A Mess in Yosemite right now--a cautionary

[John Kasaian]

There are no reservations required for entrance this year and the park is being overrun with crowds. Traffic at the gates have been backed up for miles according to park employees who are having a difficult time getting in to work. This weekend on 41, to the Sugar Pine Railroad on this side of Fish Camp, and on 140, almost to Midpines. Once in the valley, parking is near impossible, roads are often blocked by illegally parked vehicles sticking out into traffic and rangers are writing citations left and right. The local park admins want to reinstate the reservation system, but the higher ups won't allow it, so (I've been told) there is no plan to alleviate the problems but rather allow it to get worse, hoping irate visitors will make their complaints known to the higher ups.
If you want to transit the park, the best way to get in is before sunrise, before the gates are manned, this according to park employees I'm in contact with.
Good luck with that!

[Keith Pitman]

Covid ruined national parks. Go in winter and avoid the insane crowds.

[Tin Can]

No worries

I will never go west again

I have a wonderful park that never get's NUTS

A few come for this rock, some 1st responders train with ropes

I climbed it 53 years ago. My buddy froze and I had to climb down to talk him up

That is Brood on top, they walked up from the side holding for image

and has best and longest duration Total Solar Eclipse again, 8 years later

[paulbarden]

This sounds like something to be avoided. Such a shame.

[nolindan]

I remember visiting in 1972 - one hour wait in a traffic que to get in. No parking in the valley for love or money. We got out of there as soon as we made it in - "Just not worth it." Too young and arrogant to know to find a deserted high country part of the park - get 500ft from the road and things are much more civilized.

I think the solution will be large parking lots outside the park with busses bringing people in and out of the park.

I used to have a recurring nightmare that Disney bought the National Park System. At Glacier Going-to-the Sun road was replaced by a roller coaster. High rise condos rose from the Garden Wall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Wall#/media/File:Garden_Wall.jpg. I wonder how long ...

[Vaughn]

I have always appreciated Edward Abbey's concept of National Parks as sacrificial areas -- areas sacrificed to the almighty Tourist to distract them from the wilderness.

And Disney did try to turn a bit of the Sierras into a theme park of sorts (Mineral King in the 60s).

[BrianShaw]

I flew over it a few years ago and looked out the window. Good enough for me. :)

[faberryman]

I flew over it a few years ago and looked out the window. Good enough for me. :)
It is more impressive on the ground looking up. :)

[Drew Wiley]

Oakhurst was ruined a long time ago just like Sonora by too much development. The fact is, most people there have to commute to Fresno for jobs. And the south entrance on 41 is the slowest way into Yosemite Valley. But since my property was to the south of Yos, that's the route I took many many times to get over the top at Tioga Pass to backpack trips on the east side. I typically got up 4:00 in the morning, and easily beat all the traffic. Could even arrive at trailheads way up above Bishop by 10:00.

I'm just waiting till Tioga Pass is cleared so I can take a brief loop trip over Sonora Pass and then back over Tioga Pass on 120 to here, with a bit of hill country exploration as usual early in the day before it gets too hot, and a few days of high altitude camping to get me acclimated in case I have a backpacking opportunity in Sept. I already bagged and printed several classic shots of the Valley last month during the last serious snowstorm to add to my Portfolio. I never enter Yos Valley itself in the Summer.

Vaughn mentioned Mineral King. One of the logistical reasons Disney never got to spoil that was the long-term risk and sheer expense of widening and keeping the road open into there. Now it's been officially aborbed into Sequoia NP and adjacent designated Wilderness Areas. They might not be able to open the road at all this season due to rockslides, washouts, and potentially avalanche debris too. Hopefully, Mickey Mouse was crushed to death once for all in that too. I'm glad that I was able to do several memorable backpacking trips in that area when I was still in my 60's. No crowds there. But it's ringed by steep high passes, so you need a good set of lungs and legs once beyond the ample meadows themselves.

But yeah, Ed Abbey got it right, at least partially. But the real fact is, most of Yos NP is itself largely wilderness, with the NW and SE quadrants being especially quiet. Me and a companion spent two weeks in the SE part before the pandemic, and didn't see anyone else for an entire week of that. And the whole NP itself is sandwiched between Wilderness Areas both north and south. So really, all the herds collect mainly in Yos Valley per se and up around Tenaya Lk and Tuolumne Mdws in Summer - but even there you don't have to walk very far to find solitude, with the exception of grateful mosquitoes.

Yeah ... On numerous business and convention trips from here east I got to fly directly over Yos Valley, plus many places all over the West where I have backpacked over the years. I always selected a window seat so I could look down on the topography.

[BrianShaw]

It is more impressive on the ground looking up. :)

I’ll bet. I’ve become much more allergic to mob scenes as I grow older and, apparently, more intolerant. Perhaps the advise to go in winter is very appropriate for me!

[Alan Klein]

Things sure have changed. I went there in the summer around 32 years ago with my wife to be. We were visiting my cousin in Silicon Valley. My wife suggested we go to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. So I called up and got a room in the park hotel without a problem. We drove in no trouble with anything, then went to the big tree area (Mariposa?) a little south on that road with a thousand turns. No problem in Lake Tahoe either. We drove into Yosemite from Mono Lake area and got stuck as my rental car crapped out due to the elevation. I should have used high test gas.

My memento from Yosemite in 120 Agfa Optima film:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/5262311653/in/album-72157625476289859/

[Drew Wiley]

No, not Mariposa. Yosemite NP has a couple of its own Sequoia Groves, one of each side of the Valley, both now closed. You're probably thinking of the grove near Wawona near the south entrance. And you don't know what a real winding mountain road even is. That road is a freeway by comparison, except in Winter. Then there's a grove to the south of the Park back on dirt Forest Service roads, called Nelder Grove, with the world's biggest diameter tree by FS measuring standards, which differ from NP rules. Those two agencies don't agree on much of anything.

The road which leads downriver from the Park to Mariposa has comparatively few twists and turns, and is mostly alongside the River. The south entrance road, after all the endless moderate curves and honking at snail-paced motorhome drivers who refuse to use turnouts, leads downhill to Oakhurst on Hwy 41. Maybe that's the route you took. There it connects with Hwy 49, which goes north to Mariposa as well as the Briceburg Grade entrance to Yosemite still further north near an old hydro power plant, which is indeed steep and winding until the top of the grade. Then you reach a relatively level section which goes past the northern Sequoia Grove near Crane Flat, and then BACK DOWN into Yos Valley itself. I had to use 4WD through there last month due to falling snow.

[Alan Klein]

No, not Mariposa. Yosemite NP has a couple of its own Sequoia Groves, one of each side of the Valley, both now closed. You're probably thinking of the grove near Wawona near the south entrance. And you don't know what a real winding mountain road even is. That road is a freeway by comparison, except in Winter. Then there's a grove to the south of the Park back on dirt Forest Service roads, called Nelder Grove, with the world's biggest diameter tree by FS measuring standards, which differ from NP rules. Those two agencies don't agree on much of anything.

The road which leads downriver from the Park to Mariposa has comparatively few twists and turns, and is mostly alongside the River. The south entrance road, after all the endless moderate curves and honking at snail-paced motorhome drivers who refuse to use turnouts, leads downhill to Oakhurst on Hwy 41. Maybe that's the route you took. There it connects with Hwy 49, which goes north to Mariposa as well as the Briceburg Grade entrance to Yosemite still further north near an old hydro power plant, which is indeed steep and winding until the top of the grade. Then you reach a relatively level section which goes past the northern Sequoia Grove near Crane Flat, and then BACK DOWN into Yos Valley itself. I had to use 4WD through there last month due to falling snow.

I remember one of the trees was the Grizzly Giant, so wherever that is. The road was pretty winding getting down there.

[Corran]

Alan, that tree is in Mariposa Grove and now has free shuttle to the trails from parking area, a few minutes drive down the way.

I went last year as most of you know. No reservations, just early arrival before 6am from sleeping in my car near Mono Lake. One morning I almost didn't make it because I woke to a flat tire, luckily a slow leak I nursed all day before finding a place to patch it on the other side of the valley.

I enjoyed my time immensely but worry about the future of the park.

[bmikiten]

We went in March of last year and I was shocked at how few people were at the park. The main hotel was half occupied. We did the fall climb (with a 4x5 and 6x17) and saw four people going up (early) and a group of about 30 kids and adults coming down as it warmed up. There were two 10 mile hikes and on one we saw only three other people. It is the memory of the park I want to keep forever after hearing some of these stories. We need parks but they do need to be access controlled to protect them as well.

[Drew Wiley]

Currently there are significant delays both direction due to serious road repair issues. Only the straight shot up the Merced River from Mariposa is unimpeded. The Mariposa Grove was closed during severe fires a couple years ago, and until just this month, due to lingering snow. If you really want to see a big tree, you have to leave the Park and find the Bull Buck Tree on NF land slightly to the south. I don't know what condition that road is in at the moment; it's not paved, and it's easy to get lost.

Considerable crowding this summer is entirely predictable. First, the waterfalls are especially grand this year due to all the snowfall. Second, the Park was off n' on closed much of the Spring due to road and snow conditions, including some flooding in the Valley itself. Everyone, including the tour bus operators etc are trying to make up for lost time. But the Valley per se generally an overcrowded zoo in Summer anyway,
and often hot there too (not this week, however). Tioga Pass is still closed; so the car-accessible portion of the higher Yosemite is still closed, and even the Glacier Point road is still closed above the south entrance,
further concentrating summer tourists within just the Valley itself.

But still please keep in mind that even this particular Park - one of the most popular and heavily visited in the world, still holds a lot of spectacular backcounty, some of it routinely horse and backpacker visited, but other big portions seeing only a handful of hikers and climbers a year. The car-accessible portion is only a small percent of the whole.

[faberryman]

I remember when I went to Yosemite...

[Michael R]

Luckily Drew and some other photographers have already done the work for me because this all sounds like a hassle. I'll stick with Bakersfield.

[John Kasaian]

Photographers are, or should be, resourceful enough to have a Plan B, C, D, E & F.
Who I feel for are all the families from all over the world with carefully planned (and costly) itineraries who have to deal with the traffic when they come to Yosemite on vacation.
We were in the Valley about a month ago, between the floods, and it was gorgeous. Not many services because of the flooding, but the meat and potatoes beauty of the valley was on full display.
I'm wondering if the overflow will clog up Kings Canyon?

[Drew Wiley]

How about when you've planned a vacation a year in advance, get to a specific National Park area, then find it suddenly shut closed due to a Govt shutdown, and then are told to instantly return to your own Govt job, but find yourself locked out of that too the whole duration of the incident. Happened to a family member of mine. And there some risk of that kind of thing happening again later this yr. Yep... ALWAYS have Plan A, B, C, and D at least.

Kings Can per se is still closed via road, unless you're just referring to Grant Grove. I don't think you can get further upriver by vehicle from Pine Flat than Balch Camp. Way too many slides. They wisely lowered Pine Flat about 30% when I was there, but the runoff still might have flooded a lot of the old Tulare Lk basin again, and town down there, if this had been a typical hot July. It was Redinger Lk on the San Joaquin that was spilling like insanity. Is your property worth more now due to lakefront status? (But yeah, they kept Millerton low too due to this very risk).

[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-parks/article/yosemite-crowds-descend-with-no-reservation-system-18175130.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-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:cool:.

[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
(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.

[Axelwik]

Glad I went last year when reservations were still required, and before the fires. Spent this morning making some test prints from that trip from the 4x5 negatives. Parking was annoying, but away from the biggest tourist areas it was manageable.

People should stop having so many children! We're paying for it now. I think we're bumping up against the human carrying capacity of the Earth.

[Drew Wiley]

120 is open to Tenaya Lk, not over the top. My nephew's wife has already been taking small groups of paying tourists up to Tenaya. The whole point is to avoid the backup headed into Yosemite Valley from the south and direct west entrance. If Tioga were open, I'd approach Tuolumne Mdws etc from the east side instead. Probably little if any wait. Traffic has always been bad in summer. My place was across the river, further south from the south entrance itself, so I'd get up at 4 or 5 in the morning, and get clear through the Park and over the top of Tioga with little traffic at all, and generally end up at my intended trailhead above Owens Valley or whatever around 10:00 in the morning. (Doesn't mean I was driving 35mph through the Park, however).

Hetch Hetchy is open; but not many people go there for understandable reasons unless they're hikers and backpackers headed into that portion of backcountry, which is relatively quiet, but largely still inaccessible this year due to the exceptional amount of snow and dangerous runoff. Even during the drought years, people were swept to their deaths crossing the bridge in front a Hetchy waterfall prematurely in the season.

[reddesert]

People are having fewer children, and that's what gives them the disposable income to go on vacation to Yosemite. It may be a special madhouse this summer, but the way to deal with that is to go when fewer people are there (not in summer) or go where the people aren't. Like Drew said earlier, there are a few hikes in the Sierra that are The Hike To Do so draw too many people, and then there's miles and miles of hardly anyone.

Last time I went to Yosemite was Oct 2020, you needed permits and the camping was more limited, but lots of people still wanted to be outside. I backpacked up from the valley and the Mist Trail was kind of a madhouse, but above that (from Little Yos Valley to Cathedral Lakes) I saw only a few parties a day, until approaching Clouds Rest on the way back. Once you are out of range of day hikers it really thins out. I didn't venture to carry any big cameras though.

[Drew Wiley]

Part of the issue is the crowds from the Central Valley, who really don't have all the get out-of-the-heat options as in ordinary Summers due to all the road damage in the mountains, and the fact many traditional locations are still not open due to so much remaining snow. Many other former uphill options around resort areas etc. are still slowly being salvaged from the effects of extreme forest fires over the last several years, with many of them looking more Apocalyptic than nice and lush woodsy places one would like to camp at. Road and bridge repair crews are overwhelmed in much of the State, especially in the mountains.

Other than mosquitoes, July is generally a fairly accessible time of year to backcountry hikers. But this year runoff conditions are extreme, certain crucial trail bridges have failed, and the higher passes are more the domain of experienced mountaineers using ice axes and crampons rather then REI types with their glorified tennis shoes and cute little book-baggish packs. I've been deep and up high in during years just like this one; and one has to know what they're doing or they won't come back. Up high, Spring probably won't arrive this year until a another year from September.

[John Kasaian]

Part of the issue is the crowds from the Central Valley, who really don't have all the get out-of-the-heat options as in ordinary Summers due to all the road damage in the mountains, and the fact many traditional locations are still not open due to so much remaining snow. Many other former uphill options around resort areas etc. are still slowly being salvaged from the effects of extreme forest fires over the last several years, with many of them looking more Apocalyptic than nice and lush woodsy places one would like to camp at. Road and bridge repair crews are overwhelmed in much of the State, especially in the mountains.

Other than mosquitoes, July is generally a fairly accessible time of year to backcountry hikers. But this year runoff conditions are extreme, certain crucial trail bridges have failed, and the higher passes are more the domain of experienced mountaineers using ice axes and crampons rather then REI types with their glorified tennis shoes and cute little book-baggish packs. I've been deep and up high in during years just like this one; and one has to know what they're doing or they won't come back. Up high, Spring probably won't arrive this year until a another year from September.

I hear you, Drew.
Even the Muffler Museum in Fresno now requires reservations for admission.

[Drew Wiley]

Speaking of mufflers and so forth, have you had a chance yet to test drive your new Cardio-Vascular setup at higher altitude yet? Like me, you're no doubt itching for more high country soon.

[John Kasaian]

We sneaked into Yosemite Valley to see the falls in between the run-off flooding the roads.
But that's not very high in elevation.
We did a short hike at Lake Tahoe in the Winter. It was OK. No Nitro tablets necessary

I hope to get up to Inyo National Forest when the roads open.
You get a lot more bang for your Pinot Noir buck at 11,000'

[Drew Wiley]

All the East side PAVED roads in Inyo NF are already open - clear up to Onion Valley, Lk Sabrina, Whitney Portal, etc. Some of the dirt roads to the unpopular "fearsome foursome" trailheads have washed out badly. Only the paved portion of the road into the Bristlecones, as far as the lower Schulman Grove, is open; but that's still up there quite a ways. North of there, Virginia Lks road is open. Rock Cr road is open only as far as the pack station near the Hilton Lks trail. And of course one can drive over the top at Sonora Pass now, unless you want to drive Isabella Pass and loop back around instead.

I can't get into the thought of Pinot Noir. I had reserved one of the nicer, more private car camping spaces up at Onion Valley a couple summer ago, hoping to get an early start uphill the next morning, although persistent terrible smoke ruined any chances of my intended backpack trip. But the smoke was everywhere, and at least I was camped for the night up in the aspens, and not down in the heat. Then a huge expensive camper-style rig atop a flatbed truck (not a motorhome per se) backed in right next to the outhouse across the road. That was the only spot they could fit in. They couldn't even get into their official reserved space adjacent to that, with its picnic table. They hydraulically lowered a steel cage above the front bumper containing their leveling jacks. Then they lowered an entire little steel grid projecting patio above the rear bumper, replete with its own little fence and railing, and set out their patio table and chairs on it. It had its own little set of stairs. Then they brought out a wine bottle, uncorked it, clicked their glasses together, smiled, and romantically sipped their wine mere feet away from the outhouse ventilation stack. That must have been quite an interesting mix of aromas! Quite a view too!

[Drew Wiley]

The NBC evening news just had a segment on 4th of July skiers on Mammoth Mtn. It's not just a few runs open, but the entire peak still has deep snow, along with everything around it. In the distance you could see the even higher Ritter Range, which is immediately south of the SE boundary of Yos NP. In fact, Mt Ritter is 3000 ft higher than Mammoth Mtn, and higher than any peak in Yosemite, and still has a few lingering glaciers. Everything above 8,000 ft looked snow covered still.

[Alan Klein]

Good for the reservoirs.

[Paul Ron]

ive waited all my life to visit; i guess waiting the rest of my life wont be a problem.

no big deal... i had my fill of mountains right here in new england and experianced some of the most breath taking and memorable views and back country to last me a life time.

[Tin Can]

Really glad I traveled a lot from 18 to 35

Last day of HS we Beat a TR4 directly to CA beach and ran into the ocean, never used the top

Lot's dead, cousin on the WALL, brother enlist'd 1964

I failed the Physical after I won the Lottery, vision and underweight

2 DEAD wives

1 lovely stepdaughter and her boys just finished college

1 hired by Argonne



as Jimi sang, see you next life and don't be late

[Vaughn]

After the winter of '69 which covered the Sierras deep in snow, I still saw a lot of snow in the high country backpacking in September. Sounds like a similar year...pretty close with a little more snow this year (600" vs 670" or thereabouts -- I believe those are Donner Pass amounts).

Lots of traveling in the 70's in the American West (although spent 1975 in New Zealand)...moving by thumb then eventually a bug. Good times and a good time to see the West.

[Drew Wiley]

I've been in seriously deep blizzards in the Sierra every month of the year except July. Typical snowfalls were deeper than nowadays, with certain exceptions, like this year. The deepest annual snowfall ever recorded on earth was at mid-elevation in the central Sierra in the 1890's, which means it was even deeper higher up to the south. That record held until remote sensing monitors were installed deep back into the Alaska Range in maybe the 1970's. Mammoth Mtn gets the most snow of any US ski resort. This year even the chair lift towers and the entire Lodge were completely buried over their own full height, and had to be dug out. Only during the extreme droughts of the past decade or two have I seen a lot of high country snow free in midsummer. I remember when I routinely carried an ice axe for high passes and the glaciers associated with them. Now one has to go out of their way just to find a still-active glacier in the Sierra, like visiting an isolated little antique shop.

[Michael R]

Why does any of this matter, especially since there is now software that allows one to photograph these rocks and stones without having to leave the house or spend thousands on precision boots.

[Drew Wiley]

It's all a ruse, Michael - to keep people like you out!

Actually - latest update - they have one lane plowed all the way up to Tioga Pass, but no public access yet. Reasons given : ongoing avalanche hazard at Olmstead Point, and road damage there and certain other sections. Second, they refuse to open to the public until all the official restrooms along the route are open and maintainable. The bears already have their own kind of restrooms.

You might apply for a job, Michael - and then they'd let you in! There was a Gyro Gearloose kind of kid down at the bottom of the Canyon from where we lived. He had a hard time impressing girls, and planned to get a degree in nuclear engineering when he entered college. That was a popular alleged career path back then, before the Three Mile Island fiasco. Then he noticed a local help wanted ad for a Sanitary Engineer position in Yosemite Valley the upcoming summer season. So he applied for it and got it, and went around bragging to the girls at school that he had been hired as an Engineer in Yosemite. Then the surprise came when, instead of being escorted to an office with a drafting table, he was shown a pickup truck and handed a bucket, mop, and plunger.

[Michael R]

I’ve always kept a carfentanil pill in my cheek in case I find myself within 500 yards of any public restroom.

[John Kasaian]

Such doom and gloom!
Yosemite isn't any less beautiful off season, and especially once you're out of the Valley in the Summertime.
The forest will heal (not in my lifetime though)
We visit Yosemite Valley in early Spring before the skeeters, and Autumn, even Winter when there's a rare snowfall.
Guest services are limited but how many t-shirts and lattes do you need, anyway?
It's still a magical place and worthy of your sheet film.

[Drew Wiley]

Michael - just wear a bear suit and the entire forest becomes a legitimate restroom.

I don't have very many shots of Yos Valley per se, mostly of the high country. But I did print a couple more special images the past couple of weeks. I arrived briefly there in May at 6:AM via 4-wheeling through the snow, when almost nobody else was up and around yet, and the light was still magical, then left a little after noon. Did talk to a few nice people before leaving. But yeah, it's best to avoid summer there, when it's not only crowded, but often hot and smokey or even smoggy. There'a lot more elbow room up higher; and the air will be clearer, provided a major forest fire isn't active at the time. Thru Hwy 120 over the top should be open later this month, and the skeeters tend to gradually die down as August proceeds along.

And there are all kinds of other places you can drive up high on the east side, up above Hwy 395; some of them are already open. But SEKI (Sequoia and Kings Canyon) National Parks have been heavily hit with road damage, so are not quite the alternate NP option to crowded Yosemite Valley as in normal years. But for those who don't find it mandatory to follow the other 98% of the lemmings to the same 2% of scenic places, the Sierra has ample opportunities regardless.

[John Kasaian]

Michael - just wear a bear suit and the entire forest becomes a legitimate restroom.

I don't have very many shots of Yos Valley per se, mostly of the high country. But I did print a couple more special images the past couple of weeks. I arrived briefly there in May at 6:AM via 4-wheeling through the snow, when almost nobody else was up and around yet, and the light was still magical, then left a little after noon. Did talk to a few nice people before leaving. But yeah, it's best to avoid summer there, when it's not only crowded, but often hot and smokey or even smoggy. There'a lot more elbow room up higher; and the air will be clearer, provided a major forest fire isn't active at the time. Thru Hwy 120 over the top should be open later this month, and the skeeters tend to gradually die down as August proceeds along.

And there are all kinds of other places you can drive up high on the east side, up above Hwy 395; some of them are already open. But SEKI (Sequoia and Kings Canyon) National Parks have been heavily hit with road damage, so are not quite the alternate NP option to crowded Yosemite Valley as in normal years. But for those who don't find it mandatory to follow the other 98% of the lemmings to the same 2% of scenic places, the Sierra has ample opportunities regardless.

As a family, we gave up our annual Yosemite Valley Summer camping trips decades ago, opting for the Eastern slope instead. We'll do day trips when the crowds/skeeters/pollen aren't bad.
Or to watch my son climb El Cap.

[John Kasaian]

Be careful out there!
Split Mountain avalanche:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/hiker-killed-2-others-injured-in-wet-landslide-while-hiking-in-california-s-sierra-nevada/ar-AA1dzxKS?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=c5ec918fd6564d16d88394417a81c71c&ei=48

[Alan Klein]

As an Easterner, I only visited Yosemite once in my life as a last-minute decision while I was visiting a cousin in Mountainview California. We were fortunate to get a room in the Valley Park Hotel. We drove in on Tioga Road through Mono Lake from Lake Tahoe which we also visited. We really didn't know about other places within Yosemite. We didn't have the time or the camping and hiking equipment. So we visited the main Yosemite sights and took a side trip to see the big trees. Most visitors are like us who don't have a lot of time to visit or know much about the area so they also visit just the tourist sights. Locals ought to give us "lemmings" a little slack.

[Drew Wiley]

Don't worry. Lemming aren't in any real danger there .... unless you encounter a hungry coyote!

But the combination of the Covid shutdown and now a severe winter, along with all kinds of messed up roads, has caused a serious famine to those town and services dependent upon Yosemite tourism. Little places like Lee Vining beside Mono Lake have a relatively short busy season at best; and here we are, midsummer already, with Tioga Pass not even open yet. Yeah, there is a certain amount of year-round trucker and local traffic through there via Hwy 395 on the east side of the mountains, but that by itself isn't near enough to keep those little economies well afloat. Then i'm looking at the uh,er, rather hideous facilities expansion on the west side like in Oakhurst, yet the Badger Pass ski resort in Yosemite closed all winter, the south entrance highway seriously disrupted by forest fires and now heavy snowfall damage, and really, only the approach up the Merced River through Mariposa having been generally functional, though itself closed periodically due to both snowfall and Yos Valley flooding. ... So the coyotes must have been missing their tasty lemmings, and the bears their long awaited pick-a-nickic boxes, as Yogi would have pronounced it.

[Michael R]

Sounds like mess on top of mess. Forget about it and come east. There’s a park just down the block from me. Probably around an acre, maybe less, with trees and grass and some footpaths and a fountain and a splash pad in the summer. If you’re more rugged you can do Mount Royal which is a few hundred feet tall with parks, forested areas, a man made lake, tourists and a lookout!


Don't worry. Lemming aren't in any real danger there .... unless you encounter a hungry coyote!

But the combination of the Covid shutdown and now a severe winter, along with all kinds of messed up roads, has caused a serious famine to those town and services dependent upon Yosemite tourism. Little places like Lee Vining beside Mono Lake have a relatively short busy season at best; and here we are, midsummer already, with Tioga Pass not even open yet. Yeah, there is a certain amount of year-round trucker and local traffic through there via Hwy 395 on the east side of the mountains, but that by itself isn't near enough to keep those little economies well afloat. Then i'm looking at the uh,er, rather hideous facilities expansion on the west side like in Oakhurst, yet the Badger Pass ski resort in Yosemite closed all winter, the south entrance highway seriously disrupted by forest fires and now heavy snowfall damage, and really, only the approach up the Merced River through Mariposa having been generally functional, though itself closed periodically due to both snowfall and Yos Valley flooding. ... So the coyotes must have been missing their tasty lemmings, and the bears their long awaited pick-a-nickic boxes, as Yogi would have pronounced it.

[Drew Wiley]

No thanks. We choked on bad air for three years in a row due to a series of catastrophic forest fires which never seemed to end. Now it's your turn. But in our case, a lot of trees burnt down which were probably taller than your Mt Royal. But the height of peaks varies in the US. In Kansas, the highest spot depends on what cattle left behind the day before. In Florida, it depends on whether the thickness of a sunning alligator is factored in or not.

I'm trying to prepare a couple of sidekicks for what will be different about this particular "summer" in the mountains. Three people got overtaken by an avalanche yesterday, one of them fatally - in midsummer, not midwinter!

[Michael R]

Alright. Then I suggest Precipice Lake.


No thanks. We choked on bad air for three years in a row due to a series of catastrophic forest fires which never seemed to end. Now it's your turn. But in our case, a lot of trees burnt down which were probably taller than your Mt Royal. But the height of peaks varies in the US. In Kansas, the highest spot depends on what cattle left behind the day before. In Florida, it depends on whether the thickness of a sunning alligator is factored in or not.

[Alan Klein]

Don't worry. Lemming aren't in any real danger there .... unless you encounter a hungry coyote!

But the combination of the Covid shutdown and now a severe winter, along with all kinds of messed up roads, has caused a serious famine to those town and services dependent upon Yosemite tourism. Little places like Lee Vining beside Mono Lake have a relatively short busy season at best; and here we are, midsummer already, with Tioga Pass not even open yet. Yeah, there is a certain amount of year-round trucker and local traffic through there via Hwy 395 on the east side of the mountains, but that by itself isn't near enough to keep those little economies well afloat. Then i'm looking at the uh,er, rather hideous facilities expansion on the west side like in Oakhurst, yet the Badger Pass ski resort in Yosemite closed all winter, the south entrance highway seriously disrupted by forest fires and now heavy snowfall damage, and really, only the approach up the Merced River through Mariposa having been generally functional, though itself closed periodically due to both snowfall and Yos Valley flooding. ... So the coyotes must have been missing their tasty lemmings, and the bears their long awaited pick-a-nickic boxes, as Yogi would have pronounced it.

You can't win. First people complain about global warming and drought. Now they complain about too much snow.

[ic-racer]

Yes, Kalifornia isn't the only place in the USA to photograph outdoors.
Since famous photographers from the coast have not come tromping though 'the middle of nowhere,' one can make some unique images...
240235

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah ice racer, but can you find that in late summer too, traveling a relatively short distance, just by changing elevation? And truly unique images can be found everywhere, even in Yosemite Valley, despite millions of photos being taken there. But I'm glad you've found lovely subject matter close to home. I do a lot of that too, especially given the high price of gasoline lately.

Alan - the global thermostat is broken. Both drought and severe storms are being amplified, and are hopscotching each other. The last time that happened in a known rapid Jekyll & Hyde mood swing was during the close of the Ice Ages, when it was really intense.