Re: The "other" tunnel view

Referring to the one thru the door in the long tunnel on BOF road, where that accidental death occurred awhile back? Is there a name for that point?

accidental death?

I am interested too. A quick search for man dies in yosemite tunnel came up with nothing related.

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hotrod4x5
I am interested too. A quick search for man dies in yosemite tunnel came up with nothing related.

Yea, I'm probably mistaken. I've read and heard about so many different stories that I can't keep them straight. I'd still like to know what people usually call this point.

I know where you are talking about. I've been out there. Don't know the name though.

Never heard any name for it ever.
But now have the wife talked into going out the other other one too.



and a most excellent view of The Rostrum w/ Bridalveil:



For those that have been.... was able to squeeze thru the slightly spread apart gate.
(easily gone under too though)
Of course do at your own peril.

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bill-e-g
Never heard any name for it ever.
But now have the wife talked into going out the other other one too.



and a most excellent view of The Rostrum w/ Bridalveil:



For those that have been.... was able to squeeze thru the slightly spread apart gate.
(easily gone under too though)
Of course do at your own peril.

OK. I had thought that the walk through the main tunnel along the sidewalk was now forbidden. I guess that I'm wrong....though it never looked very attractive after seeing some of the way-out side mirrors that the self-propelled motor houses use. Those mirrors are bicycle swatters, and you would be right next to them on that walk.

I have never looked closely at the gate on the side tunnel. Will have to do that. As for the death, I seem to remember that, too. It would be in the "Death in Yosemite" book. I should have bought a copy, but there is in our local library.

The "other one" that you are talking about is at the Rostrum, and that's where those photos were taken. Some readers might think that they were taken from the end of the side tunnel, but that's not what you said. That thing in your photo is Pulpit Rock, not the Rostrum. There is an easy use trail down to the Rostrum at the west end of the parking pullout. There was a discussion of this on the forum some time ago, but I can't find it...

I guess some things are unclear.
The "other" tunnel is the tunnel near Tamarack and Cascade Creek on Big Oak Flat Road.
The "other other" tunnel is The Wawona Tunnel.

The two pictures were taken from the side tunnel on the "Big Oak Flat Tunnel".
Both pictures show The Rostrum and Bridalveil. The second is a zoom of those.
It is definitely not Pulpit Rock. Pulpit Rock is not visible from my recollection
from this location due to the cut of the rock. Pulpit Rock has a very large
rock flake which is at about a 45 degree angle atop it.
Yes, you can hike down from Wawona Road to very close to the top of
The Rostrum.
We did not see any signs which said 'no pedestrians'. The walkway is wide enough
that we did not feel in any danger. When cars came by we would hug the
side even closer. There were no markings on the sides to indicate RVs were
going that nuts and scraping the side of the tunnel.

Wow. I somehow had it in my head the whole time that you were talking about the side shaft on the Wawona Tunnel. It has been gated for years. I didn't know there was a side tunnel on the north side of the river.

I stand corrected.

It's interesting that BOFR side tunnel and the Rostrum and Pulpit Rock and Bridalveil Falls all line up like that. Thanks for displaying that line on the map.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2011 07:57PM by wherever.

The incident I was referring to happened @ Wawona Tunnel, not the one on BOF. Don't know why I got the facts mixed up. Maybe I was thinking of the incident near Cascade Creek Falls and somehow thought it happened in the north-side tunnel. Or maybe it just never occurred to me someone could fall from as high as 350 feet from the tunnel view, and I've seen the drop at the "other" tunnel.

Speaking of views from the tunnel, I see now that the YExplore crowd show a photo from that side tunnel of the BOFR tunnel #3. They also imply that you can get to a lookout from the Wawona Tunnel, but I'm skeptical about whether they succeeded.

Twenty years ago the Library of Congress collected some photos of historic tunnels and things. For BOFR tunnel #3, all that the guy photographed was the two entrances. But for the Wawona Tunnel, he did a bit more. Here is a view taken from the lookout from the central side tunnel. That's the big side tunnel with the fans and control room.



In the middle foreground is the location of BOFR tunnel #1. Tunnel #2 is below the west end of the big cliff farther up the road. So there is at least a pretty good lookout from the main Wawona side tunnel....if you have the key to get in.



That central side tunnel is a big deal. Here is the Library of Congress' record of the construction details:

No problemo.

Awesome stuff. Thanks. Next time thru Wawona Tunnel I'll take a look-see and see if worth exploring.

Here's some more from BOFR Tunnel:

We got our flashlight... and not a single mention of 'no pedestrians' (believe me... she wouldn't go in if there was):


A gate at the exit of the side tunnel (I fit thru that believe it or not) (and I did not spread it apart ... it was like that):


Yea monster rock at base of Old Coulterville:


Turtleback and Elephant Rock:

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bill-e-g
Next time thru Wawona Tunnel I'll take a look-see and see if worth exploring.

We hiked the two side tunnels on Friday. The middle one... I assumed the
door was locked and didn't try to open it. The two side. Not gated.
As with the "other" tunnel, there are no signs that say 'no pedestrians'.
The sidewalk is pretty wide. I'd maybe get out of there quickly if the meters inside
read a large CO count.
The views are fine. But you can get just as good from Tunnel View proper
and from the other side down Turtleback (N of 41).
For you bench marker hunters... check out both sides of the tunnel...
w/r to Pulpit Rock... usually blasting in or out of the valley... stopped
at 140/BOF junction and took some pix.

I can put something together of all this if there is interes...
(of course when I have some time too... har har)

---

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2011 02:06PM by chick-on.

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chick-on

I can put something together of all this if there is interes...
(of course when I have some time too... har har)

Of course I would be interested in the pics.

(And it does appear that you have a lot more free time than I do. )

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wherever

So there is at least a pretty good lookout from the main Wawona side tunnel....if you have the key to get in.

The last time I was there, in the Fall of 2010, the Wawona side tunnel closest to the Tunnel View parking lot was not gated closed.

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plawrence



The last time I was there, in the Fall of 2010, the Wawona side tunnel closest to the Tunnel View parking lot was not gated closed.

That was also my experience, although not quite as recent.

To be even clearer:

That's definitely the Rostrum and NOT Pulpit Rock. These were taken almost exactly where that 'click' is on the map above.





Notice on the one below where Bridalveil is? It's almost a straight line from where I stood to where the falls are (again, exactly like the map above)



And then turning to the west, w/out moving from that exact same spot, this is (I think) Elephant Rock

Yup. Of course I remember your photos along with your g/f's at the Renaissance exhibit.
Was surprised the wifey did too. She said "take a zoom of that... I loved the one at the
exhibit... ". Thought you might get a kick out of it.
Out of the side tunnel you can look down and see the huge rock fall that ends
Old Coulterville along with a nice view of the rock falls off of Elephant rock.
The same view is not seen from the lookout pt. east of the tunnel. At least I don't recall it.
We stop there very infrequently though... mainly due to poor lighting when driving in
in the morning... and usually make haste on the way out. So could be mistaken.

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bill-e-g
Yup. Of course I remember your photos along with your g/f's at the Renaissance exhibit.
Was surprised the wifey did too. She said "take a zoom of that... I loved the one at the
exhibit... ". Thought you might get a kick out of it.
Out of the side tunnel you can look down and see the huge rock fall that ends
Old Coulterville along with a nice view of the rock falls off of Elephant rock.
The same view is not seen from the lookout pt. east of the tunnel. At least I don't recall it.
We stop there very infrequently though... mainly due to poor lighting when driving in
in the morning... and usually make haste on the way out. So could be mistaken.

She just submitted for this years. FAR better quality shots this time around, methinks.

We'll see how it goes.

How's that LX5 treating ya?

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tanngrisnir3
How's that LX5 treating ya?

I like it. Don't love it. I'm sorta in love with the super zoom of the Z7.
So now I'm carrying two cameras around.

I'm hoping this year that they do a better job imo of showcasing the entire
park and not 99% Yosemite Valley. And for goodness sakes... don't
have one of Whitney. Geez
I forget exactly what their goal is... but I would hope a job of the park
should always be to show it's splendid backcountry more.

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bill-e-g

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tanngrisnir3
How's that LX5 treating ya?

I like it. Don't love it. I'm sorta in love with the super zoom of the Z7.
So now I'm carrying two cameras around.

I'm hoping this year that they do a better job imo of showcasing the entire
park and not 99% Yosemite Valley. And for goodness sakes... don't
have one of Whitney. Geez
I forget exactly what their goal is... but I would hope a job of the park
should always be to show it's splendid backcountry more.

The ZS7 is a fine camera, no doubt. The LX-5 can only really be loved (IMHO) when used shooting in RAW and w/full manual mode.

This year I'm hoping they don't give out awards to novelty pics like last year w/that shot of the Photoshopped "See America" RV over a shot of the valley. Ridiculous.