Re: Just Lurking

Okie. With da talk about LYV camping and Valley camping in the winter...
You may enjoy these. The one storm after another over this holiday period
has been really annoying. Had a hard time getting out there.
Of course once have to go back to work it will be sunny for days on end.

Mt. Obelisk from Patterson (or not)

Thanks Meester Lawrence for HD from Patt shot. Awesome. Seen "the" silo a few times
now... but not da Half a Dome. Maybe this yr. Thx

Some fall or another:

Happy Holidays back at you Park Lova.

Nevada is west of California here:


Half Dome (or nut):


A lot of flocking:


Have fun in 2013 (or 2014 part a for the superstitious)

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Whoa! very nice leads to true arm-chair touristing
places I've been, but are never likely to ever to get to at THIS time of the year
awesome!

Awesome!

Way awesome pics.

looks cold. those foot prints on top of vernal or is it the hand railing?

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ryanmj
looks cold. those foot prints on top of vernal or is it the hand railing?

hand railing

kinda cool having both there and top of Nevada pristine
sinking two feet... not so cool after awhile...

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Thanks for posting your photos!! Love all of them.

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chick-on
Of course once have to go back to work it will be sunny for days on end.

The forecast is sure looking that way right now.

I'm ok with it. Got my 100 in this year after being close for quite a few.
And wifie said can start anew next weekend.

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It took me a sec to realize, that photo of the top of Nevada Falls you guys are ON the bridge? Ha! That's fantastic.

Yeah. A wee bit o snow.

Here's Top o Nevada looking this a-way::


and that-a-way in 3D:


Really interesting to see The Emerald Pool nothing but a huge snow field.

Ala:


Z wifie found out that maybe need to look in the trees a bit before smacking
the snow out of them to get by them covering the trail. Just a huge
amount of snow loading.

Have fun (and if you like this stuff... then if you go... share... everyone takes pictures now)

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Awesome. Thanks so much for posting. Really great to see what it looks like now. Also great to be able to see, without sinking 2 feet in the snow. Bad weather on holidays and weekends, and good weather while working, seems to happen way too often this time of year.

admiring your beautious peekshures, chick-on, on this 2nd day of the noo year

thanks Man, your winter stuff is the best

signed Pro-Lurker GPJ

Great pictures.

We were in Yosemite for a few days but I was at Badger watching my son ski most of the time. We did snow shoe up to the fire tower at Henness Ridge on Sunday and enjoyed the view.

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parklover
Great pictures.

We were in Yosemite for a few days but I was at Badger watching my son ski most of the time. We did snow shoe up to the fire tower at Henness Ridge on Sunday and enjoyed the view.

You know you guys drive me bananas when you do this.

Yes, it a stellar view. But I just see words.

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chick-on
You know you guys drive me bananas when you do this.

Yes, it a stellar view. But I just see words.

It gets worse. The lookout there is going to be restored and, if it works as planned, staffed during the fire season. We'll need volunteers to staff the tower from one day to a week.

I am happy to hear about the plans to restore the fire tower. I am a fan of "parkitecture" AKA Rustic Design/Style of that era and every since I saw the condition of the fire tower, I have been wondering if it would ever be restored. I even saved an article from the National Parks Magazine about the NPS finding new ways to preserve historic buildings just in case I ever came across someone in the park who does these things. Do you happen to know who will be in charge of this restoration?

If anyone else is interested in the architecture and design of National Park structures built during the 30's, there is a really good book called "Patterns from the Golden Age of Rustic Design, Park and Recreation Structures from the 1930's" by Albert H. Good. There are old pictures and design plans of several Yosemite structures in it including the Henness Ridge Lookout. There are also floor plans of the Ranger house at Tioga Pass, Badger Pass Ski Lodge and Big Trees Lodge.

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parklover
I am happy to hear about the plans to restore the fire tower. I am a fan of "parkitecture" AKA Rustic Design/Style of that era and every since I saw the condition of the fire tower, I have been wondering if it would ever be restored. I even saved an article from the National Parks Magazine about the NPS finding new ways to preserve historic buildings just in case I ever came across someone in the park who does these things. Do you happen to know who will be in charge of this restoration?

I knew at one time. Most of the money is coming from the Buck Rock Foundation.. The work will be done by volunteers (hint hint). It's still in the planning stages so not much is known about exactly what will be done, but the "parkitecture" will be preserved.

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If anyone else is interested in the architecture and design of National Park structures built during the 30's, there is a really good book called "Patterns from the Golden Age of Rustic Design, Park and Recreation Structures from the 1930's" by Albert H. Good. There are old pictures and design plans of several Yosemite structures in it including the Henness Ridge Lookout. There are also floor plans of the Ranger house at Tioga Pass, Badger Pass Ski Lodge and Big Trees Lodge.

You can get that book on Amazon.com for almost $50, used.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2013 04:58PM by Dave.

No hinting needed. If the timing works with school and getting off at work we would love to help with the restoration. I already have a pair of boots with NPS brown paint on them from painting fences in SMMNRA - I love to paint. We are also pretty handy with hammers and nails.

I'm not sure when the work will begin, but we will be working on the Miami Mountain Lookout this spring. It's on Hwy 49 between Mariposa and Oakhurst.

I'd like to restsore Hennes Ridge Lookout. Now thats a TOWER! It's across the river from the Cedar Lodge.

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Dave
I'm not sure when the work will begin, but we will be working on the Miami Mountain Lookout this spring. It's on Hwy 49 between Mariposa and Oakhurst.

I'd like to restore Hennes Ridge Lookout. Now thats a TOWER! It's across the river from the Cedar Lodge.

Are you thinking of the one on Mt. Trumbull? that's near top of the old Northside Incline. The Hennes Ridge tower is on the south side of the river, halfway between Yosemite West and the top of the old El Portal or Southside Incline.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.639307,-119.720507&z=15&t=T&marker0=37.639307,-119.720507,Henness%20Ridge%20Fire%20Lookout

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henness_Ridge_Fire_Lookout

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wherever
Are you thinking of the one on Mt. Trumbull? that's near top of the old Northside Incline. The Hennes Ridge tower is on the south side of the river, halfway between Yosemite West and the top of the old El Portal or Southside Incline.

You're right. That's the one. There's been talk of restoring or preserving many of these towers.

So it is the Trumbull tower that you were talking about being restored and not the Henness Ridge one?

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parklover
So it is the Trumbull tower that you were talking about being restored and not the Henness Ridge one?

There are plans to restore the Henness Ridge Lookout.

I would LIKE to see plans for Trumbull Peak. The problems with that are access and it's a much bigger project. From what I've read it's one of the few tall towers left in Calif. It would be a shame to see it go. I wonder if I could buy it and turn it into a vacation rental?

Henness Ridge Fire Tower is the one that we snow shoed to and it is above Yosemite West and is the rustic style architecture. That is the one that I wish that they would restore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henness_Ridge_Fire_Lookout

The one near Cedar Lodge is on Trumbull Peak and it is a metal tower with a wooden structure below. http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/stanislaus/recarea/?recid=14953

Opps looks like Wherever posted while I was typing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2013 10:13PM by parklover.

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chick-on

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parklover
Great pictures.

We were in Yosemite for a few days but I was at Badger watching my son ski most of the time. We did snow shoe up to the fire tower at Henness Ridge on Sunday and enjoyed the view.

You know you guys drive me bananas when you do this.

Yes, it a stellar view. But I just see words.

Sorry, no picture. My husband is the photographer in the family and he went back to work and has not had time to download the pictures and I don't touch his photo stuff.

does anyone know the name of the fire lookout tower that can be seen from wawona? The one I am thinking of can be seen from parts of the Chilnualna falls road.

Has to be Devils Peak.

Haven't seen that one so don't have any pictures. Well... I saw it from near Biledo.. but...
you need a microscope to make it out.

For those that like these towers ... here's a neat little link:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/stanislaus/learning/history-culture/?cid=fsm91_057703

Been to Jones Lookout (building no longer present), Smith (ok, just close to... there's a gate and
didn't have time to go hike to top), North Mountain (spectacular high tower) (nothing like the
picture in the link), and Henness Ridge.

If I get to Trumbull this year I'll post some pix. Looks awesome. Much like North Mountain.

Have fun

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Thanks for the link. I have always had a fascination for fire towers.

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parklover
Thanks for the link. I have always had a fascination for fire towers.

With binocs you can see North Mtn from the road into Hetch Hetchy.
It's a long hike there along a trail they have long decided to not maintain.
For you I'll post a picture or two of the tower tonight.

(EDIT: before someone hits me.. if you know where it is you can see it with the neked eyeballs)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2013 03:47PM by chick-on.

Ear ewe go park luva:

Z Towa:


From there you can see a whole lotta the park... from Tower Peak, Volunteer Peak, Mt. Conness, and... lots a more... here's one view:


Here's the view from Poopenaut Valley Lookout:

When you know the tower is up there... you can make it out with the neked eyeballs.

Maybe you can find it in this photo (actually taken near Kolana Rock):


Have fun

I presume you've driven up to Crane Flat Lookout in the summer.. ? Or snowshoed up there...

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The Crane Flat lookout is pretty interesting.
They've got a visitor registry you can sign.
And a set of captioned photos telling you what peaks etc. you can see in each of the 4 directions.
Plus that's the Helioport for SAR for the area, so you can the helicopter.

What determines if the gate is close or not? Every time I drive by I look and I've never been able to figure out a pattern.

Here are some more pictures from Chick-on's Picasa gallery:

https://picasaweb.google.com/103089501068510688008/CraneFlatLO#

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Old Dude

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qumqats
What determines if the gate is close or not? Every time I drive by I look and I've never been able to figure out a pattern.

Dunno. Best guess is that when the buildings are manned in fire season the road will be open
(it was open quite a bit last year). If everyone there is out on a call then they probably close the gate on their way out
so people are poking around where they shouldn't be.
As you probably know there is a trail to the Lookout Tower to even keep people off the main road to it
(and one of the building's where the workers stay)
I guess it should be noted that the actual lookout tower is not used today. It's more of a museum for us to enjoy.

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Sorry it took so long but thanks for the pics. Somehow I missed your post. We have not been to the Crane Flats Lookout yet. Hopefully this summer. Between my son's school that keeps rearranging their summer vacation and the high volume of homework he has during school, and my husband's work schedule, our trips have been really short in length and we never seem to get the chance to do all that we want to do.

Chick-on, Here are some pics when I went up to Trumbull last spring, I have some more too if you want.

View of the lookout tower and house. The house is really dilapidated


The tower itself.


Missing the bottom few steps. Seems intentional, they don't want you climbing up the tower but easy to bypass.


A nice view into the valley. Notice the foundation for the incline on the first ridge. Easy to get to from Trumbull, just walk on the old railroad grade, which connects to the road up to Trumbull.



Now I'm motivated to make up to North Mountain. One of the few trails that I haven't done in the park and am now sufficiently motivated to do so. Did you just take the trail from Miguel? I have heard that it is pretty overgrown, was it hard to follow at all?

Cool. (although I'm pretty glad there wasn't more duck tape in some of those shots)
Z Old Dood and I were just looking around below last weekend. It wasn't trivial where
to start going up. Suggestions? Looks like you could camp down below and dayhike
up and down. Although I'd rather stay up high.
Def. want to go check out the incline itself. Some peeps we were talking to last
weekend who assumed we were lost... said some older dood hiked up the incline
every day into his 80s.

North Mountain. It may have been me who said the trail was yummy.
Actually it's not super bad. Just the portion after Miguel. It should be fairly easy
to follow. We didn't have much issue. I posted this photo before but darn if I can find it.

Another fire went thru there after this photo... so I went back and looked if they
did any work... in 2009... and nope... it looks the same. Get past this and you should be
fine. Only been up there once. From Miguel. Gave it a try from Preston once... but
kept running into cliffs and having to come back down and around and after awhile
said sca-rew it. Think only got maybe 1000 ft. up. (if that).
Other time had idea to go there from Poopenaut taking the old Poopenaut to Eleanor trail.
Uh.. yeah... by the time got to the pond wanted to check out... with North Mountain
still over 4 miles away and having to get back down to Poopenaut... no way.
Also had idea to go from Jones Pt. or from bridge over Cherry.
Let us know which way you go. Planning on going back there this year on search of
bench and boundary markers. Plus there's some neat things on the sat. that want
to explore.
Have fun

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Thanks for the beta. I will probably go from Miguel as I want to do the trail so I can say I've done it. A bit silly, but why not. A buddy of mine was planning to go to North Mountain as well sometime in the next few months, but from Poopenaut or Preston. Can't remember exactly but will ask him when I see him next week. Not surprised that they haven't logged or maintained that trail at all.

As for Trumbull, both times I've been is when I went up the old Incline, then followed the railroad grade, meet up with the road to Trumbull, then followed it to the little spur trail to the lookout. Maybe not the answer you were looking for. From there we just went pretty much straight down, which now knowing it is an area for rare wildflowers may not be the best place to go down. The up isn't too bad, just steep, though up has never really bothered me, but the downhill is hours of side stepping which gets old after a while. Just not a common movement so your feet get sore really quickly in places. Plus you have to be careful not to get cliffed out and avoid the poison oak. Not too bad, but not for everyone either. But it's gorgeous to be on those hillsides in the spring.

As for other routes, there are roads to Trumbull. From the link posted above by parklover, I surmise you noticed that roads accessing the area are closed until October. Even then, I hear having a high clearance car is recommended and can be tricky. Talked to the lady who used to live at the base of the incline, it was her driveway. Said that her brother used have parties up at Trumbull all the time in the 60's-70's before the house deteriorated. Haven't heard about an old dude walking up the incline, but it might have been the guy who wrote the book Memories of El Portal that they sell, or at least used to, in the El Portal Market. It was the book that introduced me to that area and its history. But as overgrown sections of the incline were before the Motor fire and the brutual descent, I find that hard to believe though some people just suprise you.

Buster,
Why would that be silly? Touching all the trails is a great way to see all the park.
Yosemite is FAR more than The Valley... For me... I thought I was gonna finish
that goal in early December hiking around Biledo... and then I run into the trail
to Fish Camp from Mariposo Grove. argh! o well.. more to do this yr.
Trumbull. Yeah. I post too much. I mentioned a couple times an aborted attempt
from Merced Grove in winter (the snow sucked really bad). Got zero desire to
go there via car. Up Incline or hike from Merced Grove. And after Dec or
before April when there are no cars allowed.
I was actually kinda trying to figure out where exactly to start. It was non trivial
to find the exact bottom of it. I guess it is where the bunch of houses are.
There were a number of dogs running around so figured I'd end up starting
east of there... just not positive where is best.
Post how ur buddies North Mtn. trek goes. Only choice may be Preston
since HH road is not open at the moment. Prob. better to do it sooner
rather than later b4 the poison oak starts going crazy. Of course now I
want to go up Poopenaut-Eleanor "trail" (hahaha) again but stay further south.
On that trek ... um... yeah... it was yummy.. and I got PO on my nose.
After one too many ppl asked about it at work I decided to work from home
until it went away!

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I agree with you. Hiking all the trails isn't silly, that's how I have gotten to hiking so many of them, as I want to explore new areas. The point I was trying to express, poorly as it turns out, that it is silly just to do a trail to have done it, without any other reason. Silly isn't even the right word, what the right word is I can't think of. Hiking trails just to have done them I don't consider bad or negative at all, I'm guilty of that (hello Gravel Pit Lake among others) just not the main motivation I would want to hike a trail. Just a subtle nuance of deciding where (and how) to go. (Hopefully that isn't more confusing)

As for the incline, the bottom of the incline is the long curved driveway just after the ~90° turn after Dry Gulch Campground. If you go just past the driveway you'll see a big cement structure that was part of the base of the incline. We just asked the people that live on the bottom if we could walk up the incline, and they said sure, so it wasn't a problem. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, I would suggest going up the hillside just before the curve and the houses. It's steep, but similar to what you will encounter later on the hike, so you may as well get used to it. March is a great time to do it, it's generally not too hot, it gets very hot on the hill, things are green and you can see some amazing wildflowers.

I'll let you know how the north mountain adventures go when they happen, but it might be a while, and knowing my buddy, maybe a long, long time, hence the reason I'm doing it alone.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2013 10:50PM by buster.

The fun is exploring. Seeing for yourself what is out there.

I've got a lot of fond memories of Gravel Pit. Trail boated that baby. Fishing, swimming,
exploring the old works, checking out the dragonflies. It's what you make of it.
Just being out there is what it's about. The journey is the destination.

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chick-on

North Mountain. It may have been me who said the trail was yummy.
Actually it's not super bad. Just the portion after Miguel. It should be fairly easy
to follow. We didn't have much issue. Get past this and you should be
fine. Only been up there once. From Miguel. Gave it a try from Preston once... but
kept running into cliffs and having to come back down and around and after awhile
said sca-rew it. Think only got maybe 1000 ft. up. (if that).
Other time had idea to go there from Poopenaut taking the old Poopenaut to Eleanor trail.
Uh.. yeah... by the time got to the pond wanted to check out... with North Mountain
still over 4 miles away and having to get back down to Poopenaut... no way.
Also had idea to go from Jones Pt. or from bridge over Cherry.

Chick-on,

Went up to North Mountain this week. Went from in from Miguel meadows. I think yummy would be a great way to describe it It doesn't appear any work has been done on the trail since 2009 (or long before that) and it's pretty overgrown in spots but great in others. The worst in my opinion is all the bushes growing on the trail and you are essentially walking right through it. You can avoid a lot of it, and I did more so on the way down when I knew the route. I think I have a photo of a bad section of trail, but I don't take nearly as many photos as you. The worst section i think is the climb from the last stream to the dry pond (marsh on the map). Maybe I was just tired and irritated, but those bushes were really annoying. On the way down I completely skipped that section. Agree that the first section from Miguel to the Swamp Lake outlet is bad, but second to my previously mentioned section. Looking at your photo seems, the bushes have grown in more. Camped on the ridge about halfway between the "Lake" and the park boundary, then up to the lookout and back down the next day. Gorgeous views from the lookout and it was in amazingly great shape.

Here is a photo of the trail, it goes from left to right, behind the foreground trees and is in the sun. It is basically the bushes:


And this is the crossing of the Swamp Lake outlet creek.

Yummy. Thanks Buster. Been thinking about this baby lately...

As you know... made it up The Incline in Jan. That was pretty cool too.

Thanks for your insight

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I believe that the trail that goes from fish camp to the mariposa grove is also used for riding horses on. People are allowed to ride their horses up to wawona point, but the horses aren't allowed inside the mariposa grove itself. I haven't done that part of the trail yet myself but I assume they have to start in fish camp to take their horses up. Also I agree, it is a great idea to explore as many trails as you can. Yosemite valley is great but there's just so much more to the park that many people never see.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2013 10:43PM by marmot.

This thread has brought back a lot of fine memories from the early 70's. At sundown every evening, the fire lookout people would announce by radio that they were going off the air and then they would talk to one another about the sunset, flowers, etc. Donna was on Devils Peak overlooking Wawona, Harry and Geneva were at Henness Ridge and Juanita was on North Mountain. I met Donna, Harry and Geneva on separate occasions, but I never had the pleasure of meeting Juanita. I was advised by firefighter friends that she made excellent cookies.

I'd presume that they can ride their horses on the road... and then
take the out loop trail to Biledo Meadow. Biledo is signed for horses also.
I'll spare you the excitement of showing both signs... but here is fish camp:

I came back in via the old road from due south... and had forgotten
that the metal signs had said fish camp. On the upside, didn't see a single
person walking the outer loop from Wawona or back thru the next day.
I know you're a bit Wawona lover.
Lots of history ... and with the fabulous Pioneer History Center

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you are quite right; i never realized that the biledo trail was for horses as well. I was just looking through my folder of pictures from my last trip to biledo and came across one of my old shots of the trail marker. I guess I never paid much attention to it before
the outer loop trail is nice, it definitely separates you from most other people as well during the busy season. I did the 6 mile trail from the mariposa grove to wawona in september and loved it. I was the only one on the trail that day (well I came across a few high school aged kids who had taken a wrong turn looking for the grizzly giant and needed some guidance in getting back to the grove).




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2013 06:20PM by marmot.