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.
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.
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.
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.Originally Posted by Drew Wiley
Even the Muffler Museum in Fresno now requires reservations for admission.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
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.
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'
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
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!
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.
Good for the reservoirs.
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