I took advantage of the early opening of the Tioga Road to hike/snowshoe up the Rafferty Creek trail. Conditions: mostly clear up to 9200', lots of up-and-down over snowdrifts between 9200' and 9600', continuous snow above 9600'. I camped near the pass, with reasonable access to snowmelt flowing over rocks so I didn't have to melt snow, and day-hiked to the rocks west of the pass, and above Boothe Lake. The area south of the pass is similarly snow covered. It got below freezing last night since I had frost on my tent, but not very far below freezing (the melting snow was still flowing at sunrise), and this snow is not forming corn, its just weak slush by day, firming up overnight.
Driving over Tioga Pass, there isn't continuous snow even up to the pass, these areas probably see less melting due to the surrounding peaks.
Some pictures:
The meadow at the base of the pass, with Fletcher and Vogelsang Peaks:
Rafferty Creek Valley from the rocks west of the pass:
View in the other direction:
Vogelsang Peak and Boothe Lake:
Boothe was iced over except for its swampy inlet, and a few areas w/ snow ledges hanging over the lake. I could only see into the middle of Emeric Lake, the main part of the lake is iced over, no idea what's happening at the edges.
More Pictures
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2012 09:41PM by ttilley.