Re: Tioga Pass Road opens May 2nd!

http://www.nps.gov/yose/parknews/tioga-road-in-yosemite-national-park-to-open-tomorrow-friday-may-2-at-noon.htm

"Date: May 1, 2014
Visitors urged to take safety precautions while traveling on road

The Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park will open for the season tomorrow, tomorrow, Friday, May 2, 2014, at noon for all vehicular traffic. The Tioga Road, bounded on both sides by State Highway 120, is the popular east-west crossing of the Sierra Nevada. Vault toilets are available in several locations along the road. Limited visitor services will be available over the next several weeks.

Due to a light snowpack this past winter (approximately 30% of normal), the Tioga Road was cleared of snow early into the season. Snow and icy conditions may still exist on hiking trails at the higher elevations. Visitors are urged to be prepared for snowy conditions and possible treacherous stream crossings while hiking the backcountry in the early season.

All campgrounds along the Tioga Road are closed. All commercial services, including the gas station, store, and village grill, are also closed. There are no anticipated opening dates for any of these facilities."

Yay!

Time for a road trip!

Damn!

The Missus and I will be in Paso Robles, wine-tasting.

The week after, perhaps, before the dogwood bloom is done.

Camped at lower lee vining tonight. Heading home over the pass tomorrow. Good timing for us.

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Strix
Camped at lower lee vining tonight. Heading home over the pass tomorrow. Good timing for us.

Did you fish Lee Vining Creek?

Dana Meadows and Mt. Dana:

http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/yosemite/mtdana14.jpg.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2014 10:21PM by eeek.

Didn't fish. Saw two fishermen, no fish. Peaceful campground.

It was snowier up there than I thought it would be

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hikerchick395
It was snowier up there than I thought it would be

Yes, but the meadow was almost completely free of snow.

would love to hear early glen aulin reports re trail conditions and stream crossings

"Tioga Road in Yosemite opens on earliest date since 1988"

An article in the Mercury News has a nice bar graph of the opening dates since 1970:

http://www.mercurynews.com/News/ci_25685400/California-drought:-Tioga-Road-in-Yosemite

Here's the graph:



Since its latest opening (July 1 in 1998), Tioga Road has opened in May 75% of the time (12 out of 16 years).

.

We drove up to Tioga Pass bright and early May 3.


I guess that worked, so I'll add some more.







Tenaya Lake had a bit of ice left. Olmsted Point was dry, as was the road the whole way across. The last pic is glacial polish at Olmsted above the road. We stopped for a hike at Tuolumne Grove; interesting to see the fire effects there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2014 08:48AM by Strix.

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Strix
We stopped for a hike at Tuolumne Grove; interesting to see the fire effects there.

You can't tease us with a comment like that and not follow up! So, what effects were there?

There was moderate to heavy damage all along the mile hike down to the grove, but much less in the grove, mostly ground fire. The Sequoias were unharmed except for some scorched lower branches. Maybe some new seedlings will show up in the bare soil. There are some nice Dogwood flowers down there. It will be a good place to watch forest recovery in the coming years.

Thanks, Strix. I thought I remembered reading that the grove was pretty much unharmed but I didn't realize any part of the fire had gotten that close (thought it mostly was further to the north through that area).