Re: High Sierra Camps Not Opening Until August

Our group had a few "meals only" tickets at the Sunrise HSC for July 17th. (This was to supplement the number of Wilderness Permits we had for the same date as the HSC meal tickets come with a Wilderness Permit). We got a call today informing us that the HSC would not be opening until August due to the snow conditions. They're refunding our money but will still be providing the Wilderness Permits that went along with the meal tickets. It seems early to be projecting what the snow conditions will be in mid-July, but maybe they need a long lead time to get things ready? I don't know if this is true for only the Sunrise HSC or for the entire circuit . . .

I think some of the camps may open earlier. I had reservations for Glen Aulin and May Lake over July 4 weekend which they cancelled last week. At that point, they were not sure whether the opening would be delayed a week, few weeks, a month, etc.... they just knew that they would not be able to accommodate July 4. They also mentioned that Tuolumne Meadows probably would not be open in time for July 4. They are extending the season by an extra week in September.

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Akichow
I think some of the camps may open earlier. I had reservations for Glen Aulin and May Lake over July 4 weekend which they cancelled last week. At that point, they were not sure whether the opening would be delayed a week, few weeks, a month, etc.... they just knew that they would not be able to accommodate July 4. They also mentioned that Tuolumne Meadows probably would not be open in time for July 4. They are extending the season by an extra week in September.

I had a similar experience with White Wolf last year. The story that I got at the time was not that they couldn't get to the camp to set it up (Well, White Wolf is on the road, after all.), but that the sanitary plumbing system is not allowed to operate under snow conditions. Don't know why, exactly, but it sounds like the kind of rule that may exist because it's a lot simpler to enforce than some rule based on measuring whether the system is actually up to handling both the sanitary and gray water loads without a danger of any of it leaking into the creeks....

Hi -- I have reservations for the entire HSC loop in mid-August. When they said the HSC could open by August did they say all of the camps or just some of them? Who would know for certain?

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wilder1
Hi -- I have reservations for the entire HSC loop in mid-August. When they said the HSC could open by August did they say all of the camps or just some of them? Who would know for certain?

At this point in time, probably nobody.
It all depends on Mother Nature.
(FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer )

In recent years, with > 150% of normal snowpack, one or more HSCs have been closed. By "recent years" I mean since 1998.

In 1998, the Sunrise HSC did not open. As I recall, this was due to a high water table, and the fancy toilets cannot function with a high water table. The other HSCs were open. Snowpack was 156% of normal in April.

In 2005, none of the HSC's opened. See http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,831,838. Snowpack was 156% of normal.

My snowpack stats can be found here: http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

Those stats are for April. If the stats were for June snowpack, they would show this year to be one of the highest on record.

So, I would not count on the HSC's being open this year. I would be prepared for Sunrise being closed, or even all of them.

Since I wrote that question the booking agency for HSC said they expect the following: Glen Aulin will open on 7/15, May Lake 7/22, Merced & Vogelsang 7/28, and Sunrise 8/3. My contact also wrote: "We do not foresee any later delays. If they were to happen it would be more a full camp closure." That was June 8.