A Mess in Yosemite right now--a cautionary

[Tin Can]

after much calculation

i moved 7 years ago to my best location to weather the storm

i keep working every day

so far so good

but we all die

i wait

[Drew Wiley]

Just spoke to my sister with the latest family news. Her daughter-in-law, based near Mariposa, is now able to offer small group tours as far up as Tenaya Lk certain days. She was once a Ranger for a Wilderness district to the south of there, so knows the difference. At least it's income, and above the summer heat.

[John Kasaian]

Just spoke to my sister with the latest family news. Her daughter-in-law, based near Mariposa, is now able to offer small group tours as far up as Tenaya Lk certain days. She was once a Ranger for a Wilderness district to the south of there, so knows the difference. At least it's income, and above the summer heat.

^^^^this^^^^
A couple of years ago I was hired for a summer job at Tioga Pass. Then the fires shut everything down.
A crummy deal.

[Drew Wiley]

Remember Ferdinand Castillo? He'd let me through the Park free if I delivered his surplus Park literature and Don't feed the Bears pamphlets to the South Entrance. After he passed, there was a petition to name a mountain for him. But that high privilege mostly goes only to prominent politicians who would sink wells all over the Park if they thought oil was there, or old robber barons who would have leveled the mountain named for them if they thought there was any silver ore in it. The names of peaks surrounding Pioneer Basin is firm evidence of that pattern. And as for Tuolumne Mdws - it might be at risk again of becoming a high altitude golf course. Not allowed to mention the name, however.... But all the mosquitoes will come to its rescue!

Ironically, just a few week ago I had a brief chat with a friendly young couple from Nova Scotia visiting Yos, and commented how pretty where they came from must be too. Now it's on fire, rather than here.

[John Kasaian]

Everyone got to meet Ferdinand if they went through the Tioga gate. A legend, like Elmer.

[Leszek Vogt]

https://www.sfgate.com/california-pa...P-CP-Spotlight

Not much is surprising here and perhaps they bring the reservation system back....the writing is sort of the size of the YARTS bus. It appears that the parking lots fill up way before 8AM (or just after). Some will not be deterred by the 4hr wait, but most rational folk will find another place to visit....or try at 2AM.

[Drew Wiley]

The Glacier Pt road is due to open on a limited basis tomorrow, i.e., with a lot of road work delays. But there is no announced date for reopening Tioga Pass yet. I think some of the delay might be deliberate. A heat wave is arriving, which will accelerate runoff, the facilities and Ranger services at Tuolumne Mdws are not up and running, and if crowds managed to get up there, there would inevitably be a number of careless drownings at swollen crossings in the meadows.

Many people in the nearby San Joaquin Valley use Yosemite like a city park attempting to escape the severe summer heat down below. But Yosemite Valley itself is forecast to be hot this upcoming holiday weekend;
and, as I just mentioned, Hwy 120 up to Tuolumne Mdws, another popular spot, is still not open, though it seems people can get to Tenaya Lk now. Mosquitos will soon follow the melt off up there, to greet everyone.

The heat wave might actually make it tolerable here on the coast. My place was fully 30 degrees cooler than just 10 miles inland yesterday; today I expect a 40 degree difference. We call it our natural air conditioning. The hotter it is inland in summer, the more the cold ocean air is drawn in through the Golden Gate and directly across the Bay to where we are, until it is stopped by the low hills behind us, which are about 2000 ft high.

[Vaughn]

The Valley can still be a fun place to photograph...

Older 5x7 images (silver gelatin contact prints):
-Vaughn's Shadow Takes a Vacation
-Movie Tent
-Valley Tour

[Joseph Kashi]

There's always Alaska. None of the NP here are crowded.

[AnalogAngler]

The park is trying out a text notification system in order to help inform visitors.

"You can get updates on current traffic conditions in Yosemite by texting ynptraffic to 333111."

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/traffic.htm


The latest one I recieved informed me the wait at the Highway 41 entrance is only 2 hours. The parking lots in the valley filled shortly after 9:00 AM, Glacier Point at 10:30 AM.

One thing that may be of interest is that Hetch Hetchy is open 7am - 9pm this year - previous years it has closed at 5pm. I am not sure if Hetch Hetchy is included in the text updates - haven't seen anything about it yet - it can fill up rather early.

Also, I believe Tioga Road (120 through the park) is still closed just after the Tuolumne Grove - not far from Crane Flat on the west, and the park boundry on the east - perhaps you can get to Tenaya Lake on foot from the valley (?) but I don't think you can by driving.