Dan's Outside

The High Country Starts to Open

(With apologies to back-country skiers and snow campers for whom it never closed…) Sierra roads and passes that close every winter are beginning to open. If I read correctly, Ebbets Pass may already be open (double-check me before you go!) and Sonora is probably not far behind. The road to Glacier Point is supposed to open tomorrow.

Tioga Pass Road is not yet open and there have been no announcements of an opening date. Historically, the average opening date has been right around the end of May.

May 1, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on The High Country Starts to Open

First Yosemite Valley One-Day Blitz of the Season

Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you are of the opinion that I’m nuts for doing this sort of thing) I live close enough to the Sierra that by getting up at an absurdly early hour, knowing where all the Starbucks are located, taking a mid-afternoon nap in the car, and playing the radio loudly on the way home… I can do an occasional One Day Yosemite Valley Blitz when the photography demands it.

I did the first one of 2008 yesterday.

In the Prius and on the road by about 4:00 a.m. I arrived in the Valley before most people were up and certainly before much of anyone else had arrived in the park. The waterfalls were quite something. Not only are the usual waterfalls flowing impressively, but all of the smaller and seasonal waterfalls are also in full flow right now. Ironically, some of the “waterfalls you have never heard of” would probably be the centerpiece of a popular state park anywhere else – but here they become an interesting side show for Valley aficionados.

The last Valley event of the day for me was to NOT join the throngs at “Tunnel View,” which overlooks the Valley from the east end of Wawona Tunnel. Instead, I parked my car there and hiked almost a mile and a half up the sometimes steep trail to “Inspiration Point,” where the main Valley overlook was in the days before the tunnel was constructed. An old road (whose bed is still very evident) wound up this steep slope well above Wawona Tunnel.

If you attempt this at sunset, I have a few bits of advice. First, it is steep – though less steep as you climb higher. Take a flashlight or headlamp if you do it at sunset. Even if you leave the point by the time the last light leaves the peaks, you may be hard pressed to make it back to the parking lot before it gets completely dark. Finally, if you arrive at “Inspiration Point” and are less than inspired by trying to see the Valley through a thicket of trees, you are not quite there yet. When you arrive at the old road, head a 100 yards or so to your right and then descend a bit to get to open areas.

You will be inspired.

April 28, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on First Yosemite Valley One-Day Blitz of the Season

One More Batch of Central California Spring Wildflowers

The wildflower season in the central section of coastal California is perhaps past its peak now, but there are still plenty of flowers and green foliage if you know where to look. A few photographs from this weekend:

This annual spring central California wildflower photography binge is just about to wind up as the weather is now heating up and drying out. Head on over to the wildflower section of my photography web site if you want to see more.

April 26, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on One More Batch of Central California Spring Wildflowers

2008: When Will Tioga Pass Open?

For those of us who travel to the Yosemite high country and cross between the “west side” and the “east side” guessing when Tioga Pass will open is an annual sport. It seems that the fun has started, as I’ve seen the subject mentioned online several times during the past week or so. If you want to play, there are a few resources you might want to check out:

• The Tioga Pass Road Opening and Closing Dates are available from several online sources. The short summary is that the average opening date is near the very end of May – think of it as “by the first of June” – but that it has been as early as April and as late as early July. (Closing date info is also available at this link.)
• Online discussions include lots of interesting speculation and sometimes information that isn’t available from the official sources – perhaps someone knows a person working on the plowing crew or happened to pick something up in a conversation with a park employee.
• The Park Service update page is perhaps the most useful, though it is not always updated very frequently and you sometimes have to read between the lines to figure out what is really happening. For example, you might mistake early progress for an indication of an early opening – but sometimes issues remain in one or a few locations that prevent the park service from opening the whole road. But if you’ve watched this stuff for awhile and you’ve learned to parse “ParkSpeak” (that unique language occasionally used by Park Service employees when English would normally suffice) you can often figure out in advance the approximate or even exact opening date as the time approaches.

If I had to guess, I think that this year’s opening date will not depart too far from the average.

April 26, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on 2008: When Will Tioga Pass Open?

From the "This I Gotta' See!" Department

An AP article in SF Gate describes plans to build a couple bridges past the large landslide that covers the main road into Yosemite Valley via the Merced River. The last line of the article states:

Officials say they could close the Merced River for brief periods during construction.

I’m guessing that while they will likely have to close the temporary road from time to time that “closing the… river” might prove a bit beyond their abilities.

April 24, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on From the "This I Gotta' See!" Department