Yosemite National Park

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Daredevils Die in Yosemite Stunt

Dean Potter was among best-known extreme athletes

(Newser) - Extreme athlete Dean Potter, renowned for his daring and sometimes rogue climbs and BASE jumps, was one of two men killed while attempting a wingsuit flight in Yosemite National Park, a park spokesman says. Someone called for help late Saturday after losing contact with Potter, 43, and his climbing partner,...

Near-Extinct Fox Spotted at Yosemite

Sierra Nevada red fox hadn't been seen in park for a century

(Newser) - "They are extremely cute little animals," a Yosemite National Park spokeswoman says of the park's latest find. They're also extremely rare: The Sierra Nevada red fox hasn't been spotted in Yosemite in a hundred years, reports the LA Times . That's because they're shy...

2 Complete Historic Yosemite Climb

Free-climbers scale wall of El Capitan

(Newser) - They made it: Two free-climbers today achieved the amazing feat of scaling a sheer granite wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park using only their hands and feet. Kevin Jorgeson, 30, and Tommy Caldwell, 36, made it to the top of the Dawn Wall about 3pm local time, the...

2 Attempt 'Hardest Rock Climb in World'

Climbers more than halfway along El Capitan's Dawn Wall in Yosemite

(Newser) - Two climbers in Yosemite National Park are attempting a feat no one has ever accomplished: climbing the entirety of a smooth rock face known as the Dawn Wall, part of the El Capitan formation, while shunning ropes except to catch their falls. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson have already passed...

Plane Fighting Yosemite Fire Crashes, Killing Pilot

Officials don't know yet what caused the air tanker to go down

(Newser) - An air tanker fighting a wildfire at Yosemite National Park mysteriously crashed yesterday, killing the pilot, the Los Angeles Times reports. A spokesman for the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says it's believed the pilot was alone in the plane and that he worked for DynCorp...

100 Airlifted Away From Yosemite Wildfire

Hikers taken out by helicopter as blaze spreads

(Newser) - About 100 Yosemite National Park visitors were evacuated by helicopter yesterday when a wildfire that started weeks ago in the park's backcountry grew unexpectedly to at least 700 acres, officials say. Some of the evacuees included hikers who had climbed the park's iconic Half Dome peak, rising nearly...

Climber Killed in Fall Hours After Proposing

And girl, 8, falls to death in Yellowstone

(Newser) - Veteran rock climber Brad Parker summited Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park with girlfriend Jainee Dial on Saturday, and then proposed. "This is the happiest day of my life," he told her when she accepted, according to his father. Then the couple parted ways, and tragedy struck. Parker,...

Vets Storm Barricaded WWII Memorial

They're not taking your shutdown baloney, dear Congress

(Newser) - The World War II Memorial in Washington is currently barricaded, thanks to the government shutdown, but that didn't stop a group of WWII vets from entering it today. The group, part of an honor flight program from Mississippi, had chartered an airplane and made plans too far in advance...

Hunter Started Yosemite Fire: Feds

Campfire apparently got away from him

(Newser) - Looks like it wasn't an illegal pot farm after all : The gigantic wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park began when a hunter allowed an illegal fire to escape, the US Forest Service said today. No arrests have been made, and the hunter's name was being withheld pending...

There's an Upside to Yosemite Wildfire

It could restore the forest's ecosystem back to its natural state

(Newser) - The Atlantic goes looking for some silver lining to the Yosemite wildfire , and finds this: Carl Skinner, a US Forest Service ecologist, has discovered that the forest has been altered over the past 100 years due to human intervention into naturally occurring forest fires, becoming less diverse. So the current...

Yosemite Fire Will Burn for 18 More Days

It's now the 4th-largest fire in California history

(Newser) - California's Rim Fire is now 45% contained, but it's still getting bigger—so big, in fact, that it's now the fourth-largest the state has ever seen, the AP reports. It now covers 351 square miles; that's more ground than San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose combined,...

Rim Fire May Have Started on Illegal Pot Farm: Official

California's national parks are full of them, say authorities

(Newser) - A fire chief in California's Tuolumne County quietly revealed an interesting tidbit about the origins of the Rim Fire last week, the San Jose Mercury News reports: officials suspect it was started by marijuana growers. "We don't know the exact cause," he told a town meeting,...

Wildfire Smoke Reaches Yosemite Valley

Popular tourist area affected for first time

(Newser) - Smoke from a wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park is hampering both suppression efforts and the views sought by holiday weekend tourists. Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said smoke from the 2-week-old blaze obscured Yosemite Valley for the first time today. The valley is home to the park's most...

Yosemite Firefighters' Plan: Set More Fires

Rim Fire could be fully contained by Sept. 10, officials say

(Newser) - The giant Rim Fire near Yosemite is still growing—it's now the sixth-largest in California history—but it's also slowing, and firefighters expect to have the 301-square-mile blaze fully contained by Sept. 10, the Los Angeles Times reports. How will they do it? By setting more fires inside...

Protecting Yosemite: Predator Drone, Elite Native American Crew

Firefighters have to mind restrictions in the national park

(Newser) - Firefighters now have about 23% of the Yosemite wildfire contained, and news outlets are spinning off plenty of interesting stories about the battle:
  • Native American crew: Among the teams fighting the fire is the Geronimo Hotshots, an elite crew of American Indians from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in
...

California Fire Damaging Air in Nevada

And it has a clear path deeper into Yosemite

(Newser) - The wildfire threatening Yosemite National Park is throwing so much smoke into the air that it is significantly hurting the air quality in Nevada—more than 100 miles away. Reno and Carson City issued emergency warnings over the smoke from the Rim Fire, and school children were kept inside for...

Yosemite Fire 'Will Burn Until Snow Flies'

But firefighters are gaining ground

(Newser) - The giant Rim fire near Yosemite National Park has now scorched an area the size of Chicago and is still growing, but firefighters are making steady progress. Officials say the fire is now around 20% contained and the 3,700 firefighters battling it are gaining ground as the blaze climbs...

Today Crucial in Yosemite Fire Battle

Rim fire still growing amid strong winds

(Newser) - The massive wildfire raging in and around Yosemite National Park is still growing, and forecasters warn that today will pose a huge challenge for firefighters. Progress has been made at the western edge of the fire, but it is still pushing to the north and east and strong winds spreading...

Yosemite Fire Now Threatens Giant Sequoias

Officials dig in as blaze looms 4 miles away

(Newser) - The Yosemite wildfire that is threatening to take out San Francisco's utilities now has some of the planet's biggest and oldest living things in its crosshairs: Firefighters are digging in around two groves of giant sequoias—about three dozen in all—taking the precautions of setting sprinklers and...

Yosemite Fire Threatens San Francisco Utilities

City in state of emergency over massive wildfire 150 miles away

(Newser) - It's some 150 miles away, but a massive wildfire burning in the Sierra foothills in and around Yosemite National Park has triggered a state of emergency in San Francisco, reports the Chronicle . The Rim Fire threatens transmission lines that carry power to the city, along with the reservoir that...

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