A Mess in Yosemite right now--a cautionary

[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.