Re: Lower Pines campsite pictures one year ago today (flooded).

These are pictures of campsite 62, Lower Pines, exactly one year ago today. On that day it was the highest river reading of the summer, actually it was a little higher that morning as the water was to to the top of those cement bumpers. The projected highest river readings according to the Hydrological forecast this year will be the week of 6/19. That's when I'll be there and have a riverfront site, but not 62. I'm a little concerned that we are going to lose our site due to high water.

You can see the river level here:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/plotReal?staid=POH

Wow! We arrive 6/21 for a week with a site in Lower Pines also. Guess I am glad we didn't get a riverfront site.

There definately won't be any rafting allowed that week; the water will crest swinging bridge.

Here's what I'm referring to Hydrological Forecast

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mtn man
...I'm a little concerned that we are going to lose our site due to high water.

You didn't say how many sandbags you can carry in your vehicle....

(I've also heard that sacrificing a pink chicken to the river gods will forestall flooding.)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2011 03:34PM by szalkowski.

They just revised the river flood forecast. Now the week of 6/13 is to be the highest level. (click on Hyrological Forecast link in my post above). Possibly 2 feet over flood stage. The highest the river got last year was on 6/7/2011 at 10.45 ft. at Pohono Bridge. ( .45 ft. over flood stage).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2011 08:49AM by mtn man.

I was there last year...I was going to say that I thought it was the 7th not the 6th of June for the peak...arrived in the valley on the 5th, the day Tioga opened. Bishop had quite a bit more heat at that time last year than is predicted next week (translating to warmer temps for snow melt...)

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hikerchick395
I was there last year...I was going to say that I thought it was the 7th not the 6th of June for the peak...arrived in the valley on the 5th, the day Tioga opened. Bishop had quite a bit more heat at that time last year than is predicted next week (translating to warmer temps for snow melt...)

My picture I thought was on the 6th but the records show the high point being the 7th so my picture was probably the 7th. They had kept this campsite off the reservation system until 6/21 this year due to yearly possible flooding, but it is reserved from the 21st on. Unfortunately it may look like the picture above on the 21st.

mtn man, how many other sites in that loop were flooded and closed? I can see site # 63 to the left in your
photo also flooded, and I imagine site # 60 must have been as well? Were there others do you recall?

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PineCone
mtn man, how many other sites in that loop were flooded and closed? I can see site # 63 to the left in your
photo also flooded, and I imagine site # 60 must have been as well? Were there others do you recall?

Yes 63 was partially flooded ( This is a site yearly occupied in the summer by an elderly couple who are campground asst. hosts. They tent it every summer. Their parking pad was in water but they were on a little higher ground in their site where their tents go so they were OK. I have a picture of their site also and I'll post it when my daughter gets home to show me how.). Site 60 had water creeping up just past the fence into a portion of their site. They were alright and were able to stay in their site. 64 also had water creeping up to the river side of their site but they were OK and didn't have to move. I have site 60 starting 6/20 for 5 nights. We are crossing our fingers. We have a trailer so we'll be up off the ground, but..........

One late May we were in 62 and the Rangers recommended we leave but we were in a trailer also then and we said we'd keep an eye on it. One night the water got up to the bottom of the tires, but receded quickly during the day. 62 and 63 and the volunteer sites west of there are the most susceptible to flooding. 60 is iffy but the rest of the campground should be OK.(Unless the water goes a good amount over the 10ft. flood level).

Here you go PineCone...... The picture showing site 63 shows how flooded their parking pad was, but they had their tent to the left out of the picture (to the left of that orange bucket) which is elevated just enough to keep the tent dry. In the other picture I am standing at the entrance to 60 (off my right elbow), but the flooding tapers off on the my right at an angle back towards the river. I'm going to take lots of blocks of wood and back my trailer up onto them in #60 to give me extra clearance above the possibly flooded parking pad. Anybody have any galoshes I can borrow?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2011 04:24PM by mtn man.

I got some scuba booties.

Do you have a shot o Swing-on Bridge? I'd like to see that.
(I have one from early May many years ago where the water is close to the I-Beams)

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chick-on
I got some scuba booties.

Do you have a shot o Swing-on Bridge? I'd like to see that.
(I have one from early May many years ago where the water is close to the I-Beams)

Yes I do have a shot of swinging bridge last year, 6/7. Got to wait for my daughter to help me attach it. Also have an interesting shot of the trail out on the Happy Isles.

I have some too but I can't post here unless I have them on a photo hosting site???

We hiked from Upper Pines to 4 Mile Trail then Panorama on June 7th. Needless to say our party of nine was much delayed on our early morning start, snapping photos of the flooding. The swinging bridge was closed, but, of course, we had to cross it. Water wasn't going over the bridge.

Hope to get some similar shots on this year's trip.

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hikerchick395
I have some too but I can't post here unless I have them on a photo hosting site???

Just create an account at http://yosemitephotos.net/ and then use the links from there.

Or use Picasa. It's free too.

I like Picasa better than any of the other ones... (flickr, etc)

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chick-on
I got some scuba booties.

Do you have a shot o Swing-on Bridge? I'd like to see that.
(I have one from early May many years ago where the water is close to the I-Beams)

Here's swinging bridge last year. Note the high water marks on the trees from earlier in the morning. There's no space between the water and the I-beams...

Mr. Mtn,
Thank you.

Here's mine from May 21, 2006:


I'll take the time tomorrow morn to check it out too.

Anybody that hasn't been over Sentinel Bridge... should do so. It shows the flood events on a sign on the bridge.

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mtn man, thanks for the photos, very interesting to see the effects of the high water.
Those campers in site 63 would have been better off with a canoe instead of a car for that parking pad.

Good luck with your reservation, I hope you manage OK without too much water to deal with.
If the hydrological forecast indicates severe flooding for your stay, you can always try and resell
your reservation on Craigslist, and advertise it as the same site Oprah stayed in!

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PineCone
mtn man, thanks for the photos, very interesting to see the effects of the high water.
Those campers in site 63 would have been better off with a canoe instead of a car for that parking pad.

Good luck with your reservation, I hope you manage OK without too much water to deal with.
If the hydrological forecast indicates severe flooding for your stay, you can always try and resell
your reservation on Craigslist, and advertise it as the same site Oprah stayed in!

Actually she was in 63, the one in the picture with the laundry clothesline. Or I should say her prop, the tent trailer, was there. We have #60.

63...60...whatever...who's going to know the difference? It's the old "Washington slept here" spiel...

"120... 121... whatever it takes."

Is there any back up place to go if you have a reservation for a flooded site?

Curious to know the answer to this as well. Do they send you an email and say "sorry" or do they find an alternative place for you to stay? Last year recreation.gov sent an email stating that the ground was wet and muddy in Tuolomne, but I imagine at check in tent campers would get the drier sites while campers and RVs would get the other. But with the site specific reservations, it would be good to know what to expect.

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robinjayp
Curious to know the answer to this as well. Do they send you an email and say "sorry" or do they find an alternative place for you to stay? Last year recreation.gov sent an email stating that the ground was wet and muddy in Tuolomne, but I imagine at check in tent campers would get the drier sites while campers and RVs would get the other. But with the site specific reservations, it would be good to know what to expect.

Normally they keep a few sites off the system in case of goof ups or emeregncies so they can move people into those sites. But they only have so many. I noticed that a number of sites in North Pines were not available for reservations this spring in anticipation of flooding. Site 62 in Lower Pines was off the system unti 6/21, and is reserved starting that date. But I think its going to look like the pictures above.

Which campgrounds and site #'s and dates are you concerend about?

Thanks for that information. We are at Lower Pines #28 on 6/22; seems that should be ok. But I'm worried about North Pines #522 on 6/23.

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Kristin
Thanks for that information. We are at Lower Pines #28 on 6/22; seems that should be ok. But I'm worried about North Pines #522 on 6/23.

I've been looking at some campsite pictures of 522 and shots I've taken over the years from across the river in that direction. The embankment along the river seems fairly high along that campsite so I wouldn't be worried about the river, unless there is major flooding. From what the hydrologic models show it doesn't look like there will be major flooding so your site shouldn't be affected. (My amateur opinion).

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mtn man

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Kristin
Thanks for that information. We are at Lower Pines #28 on 6/22; seems that should be ok. But I'm worried about North Pines #522 on 6/23.

I've been looking at some campsite pictures of 522 and shots I've taken over the years from across the river in that direction. The embankment along the river seems fairly high along that campsite so I wouldn't be worried about the river, unless there is major flooding. From what the hydrologic models show it doesn't look like there will be major flooding so your site shouldn't be affected. (My amateur opinion).

Funny, I replied to this from my phone on Sunday, but I guess it must not have gotten posted. Thanks so much for the information and your much appreciated amateur opinion. With Tioga still closed, Tenaya Lake outlet a nightmare and the idea that this campsite would be flooded as well, I was feeling doomed. I'm happy for a piece of good news.

520 was flooded Friday. Well, you could park but the picnic table and fire ring were under water. There was an RV in 522. (Of course this probably doesn't help because Kristin may already be gone...)

They had started to take reservations for this weekend, for the campsites that had been held back in case of flooding. In Feb, they had no idea that the flooding would be this late, so all extra sites...cancelled or late arrivals...are being used to relocate displaced campers from these sites. (Thursday night, we got to use one of these sites that were held back, but others in North Pines were unusable.)

mtn man, so how was the flooding last week during your stay in Lower Pines? Any sites under water or closed?

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PineCone
mtn man, so how was the flooding last week during your stay in Lower Pines? Any sites under water or closed?

Yes, pretty much the same sites were still closed as were in early June. The previous pictures of 62 and 63 on this thread pretty much looked the same when I was there. The western corner of our site 60 got water in it at night but didn't affect the use of the site. I rode my bike through North Pines and saw that most of the sites in the western part of it were flooded. If you have a campground map draw a line from #303 down to #323 and pretty much everything along that line and west of there was closed. Sites 520 and 522 along the river had water to almost behind the pads but were still usable. That week the peak was 6/23 but pretty close to the 10.43 on 6/16. My daughter and her beau hiked the mist trail and got totally soaked!!

Just found a graph for the last couple weeks. The highest was in the early a.m. of the 16 th, then the morning of the 23rd but it looks like the 16th was higher by about 2 tenths of a foot.

I know that these campsites looked exactly the same as these pics on June 16, including the clothes on the clothesline!

What was the peak this year? 10.43 on the 16th or was it on June 23rd?

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hikerchick395
I know that these campsites looked exactly the same as these pics on June 16, including the clothes on the clothesline!

What was the peak this year? 10.43 on the 16th or was it on June 23rd?

16th is the winner so far.

Kristen was in # 522 and made it OK...water was closer to her tent that mine...I was staying in #314, found a place on higher ground and the water came within 20 feet. Both on 23 June, but it may've been a bit worse overnight on the 22nd.

Yep, the mist trail was a bit misty but unforgettable.

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hikerchick395
Kristen was in # 522 and made it OK...water was closer to her tent that mine...I was staying in #314, found a place on higher ground and the water came within 20 feet. Both on 23 June, but it may've been a bit worse overnight on the 22nd.

Yep, the mist trail was a bit misty but unforgettable.

Glad to hear you all made it through OK. It'll deifinitely be a spring camping event to remember.

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hikerchick395
Kristen was in # 522 and made it OK...water was closer to her tent that mine...I was staying in #314, found a place on higher ground and the water came within 20 feet. Both on 23 June, but it may've been a bit worse overnight on the 22nd.

Yep, the mist trail was a bit misty but unforgettable.

It was cool and an unexpected surprise to meet you Hikerchick!
Yes, we were tenting that night closer to water than I've ever camped! But alas, we stayed dry. Site 520 beside us had their firering in the water, but most of the tent pad was dry (though strangely, I only saw a truck on the site- no campers, no tent?).
Sites beyond that were flooded and closed. Seems we just made it-- yay!