Yosemite Blog

Search results for: “Earthquake”

  • Earthquake!

    We just had an earthquake; Loyd IM’d me as I was IMing a friend in Florida with the same message: “Earthquake!” As always, Loyd was Johnny-on-the -spot with this link: http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/122-37.html He thought it was about 7, but it turns out to be about 5.6. Now, back to your regularly scheduled Yosemiteblog, now in progress.…

  • Earthquakes

    A lot of the people I talk to about Yosemite are as much interested in the famous “California earthquakes” as they are in the Park. Geologically California is still one of the most active regions in the world. Yosemite itself shares a volcanic past and even today is bordered on it’s eastern side by an…

  • Why is the Big Oak Flat Road still closed?

    Why is the Big Oak Flat Road still closed?

    You know those movies where there’s an earthquake and the big hole opens up and the city falls in? Yeah, it’s like that.

  • 52 Documented Rock Falls in 2009

    Recorded rockfalls in Yosemite National Park from 1857-2009. Courtesy NPS. Most of the time you don’t hear about a rockfall in Yosemite unless it closes a road or hotel or someone is in the wrong spot at the wrong time. @YosemiteScience posted a link to the great new rockfall page on the NPS website explaining…

  • SF Halts Water Flow from Hetch Hetchy

    O’Shaughnessy Dam releases water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Photo by Inklein. San Francisco is high and dry as the SFPUC cut water delivery from Hetch Hetchy for at least a month. The shutdown is part of a planned outage to allow for maintenance on the aging water delivery system and is expected to last until…

  • New Tunnel to Replace Aging Hetch Hetchy Pipes Carrying Water to San Francisco

    Part of the Hetch Hetchy water system delivers water to the Moccasin Creek power generation facility near Groveland. Photo by Flickred!. A $350 million tunnel is being drilled beneath San Francisco Bay as part of an ambitious plan to update the aging Hetch Hetchy water system. The tunnel will create a 21-mile stretch of new…

  • Shaking, Rattling and Rolling

    Keeler, CA – Now pretty much a ghost town is once again shaking and rattling as a nearby fault has suddenly become active. Photo by Matthew High. In 1872 John Muir was awakened in his cabin by a rumble in the ground and the sound of rocks pouring from the walls of Yosemite Valley. He…

  • Tsunami Slams Into National Park on Samoan Island

    Ofu beach part of National Park of American Samoa. Photo courtesy of National Park Service. Shortly before 7 a.m. yesterday morning, an earthquake with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3 struck 120 miles from American Samoa, a U. S. territory with a population of approximately 65,000 people. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami that…

  • Photos of the Day: Fire and Rocks by Melissa Alcorn

    Melissa Alcorn sent me this series of images she captured last week while hiking in the park the day the rock fall took place behind the Ahwahnee and the Big Meadow fire got a little wild. I love the way you can see both events in the above photos. It’s like watching the San Francisco…

  • Schwarzenegger Calls for More Dams Like Hetch Hetchy

    Hetch Hetchy was once a beautiful valley much like Yosemite until the City of San Francisco decided to damn the Tuolumne River and create a resevoir after the 1906 earthquake destroyed much of the city. Photo by Steve Ryan. Governor Schwarzenegger says he’ll block any proposal to overhaul the state’s water supply if it doesn’t…