spent the night on friday 8/17/07 and came home sat (today 8/18/07).

talk about dried up. Yosemite Falls is totally dry, the only thing wet in the valley is Bridalveil Falls, and that is barely a trickle. the river is fine, in fact i took a swim in it this afternoon, cold but refreshing.

it wasn't that crowded, but normal for a saturday. perfect weather!

watched a number of climbers on El Capitan (8 total) through my telescope.

friday night up at Glacier Point, they had numerous (monsterous) telescopes there with a presentation for the public... i didn't stay for it, but just seeing their equipment was very very impressive!

i plan on going next saturday possibly... if you see a bald guy with glasses in the meadow across from El Capitan (with a telescope), that would be me. come by and say hi.

I visited Yosemite on Friday. I'm really disappointed with is the constant construction they have there. One thing that can definitely use some work and I've never seen any construction there, are those campgrounds that look like refugee camps. They are a real eye sore.

I won't be up there next Saturday, have fun. There are usually a lot of people across from El Cap watching the climbers.



Post Edited (08-19-07 13:31)

I will be hiking into the valley by way of Vogelsang and Merced Lake next week. How dry is dry? What about Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls, which will be on my route?

Tom

The Merced is running about 13 CFS at Happy Isles. That pretty much says the falls will look about like this:






http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php?g2_itemId=34&g2_page=7

Ouch. Will there be any opportunity to fill my water bottle along the Rafferty Creek(Tuolumne to Vogelsang), or the Fletcher or Lewis Creek (Vogelsang to Merced Lake)?

Tom

Tom F. wrote:

> Ouch. Will there be any opportunity to fill my water bottle
> along the Rafferty Creek(Tuolumne to Vogelsang), or the
> Fletcher or Lewis Creek (Vogelsang to Merced Lake)?


I suspect you'll find some water, but be ready to filter it. And don't pass up a chance just because you think you'll find more later.

Rafferty Creek is dry. Both Fletcher and Lewis Creeks are running.

Todd,
When you say "dry" do you mean that there is NO water anywhere or are there some pondlettes along the way?

---

Old Dude

I saw one or two very small pondlets in the meadow below Vogelsang. Otherwise, not a drop. At that point, you're only a mile or two from Fletcher Lake or Boothe Lake. This was on Saturday 8/18.

There was also a decent-sized pond (not in the creek) near the Boothe Lake trail (but again, by that time you've done most of the hike).

Going north from Tuolumne Meadows there is water in Virginia Canyon and Spiller Creek (as of two days ago).

If anyone needs to know about specific creeks up the Pacific Crest Trail, I can give you the latest.

Mike