicating a multi-year project already underway to replace the line. Check conditions and water availability before any inner-canyon plan this autumn.

The administration is proceeding with plans to rescind the quarter-century-old rule that has blocked road building, logging and other development across large stretches of national forest. Conservation groups and some members of Congress have pushed back, including a request to exempt specific states. If you hunt, ride or hike national forest, this is the rule change to follow.

Mount Rainier has the Wonderland Trail closed between Carbon River and Summerland because of the Grand Park 2 and Garda Falls fires, and is not issuing full-circuit permits until further notice. There is no version of the loop available right now.

Fifty-four trails and twenty-four forest roads in Mount Hood National Forest closed on August 4 as the Grasshopper Fire pushed toward the mountain. The forest describes it as a good portion of the Barlow Ranger District. The order runs through December 31 unless it is rescinded or amended first.

The Interior Department announced a proposed rule on July 14 that would move day-to-day grizzly management to the four states where the bears live, while leaving them listed as threatened. The department framed it as recognition of recovery rather than a delisting, and the Secretary was explicit that responsibility, not status, is what moves.