Labor Day weekend is usually a popular time for Bay Area denizens to gas up the car and head out to Yosemite National Park to camp, climb, hike or gawk at big trees. But with the Rim Fire raging on the park’s western edge, campers are no doubt thinking twice about making the trip, or researching campsites a safe distance away.

I was going to provide more information about the fire, but then I came across this excellent blog post from a former colleague, Mitch Tobin, an award-winning environmental journalist currently with the conservation group EcoWest. Mitch details the fire with as complete a picture as you’ll find on the webs, from satellite images to fire progression maps, time-lapse video and views from a C-130 plane dropping fire retardant. Here’s the story:

Viewing the Yosemite Rim Fire in context

The National Park Service also gives updates on what areas and entrances of the park are closed on their main Yosemite site. Some 5,000 firefighters have been working to contain the fire, which is at 200,000 acres and growing: currently the third largest fire in state history (as of 9/6/13). One non-human casualty so far is the Berkeley Tuolumne Family Camp just outside the park’s borders, which had been run by the city of Berkeley since 1922.

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