Re: Crescent and Buena Vista lakes in early April?

We're looking to start at the Chilnualna trailhead and do the loop to crescent, buena vista and chilnualna lakes then back down. We've planning on doing this from the 9th to the 12th of this month (next week).

Looking at the elevations I'm worried about snow. We took a day hike near Bass lake last weekend and I photographed some of the peaks to the north of it which when I looked up are at about 8300' and they were basically snow free.

I'm planning on calling the Wawona ranger station and asking, but I figured I'd ask here if anyone has previous knowledge or a good idea of what the snow on the ground is going to be like.

Also, anyone know about fishing at these lakes?

Thanks!

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Implicated
We're looking to start at the Chilnualna trailhead and do the loop to crescent, buena vista and chilnualna lakes then back down. We've planning on doing this from the 9th to the 12th of this month (next week).

Looking at the elevations I'm worried about snow. We took a day hike near Bass lake last weekend and I photographed some of the peaks to the north of it which when I looked up are at about 8300' and they were basically snow free.

I'm planning on calling the Wawona ranger station and asking, but I figured I'd ask here if anyone has previous knowledge or a good idea of what the snow on the ground is going to be like.

Also, anyone know about fishing at these lakes?

Thanks!

There will be snow.

Here is a link to some snow pillows:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snow/current/snow/pillowplots/TuolumneMerced.html

These numbers are in inches of water content and the snow depth may be from 2X to 5X the inches of water content depending on consolidation.
Water crossings can be risky especially if there are still snow bridges.

Chick-on was in the Wawona area recently and may have some better insight.

Take a look at the Badger Pass ski area webcam:

http://www.nps.gov/common/commonspot/customcf/webcam/dsp_webcam_image.cfm?webCamURL=http://pixelcaster.com/dnc-yosemite/badger.jpg&refreshRate=60&title=7C939095A98CCF4F5DC02E&width=1280&height=720&altText=689B9185EC91893F7ED23980880BFD4F4781BA3688A5C5EE96BD179B&description=0293D49ABE9B89221EDB29939D43F2305185BE3882A1DFAB9AA6069FA9069B429CF8D197D6B99A1BCB960535878D84D58649A94B1542E8A8B0069F9DAB7FAEDCC147A5928FB69492AFDCDFBBD9A0888A528390BB91CEE698CDFAA1BD7B99AEC7560DBF7FB9C9839094AE141995AAD6DB8FB8FD9244D39A86A5BC6FA80CA41B9881918E1F4444C6B2A03CF38A065553045A987AB4FA85B986EBBEA3BBBA8EB895825D4CBD7D89931CBE989839BD43FC0D84A0B7AA954C158A8958BC94B7418C592652BF2992816818&214668

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Old Dude



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2013 09:44AM by mrcondron.

We were at Badger Pass on Saturday and there is several feet of snow at the top of the runs and snow at the bottom. The snow was beginning to get slushy but a layer of ice will form on top of the snow during the night There was light snow Saturday and Sunday nights and there is a chance of snow again at 6000 ft starting on Thursday. Keep in mind that the snow is deeper on the north facing slopes and in shady areas.

Fishing season in Yosemite does not start until the last Saturday in April. Besides those lakes probably still have ice on them and with the warm weather, I would not walk on them.

End of April only applies to streams and rivers. Lakes and reservoirs are open year round to fishing in Yosemite.
There's an exception at Frog Creek at Eleanor...
But yes, Crescent (fishless), Grouse (fishless ... pretty sure), Johnson (fishing is good), Royal Arch (fish on),
Buena Vista (fish on) ALL will be frozen over with limited access at best to any fishing now.
Chilnualna Lakes also have fish.. most of them.
As Old Dood said... more or less... u be needing ur snow shoes.
Last year at beginning of April there was feeet of snow at the first crossing of Chilnualna (used a snow bridge to cross)...
and full snow from there on. If expecting no snow... no go... There WILL be snow.
It came down in buckets last Sat. ... turned to rain at 6000 ft.. so there prob. some accum. at 8K+.
Anywho. just go... and when it gets too much... turn around. Chil Falls is nice.
Half Dome fun

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We woke up both on Sunday and Monday mornings with a thin layer of snow on the ground at 6200 in Yosemite West. It had melted by mid morning.

Yeah. I wasn't tooooo far away in my tent. It didnt' snow thru the night at that level.
It sure did thunder and lightning a lot.

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Read this:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,64930

I think people are thinking there is no snow out there.... quite untrue.
Lower elevations sure... even at 7K ran into snow a couple weekends ago
... and it was delicious... postholed up to dingleballs...

Basilblop may have something to say about snow on his trek around Indian Rock

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Ok, well... there will be snow! Looks like Badger Pass is 7200-8000' and we were planning on being up in the 8400+ range above Chilnualna, no go

So, considering that we're still novices when it comes to the snow and not entirely prepared equipment wise... does anyone have any recommendations for a 3-4 backpacking trip that might also involve legal fishing? We're open to Sequoia as well if that offers more possibilities. Flexible on location, but dates are pretty much set as the 9-12th (work).

Also, thanks again for all the insight and information, it's been pretty tough to find any detail on this until I came here...expect to see more of me!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2013 03:23PM by Implicated.