Both. Usually fires are worst in the summer, then taper off in the fall as the snows start to come.

The weather is damper and cooler today, which should help. It also sounds like they are no longer saying that there will be automatic closures on the Icefields, but indicating that there could be delays/closures between 2pm and 7am. So it's probably still a good idea to plan travel to get through the closure area prior to 2pm. But otherwise things are fairly normal and there's still plenty to do, see and experience.

I won't be posting in this thread for a week as I'm taking my daughter and granddaughter to Yellowstone today.

I'm not sure how much access I'll have.

Please continue to post updates .

Thanks.

Was in the parks all weekend and drove through part of the fire area. Lots of rain (and snow) over the weekend, and it looks like the Spreading Creek fire is essentially out.

We had no issues with smoke or air quality, and it looks like the road closures are pretty minimal now. Probably more like delays on occasion.

And for now, it seems that the smoke from fires in NWT and BC is either reduced or blowing elsewhere because air quality seems to be good in Edmonton/national parks/Calgary.

Well, that's good news. Thanks for the update, kgs.

But, as I said on the jogging thread, all this talk about bears is making me very nervous and causing me to rethink this trip, altho' I really want to go!

Hi all,

I just returned from Yellowstone & Grand Tetons with my daughter and granddaughter very late last night.

Of course, the first thing I'm doing is checking this thread for news on the wildfire between Banff and Jasper (and elsewhere affecting that area).

kgs wrote an update on July 21. Thanks.

Anything new to report?

Is the fire out and things (very interested in smoke as well or anything that would mar photography of the area).

Thanks for any new or updated info.

Had a great trip to YNP and GTNP. My 7 year old granddaughter had informed us months ago that she wanted to hike Mt Washburn. 3 1/2 miles up to a ranger station. Just a gentle dirt road up to a ranger station at the top of the mountain.

The only problem is that it starts at 8,800 ft in elevation and ends around 10,400. No oxygen.

This hike was her main challenge. Unfortunately we experience our only bad weather during the last 3/4 of the hike. About a 1/4 of the way up the clouds started to thicken and it began to thunder. Then it hailed on us a bit.

Just as we got to the top and inside the ranger station it began to pour. This lasted about an hour. We then put on our rain gear and started down. It poured on us just about the whole way down.

The little trooper kept an adult pace and didn't have to stop all the way down. We were totally drenched, chilled and frozen. But she made it.

Like I wrote. Our only bad 4 hours of weather on the whole trip.

Thanks for more updates as the date of our departure for Banff and Jasper approaches.

I just looked at Alberta 511 and things look good. No mention of closures and the photos they show from early this morning look sunny and clear.

That's great!!!

Happy to hear you managed Mt. Washburn, despite the rain. Your granddaughter is indeed quite the trooper!

Yes she is.

She seemed to do best when there was a challenge.

We did the first part of the Fairy Falls hike until Grand Prismatic Spring. Then we climbed up a hill to get a great view of the Spring. She wanted to go higher. Then she wanted to complete the hike to the falls.

Same thing near the Mt Washburn hike. We saw about 30 ewes on a hill just above the road. She climbed the hill to get really close and started to take photos.

She has her own DSLR camera and I gave her a telephoto lens to use. She's learning.

Now, does anybody know the current state of the fire and smoke conditions.

In Yellowstone I spoke with somebody who was in Glacier NP (MT) a week or so earlier and he told me it was pretty smoky. He said he thought there was a fire in another state that was blowing there. I suspect the other state is Alberta.