A Mess in Yosemite right now--a cautionary

[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/alankl...7625476289859/

[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).