Wednesday, August 3. I drove up to the Cedar Grove area and set up in Moraine Campground (site 25), all of a mile or so from where I camped in early June. This was right on the edge of the Rough Fire ... and much has been cleaned up. There a very light smoke haze in the air today too from the Soberanes Fire in Big Sur. The light has a bit of a pinkish glow.

After dinner at the lodge snack bar, I walked north, toward the pack station. Definitely in the fire perimeter here.

Chamaebatia foliolosa (Sierra mountain misery) on the road near the Cedar Grove Lodge.

Asclepias fascicularis (narrow-leaved milkweed) on the road between the the Cedar Grove Lodge and the pack station.

Asclepias fascicularis (narrow-leaved milkweed) showing immature pods.

Asclepias fascicularis (narrow-leaved milkweed) is a favored host for the monarch butterfly.

Thursday, August 4. Heading out from the familiar Roads End permit station. (And yes, it is usually spelled, perhaps incorrectly, without an apostrophe.)

On the trail out of Roads End. Still a vaguely smoky/hazy light today, with a few clouds in the air too. (It drizzled at about 4:30 AM this morning.)

On the trail section near the river: bracken and horsetails under Ponderosa pines and incense cedar.

Bailey Bridge over the South Fork of the Kings.

The Bubbs Creek bridge. (And I'm on the Bubbs Creek Trail.) After two mostly flat miles, time to start climbing.

Pinus monophylla (singleleaf pinyon pine) on the hillside switchbacks.

Lonicera interrupta (chaparral honeysuckle) with immature berries.

I'm now about 500 feet above the trailhead and getting a good view down ... except for today's clouds and haze.

Above the switchbacks, but still in oaks. Here there are both black oaks and interior live oaks.

Another hillside section. More black oaks. The looks like the last scene it was taken over an hour later.

Ribes roezlii (Sierra gooseberry).

Bubbs Creek, about half way between Sphinx Junction and Charlotte Creek.

Frangula rubra (Sierra coffeeberry / red buckthorn).

As I approach Charlotte Creek, there's a little drizzle in the air. Nice blue elderberry in bloom trailside.

I made camp tonight at the Charlotte creek camping area, same area (but not the same site) as I used in 2009. Some Ponderosa pine up here but I'm now in the lower end of the fir belt.

This is the turn-off to the camp, taken well after I set up. That's my tent in the distance. Blends in well with the orange pine duff up here.

Charlotte Dome as the day clears.

Pterospora andromedea (pinedrops). There were many of these in the area.