Re: Glacier Point Road Opening Tomorrow (May 11, 2017)

The Glacier Point Road will open for the 2017 season on May 11 at 9 am.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm

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Yeah, in the valley last week, they said it would open May 6 (...open to bicycles May 5.) So we were thinking about scrambling to get one more night camping. Luckily we didn't as the road did not open then.

It is not open. I went by on Monday morning(yesterday), Road Closed sign was up and blocking the lane. Left this morning, still closed(although I went out of the park on Hwy 140.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2017 08:41PM by snorkus.

Glacier Point road opened about 10:30 on May 11. There was a fallen tree on the road that delayed opening. We hung out until it opened then joined the crowd heading up. It was a beautiful day. It was getting crowded by the time we left.

http://www.sierrastar.com/news/local/article150793527.html

It was closed because of the storm in Yosemite.

To warn those that don't know, especially for the upcoming Memorial Weekend, expect to be diverted to the Badger Pass Ski parking area and perhaps up to a couple hours of wait time before they let you continue on to GP. Also expect the Bridalveil Fall parking lot to cause severe traffic backup in both directions on Hwy 41. There really needs to be a second lane on both sides to allow some bypassing. Just getting around the valley might (will) be challenging and frustrating.

Went up Sentinel Dome this past weekend. Also Mist Trail. Came in from Hwy 120 early morning, exited 41 mid-afternoon. Drove back via Madera/Los Banos to avoid the chaotic valley. On the way to GP Road, felt sorry for the people (dozens of cars) backed up from Bridaveil all the way back to Tunnel View. It just wasn't moving in the north direction at that junction. The park can't handle the amt of people. It continues to be a problem that will only get worse. There was barely enough room for some to squeeze by along the right shoulder in order to bypass the ridiculous line going into Bridalveil (southbound). Who knows how bad things got later on, particularly 140 entrance. The horror stories of long wait times aren't exaggerations. Be prepared. Luckily I haven't personally experienced the worst of the worst. But got a nice taste of it. Just gotta avoid the valley at certain times of the year. Simply too many people, never pleasant.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2017 12:26PM by Ohnivy-Drak.

This is what happens when Yosemite had relatively low visitation the past three years due to the drought and now a historic level of snow and snow melt. BOOM!!! Everyone who held off visiting Yosemite these past three years now want to see it at its rip-roaring best.

Not too surprised. The same thing occurred during the last big water year.

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plawrence
This is what happens when Yosemite had relatively low visitation the past three years due to the drought

How do you figure that? Yosemite had record visitation in 2016 by nearly a million over the previous record year which was the year before it, 2015. Only 2014 was below the peak levels but that might be because of the fires that year. Either way, 2 record years out of 3 is hardly relatively low visitation.

Here is a graph of park visitation. Notably 2016 is missing, but the source article lists the record number for 2016


New Visitation Record In 2016 As Over 5 Million People Visited Yosemite National Park (Goldrusmcam.com)

They are expecting 100,000 visitors for this upcoming holiday weekend. Yikes!

That's why I'll be at home.

I want webcams that provide current traffic conditions from various, key vantage points. For my viewing enjoyment

I was there last Monday, left on Thursday. Camped at Upper Pines. Traffic was definitely lighter than the weekend horror stories, but still quite busy by late morning. I was driving to valley locations for photo ops. Even at 6:15 AM I got stuck waiting in line on Northside Drive for some construction. I bicycled around a couple of days including in the rain on Monday. I sure wish they would extend the bike trail to the west end of the valley. GP Rd was closed from Monday until sometime Wednesday afternoon due to the storm. I drove up Wednesday for sunset. Found some idiots posing for pictures out on the rocks at Glacier Point past the "DANGER, Do Not Enter" sign. Didin't realize that the Darwin Games were holding their trials there.

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JohnC
I was there last Monday, left on Thursday. Camped at Upper Pines. Traffic was definitely lighter than the weekend horror stories, but still quite busy by late morning. I was driving to valley locations for photo ops. Even at 6:15 AM I got stuck waiting in line on Northside Drive for some construction. I bicycled around a couple of days including in the rain on Monday. I sure wish they would extend the bike trail to the west end of the valley. GP Rd was closed from Monday until sometime Wednesday afternoon due to the storm. I drove up Wednesday for sunset. Found some idiots posing for pictures out on the rocks at Glacier Point past the "DANGER, Do Not Enter" sign. Didin't realize that the Darwin Games were holding their trials there.

I have a photo of that nonsense from back in 2002. The guy was wearing leather sandals, which are not the greatest when it comes to good footing. His friends kept egging him on to go further out until he was so close to the edge I could barely breathe while watching him, and yet I couldn't look away. Dang fool.

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SierraGold

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JohnC
I was there last Monday, left on Thursday. Camped at Upper Pines. Traffic was definitely lighter than the weekend horror stories, but still quite busy by late morning. I was driving to valley locations for photo ops. Even at 6:15 AM I got stuck waiting in line on Northside Drive for some construction. I bicycled around a couple of days including in the rain on Monday. I sure wish they would extend the bike trail to the west end of the valley. GP Rd was closed from Monday until sometime Wednesday afternoon due to the storm. I drove up Wednesday for sunset. Found some idiots posing for pictures out on the rocks at Glacier Point past the "DANGER, Do Not Enter" sign. Didin't realize that the Darwin Games were holding their trials there.

I have a photo of that nonsense from back in 2002. The guy was wearing leather sandals, which are not the greatest when it comes to good footing. His friends kept egging him on to go further out until he was so close to the edge I could barely breathe while watching him, and yet I couldn't look away. Dang fool.

I have some photos too, including the sign. :-) It might have been a wedding party. The group seemed to have fun egging on the idiots to go further out. Including some woman in heels.

Here's a photo I took of someone doing that in December of 2011 (Yes, Glacier Point Road was open in December back then!)

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