The View of the Rim Fire from Copperopolis

After posting yesterday's picture of the smudge of smoke on the horizon, I was startled this afternoon when this sight greeted me as I drove home from school and climbed the little rise just before turning down our road.  The big fluffy thing rising up that looks like a cloud is sunlit smoke -- and if you look closely, you can see the veils of smoke drifting up from the mountains.  The fire is still as far away as before, but when I took yesterday's picture I was pointing my camera a little too much to the south plus our nearby hills and trees blocked most of the action.  From this vantage point, one can get a sense of where the fire is and its size.  It's big -- I've never seen anything like this before.

The latest report on the local news is that it's 15% contained.  That's a good thing, but there's still such a long ways to go.  I no longer search images for pictures of the fire -- it's too sad.