Dan Mitchell posted his thoughts and a beautiful photo he took last week on the opening day of the Tioga Road. Dan is one of those people (like I used to be) who have to go through Tioga Pass the day it opens. Here’s Dan’s thoughts:
“Tuolumne Meadows was still almost completely covered in snow, except that the river was so full with meltwater that large sections of the meadow were flooded, making parts of it look more like a lake than a meadow. The watercourse in the foreground of this photograph will simply be a grass-covered meadow a few weeks from now, and soon after that will be a great place to look for wildflowers – but on this night it was a fast flowing and cold body of water containing floating bits of slushy ice.”
That’s pretty much the story for most of the higher elevations. The creeks and streams are fast flowing and cold making them very dangerous even for experienced hikers. At their near freezing temperature hypothermia happens in a matter of minutes after exposure. The consensus is to steer clear of streams and rivers in Yosemite and the Sierra for a while yet. They’re too cold.
Great photo, Dan.
Photo by Dan Mitchell.
Comments
3 responses to “It’s a Slushy, Jim”
Hi, and thanks for noticing my report and my photo. Like many Yosemite nuts (I’ve been one for decades!) I want to make my summer season as long as possible – so I try to get to Tuolumne as early as I can and then continue to visit until as late in the season as possible. (Yes, I’ve been snowed on in the back-country in mid-October.)
This was a very special opening day since we had a cold and wet May and an above-average winter snowfall. I was very surprised by how much snow was still in the high country and just how many areas were completely covered.
If anyone is thinking about a visit soon, my guess is that things will melt out fairly quickly, but that you might still see similar sights if you can make it up there this weekend.
Dan
Great post!
I drove by here yesterday (June 11) and much of the snow was gone already! We were shocked at the difference from our way in the other direction just two days prior.