Category: On the Trail

Something Really Cool to See

Posted on by lbschutte

Theresa has an awesome post with photos up about Frazil Ice. What is Frazil Ice? How about we let Theresa explain it.

Theresa: In the late winter, early spring, the water in Yosemite Falls can become super cooled and form small ice crystals that turn Yosemite Creek into a beautiful flowing slushie. I’ve been living in Yosemite for 6 years, and it’s the first time I’ve actually gone to Yosemite Creek when it was cold out and seen it.

When I confessed to a long-time Yosemite resident, he responded, “Glad you are enjoying your stay here in beautiful Yosemite National Park.” which I read with a saccharine tone. But it is so true in some ways. All this time, and I’m still a tourist – still seeing new things and being amazed. I’ve had people ask me if there is enough to see in Yosemite to spend 3 days here, and just now I saw something that it’s taken me 6 years to actually see. I guess that would be an emphatic ‘Yes’.

After I got back, I was telling everyone, and Tom also ran out to see the ice. When he returned, he called and commented, “I see you your frazil ice, and raise you one bobcat”. There’s so much to see in Yosemite.

Don’t forget to head over to Theresa’s blog to check out her photos of the Frazil Ice. Pretty cool.

More Spring Openings

Posted on by lbschutte

Trails
The Vernal Fall Comfort Station is now open. The drinking fountain will be turned on as soon as night time temperatures remain above freezing until then carry your own water. If you plan on pumping or treating water from the river be VERY careful as the river flows are high and the rocks are slippery.

If you need to use the bathroom the composting toilets at Emerald Pool, Nevada Fall, and Little Yosemite Valley are open all year. If you should defecate off trail please pick up your waste and any paper or trash and pack it out.

Campgrounds
Hodgdon Meadow Campground is open for visitors with reservations.

Loops B and C of the Wawona Campground are open on a first-come, first-serve basis until the road repaving through the campground is complete. This is a great opportunity to stay in the park if you’re making an unscheduled visit. Once paving is complete the campground will return to it’s normal reservation system.

Where are all the great and unknown places to take pictures in Yosemite Valley?

Posted on by lbschutte

There’s a really great discussion started over on the new forum where TLSOK asked:

“I’m wondering where some really great and unknown places are to take pictures in Yosemite Valley. I am, of course, very familiar with all the common places (Tunnel view, valley view, etc, etc), but I’m interested to know if anyone knows where there might be some places to get some GREAT shots that a lot of people don’t know about.”

You’re definitely going to want to check out the replies so far and hey, add your own 2 cents. Everyone has a voice.

You can check out the discussion by going here.

A Cool Book For the Trail Rats in the Crowd

Posted on by lbschutte

I read a lot of books on Yosemite and from time to time I check the Amazon stats to see what books everyone has been buying. So I was checking the stats this morning and I noticed a lot of people had shown interest in Top Trails Yosemite: Must Do Hikes for Everyone. I haven’t read this one myself but it has a very nice review on the Amazon store. Here’s what Fritz Ward had to say about the book.

Top Trails Yosemite: Must Do Hikes for Everyone: “Wilderness Press originally conceived of the ‘Top Trails’ series as a set of hiking guides to the best trails in an area. This purpose sets these volumes apart from typical hiking guides which tend to fall into two categories: comprehensive guides to all trails in a region, or descriptions of short day hiking opportunities in an area. The idea was to give visitors to a region quick access to the best hiking and to facilitate ease of use. Perhaps no area of California needs a ‘Top Trails’ guide as much as Yosemite and very few authors are as qualified to write one as Jeffrey Schaffer.

This book is divided into seven chapters: one for each region of the park. Each chapter lists 5 to 8 hikes ranging in distance from the 1/2 mile walk at Bridalveil Falls to a 33 mile excursion among the High Sierra Camps. Obviously, some of these trails are more suitable for backpacking, a feature that distinguishes this book from others in the ‘Top Trails’ series. All the great hikes are included. Readers will find route descriptions for Half Dome, the Tuolomne Grove of Sequoias (my favorite grove in the park), Clouds Rest, Hetch Hetchy Resevoir, Glacier Point, and many more. In all, there are 45 trails and routes described here.

What makes this book so good are the standard features found in other ‘Top Trails’ guides and the expert commentary of Schaffer. Each chapter begins with an overview of the region, a trails summary page listing distance, difficulty, and some highlights of the trails, followed by detailed trail descriptions and carefully drawn maps. Schaffer is one of the top cartographers in the west and his maps are second to none. But in addition to these standard features, Schaffer also offers an extended commentary on the geology, geography, and plant and animal communities found in the park. His theory that Yosemite Valley’s rock walls were formed by faulting and vertical fracture planes, not solely by glaciers, is explained in these pages, along with the evidence for it, so that non-specialists can easily understand what they observe as they hike. This sort of expert commentary adds immeasurably to the joy of hiking. That is why I strongly recommend this book by Schaffer. It can enhance any vacation to Yosemite.”

I think I’m going to have to add another book to my library. Nice review Fritz.

No More Cases of Norovirus Reported in Yosemite

Posted on by lbschutte

No new cases of a norovirus that has been circulating among hikers and backpackers in the Tuolumne Meadows area have been reported since 30 people reported symptoms a week ago.

The Modesto Bee: “About 30 people came down with symptoms consistent with the norovirus infection at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and High Sierra camps in the area, said Shane Sims, a specialist in the safety office at Yosemite National Park.

The lodge, at an elevation of 8,775 feet, serves as a base camp for day hikers and backpackers. Park rangers began receiving illness reports the weekend of July 12-13; the cases tapered off last week.

About five hikers with severe symptoms were airlifted from the High Sierra camps, Sims said. Of the six people known to have sought medical attention, all were released from care, officials said.

‘Many of the people who were ill were traveling in tight groups, so it was easy for the illness to spread in those groups,’ Sims said, adding, ‘People shouldn’t fear coming into the park. It appears to be under control.’

Experts with the National Park Service Office of Public Health concluded it was norovirus infection, a common intestinal illness, based on one person testing positive and symptoms that included low-grade fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

The illness comes on quickly and goes away in 24 to 48 hours. The highly contagious virus can be spread through contaminated food, water or fecal matter. But park officials said they found no evidence that meals served at the lodge or the camps triggered the outbreak.

It’s also spread by person-to- person contact and easily could have been brought by any of the thousands of people who visit the park each day, officials said. Sims noted there have been other norovirus outbreaks this summer in Mariposa County.”

Chris Asks: Where’s Good Fishing in Yosemite This Time of Year

Posted on by lbschutte

Photo: Fly fishing on Spiller Creek by Jesse Wagstaff

Chris writes in:

I was hoping to get some early season flyfishing in. I will be backpacking with some friends in Yosemite in a few weeks (Probably the 23rd of May to the 26th or so). I know that east of Hetch Hetchy, the Tuolomne is way too fast for any fishing. How about fishing in or to the west of the reservoir? I am new to trout fishing, so I am not sure what the best elevations are this time of year. How about the Merced in the valley? “

Wow! A lot of questions. I’ll go through them one at a time for you.

How about fishing in or to the west of the reservoir?
One of our favorite trips up here is down into the canyon of the Tuolumne below Hetch Hetchy. It’s great for fly fishing and is a typical tailwater (read: huge fish). The only problem you’ll encounter is rattlesnakes and there are a lot. I try to stay out of there for that reason. My friends went up there not too long ago and said they saw 4 on one trip. Other than that fishing is great and flows are usually pretty good.

How about the Merced in the valley?
The Merced is fishable. It’s a little high this time early in the season as are most of the streams but you can do OK. You probably won’t have much luck with dry flies right now. Try a beaded nymph with a strike indicator and you should get some results. Or a dry with a dropper nymph. Both tend to work ok.

I am new to trout fishing, so I am not sure what the best elevations are this time of year.
This time of year anything at the foot of a dam is your best bet. Most inlet streams and rivers are way to fast to get a decent float so your fly is only in front of the fish for miliseconds. Sometimes, though, that’s more than enough especially if the fish are hungry.

Some of the back country lakes would be OK too. Trout in lakes tend to cruise around the perimeter in packs so it’s a sit and wait game there. In spring lake trout are hungry after the winter and the good hatches haven’t started yet so try a couple flies and I’m sure one will work.

Don’t give up if you don’t come back with anything. Right now isn’t the best time for fly fishing. Later in the year lots more water will be accessible and Yosemite becomes a great place to wet a fly.

If you plan on fishing the Merced around the Valley book mark this page: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?s=poh. It gives you the flow information for the Merced taken at Pohono Bridge (right before the river leaves the Valley) in Yosemite. It’s showing the river is flowing at over 2000 cfs which is still fishable but pretty fast.

Hope that gives you enough to go on. Good luck! Have a great trip!

As always if you have a question, photo, or something you’d just like to get off your chest send it in. I try to answer as many emails as I can and still have a life. You can email me at: loyd@yosemiteblog.com.

Photo by Jesse Wagstaff via Flickr.

Backpacking With Baby. Yes You Can!

Posted on by lbschutte

Photo: Baby in a backpack. By Andrew Walsh.

Being the parent of a pre-toddler and an outdoorsman I’m already planning our first trip with the new addition. Here’s a cool article I stumbled across in USA Today about backpacking with baby. Pretty cool!

USATODAY.com: “My husband, Stephen, and I stopped to chat with them. It was our fourth Yosemite trip of the year, and we had become accustomed to questions, comments and astonished stares from nearly everyone we met. Few people have seen a toddler in the back country — let alone a woman carrying a loaded backpack, plus her child strapped to the front.

But, judging from the number of people who ask us how to do it, many people are curious. Here’s a primer on ‘Backpacking with Baby,’ or BWB as I call it.

With or without a baby, backpacking isn’t necessarily difficult. But it requires more preparation and gear than camping, which usually means pitching a tent in a car-friendly campsite, cooking s’mores in a fire pit, and doing day hikes. Compared to the rigors of backpacking, campers enjoy relative luxuries such as outhouses, potable water and picnic tables.

By contrast, backpackers strap everything onto packs, then hike away from the trailhead to set up camp in the wilderness. They filter water from streams. They eat trail mix, turkey jerky or easy-to-prepare food — dehydrated soup, instant oatmeal and other meals cooked on lightweight stoves. They sit on logs, write in diaries, play cards, read paperbacks or simply savor the silence, stars and scenery.

My husband introduced me to backpacking in eight years ago with a trip to California’s Lost Coast, the rugged, remote stretch of mountains and beaches about 250 miles northwest of San Francisco. We woke at dawn and had a remote beach to ourselves — no other people in sight, only sea lion pups and shorebirds. We vowed to go backpacking at least once a month (except in the winter).

We took a hiatus after the birth of our son, Levi, in 2005. But when the Sierra snow started melting in early 2006, Levi was 10 months old, and we reached for our packs.

Our first BWB trip was a snowbound overnight excursion near a glacier in the eastern Sierra, where Levi learned to crawl on the soft floor of our tent. Levi — perfect child in every way, except for abysmal sleeping habits — slept through the night for the first time.

As any desperate, bleary-eyed new parent would have, we decided to resume our backpacking schedule — if only to sleep soundly once a month!

In the following year, we honed BWB to a science. In the garage is a checklist of items not to leave behind (though we often forget to look at it). We have tent set-up and teardown routines, and favorite foods for dinner, lunch and breakfast.”

Photo by Andrew Walsh via Flickr.

Current Park Trail Conditions for May 9th 2008

Posted on by lbschutte

The John Muir Trail between Clark Point and the top of Nevada Fall is closed for the winter.

The Mist Trail to Nevada and Vernal Fall is open.

The Four Mile Trail is closed for the winter just below Union Point. No expected opening date at this time.

The Half Dome cables are down for the season; they are usually installed by the third weekend in May, conditions permitting.

The Alder Creek trail (from Wawona) is closed due to a prescribed fire.