ALL Yosemite Campgrounds CLOSED!

[tgtaylor]

Campgrounds and Curry Village tent cabins are closed due to a winter storm
Alert 1 , Severity ,closure ,,Campgrounds and Curry Village tent cabins are closed due to a winter storm
Upper Pines Campground, Camp 4, and Hodgdon Meadow Campground, as well as tent cabins at Curry Village, are closed at least through Thursday night. Other Curry Village rooms and cabins, Yosemite Valley Lodge, The Ahwahnee, and Wawona Hotel are open.

First time I have ever seen Camp 4 completely closed. Must have been a hell of a storm in the valley last night. Did they have to evacuate in the middle of the night like with a wildfire?

Thomas

[peter schrager]

Great time to photograph!

[BradS]

.....Must have been a hell of a storm in the valley last night....

Thomas

I'm about 7 miles East of Sonora at 3100 feet - about 40 miles to the West-North-West of the valley.....yup, a hell of a storm is passing through. About 6 inches of snow accumulated over night. It is still snowing. No rain...just snow.

Here's a view from my dining room...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49133053518_3d73f583a1_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hRHK3o)

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I was in the valley years ago after they received 6 feet of snow! They evacuated the entire park. I got in the day it opened. Had the place to myself. Set up the 14x17 in the middle of the road by the El Capitan meadow and I was the only one there. It was magic!

[Drew Wiley]

I once got in just ahead of a major storm which closed access the next 3 days. Nobody in sight. Saw just one ranger from a considerable distace. But I was very well equipped with winter gear, snowshoes, even an ice axe, which did get used.

[Leszek Vogt]

The rumor is (at least here) that Sierras were to get 80MPH winds and something around 5' of the white crunchy stuff.....pls, nobody say anything to Brad :>). Yes, Jim is on the money on being there just after one of these storms....this happened to me back in '81 and I could count how many people were there in the shadow of El Capitan. It was totally fab.

Les

[tgtaylor]

I had planned on driving-up this past weekend to get a couple of negatives for a new project which will be all albumin silver prints. But the park service closed the road apparently in anticipation of the coming storm which wasn't expected until Tuesday of this week. Over the years I've noticed that the the park has become increasingly conservative, ridiculously so, in my opinion, of the travel restrictions it imposes during weather events. When I first started coming to Yosemite on a regular basis chains weren't required until an inch or two of snow had accumulated and you really needed chains. Now they make you put chains on when the asphalt is showing. Driving around on asphalt with chains is bad for the road, bad for the tires, and bad for the chains. One of the benefits of living relatively close by the park in the bay area is that you can drive to the park just ahead of the approaching storm, check into Curry, Pines or Camp 4, put on your chains and be ready to photograph first thing in the morning Now they want to roust you from your tent and make you move to the Ahwahnee or the Lodge. Sounds like a marketing conspiracy to me.

Thomas

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I had planned on driving-up this past weekend to get a couple of negatives for a new project which will be all albumin silver prints. But the park service closed the road apparently in anticipation of the coming storm which wasn't expected until Tuesday of this week. Over the years I've noticed that the the park has become increasingly conservative, ridiculously so, in my opinion, of the travel restrictions it imposes during weather events. When I first started coming to Yosemite on a regular basis chains weren't required until an inch or two of snow had accumulated and you really needed chains. Now they make you put chains on when the asphalt is showing. Driving around on asphalt with chains is bad for the road, bad for the tires, and bad for the chains. One of the benefits of living relatively close by the park in the bay area is that you can drive to the park just ahead of the approaching storm, check into Curry, Pines or Camp 4, put on your chains and be ready to photograph first thing in the morning Now they want to roust you from your tent and make you move to the Ahwahnee or the Lodge. Sounds like a marketing conspiracy to me.

Thomas

I remember those day when I lived in California. I was 6 hours away and did just that. Watched the forecast and headed to camp 4 and hunkered down. Now you can't even get into camp 4.

[Drew Wiley]

Having lived quite close to one of those chain-up checkpoints just one river drainage south, I can easily understand stricter rules. Lots of people drive up from the San Joaquin Valley for a day trip, and don't have a clue how to drive in snow. Even temporary fill-in Highway Patrolman from lower elevations tended to slide off the road. It gets even funnier here on the coast because snow is so uncommon that even a quarter inch of it on roads has everyone going berserk. Lawyers for Parks want all the T's crossed and all the I's dotted. People have tried suing Yosemite for someone getting hit with lightning atop Half Dome, or for getting swept over a waterfall, despite conspicuous warning signs.

[tgtaylor]

Great time to photograph!

The park is a winter wonderland right now: https://www.nps.gov/customcf/webcam/dsp_webcam_image.cfm?id=81B464F7-1DD8-B71B-0BE08AC5151D73F6 but unless you have reservations for the Awahnee or the Lodge it's a day trip:

Campgrounds are closed due to a winter storm
Alert 1 , Severity ,closure ,,Campgrounds are closed due to a winter storm
Upper Pines Campground, Camp 4, and Hodgdon Meadow Campground will reopen at noon on Saturday, November 30.

A much stronger but wetter storm is due to roll in on Saturday so camping, if it is allowed then, will be sloppy.

Thomas