Storm creates a mess; Oakdale man missing

ModBee.com:

“Two rock slides sent granite boulders cascading onto Highway 140 outside of Yosemite National Park on Wednesday, blocking the highway for nearly 12 hours.

Authorities detoured traffic into and out of the park from 6:30a.m. until about 6 p.m., the California Highway Patrol reported.

The slides happened in the River Canyon area, about six miles west of Yosemite’s Highway 140 entrance. CHP officer Al Arredondo said the second slide slightly damaged a California Department of Transportation truck clearing the area after the first slide.

The rock slides and other problems are the result of a storm that moved in Monday night. The weather hindered the search for an Oakdale man who is believed to be missing in the Stanislaus National Forest.

Searchers have been told that Tim Davis, 38, could be in the Long Barn area above Twain Harte or in the Cherry Lake area near Yosemite.

His wife, Gretchen, said he left Oakdale on a hunting trip about 4 a.m. Tuesday and had not been heard from since. She figures he was heading for the family’s cabin at Long Barn, and she thinks he got there. When searchers arrived, they discovered that someone had turned off the water — to prevent the pipes from freezing.”