Mike, What's your assessment of the Snow Creek Trail hike? I've eyed the trail many times from near Half Dome, or where it takes off above Mirror Lake, and wondered about it. (I have books, but firsthand thoughts are usually better). The creek and falls themselves look amazing, though it doesn't look like you get to see much of that from the trail going up. Did you go up and back the same dby Sierrafan - General Discussion
It can be hard to define where being a courteous driver ends, and where being a pushover for every belligerent driver begins. Though I usually am not in a hurry in Yosemite, I often don't leave until it's really necessary 8^); so I might be driving on 41 (posted 35) and figuring if I set the speedo at 40, that's a good compromise. I shouldn't be slowing anyone down, and if I run up on someone gby Sierrafan - General Discussion
Actually, Friday looks pretty good...I'd have gladly traded last Monday's miserably hot weather for your predicted '51 to 61 at 8000 feet'. It may only have been 80 or so up in the 7000' approach area, but we were packing snow inside our hats just to be able to cross the sunny areas, and hating every one of them. I like your prospective time to leave...it should get you up there (figuring averaby Sierrafan - General Discussion
The recent hot spell brought a few mosquitoes at the valley campgrounds early this week, so if you're heading up, expect there to be some. Not bad, but it doesn't take many. We didn't see any up higher along the John Muir and Half Dome trail (yet). For those who don't care much for DEET, or necessarily trust the 'harmless' rating they guess it deserves, I've found that Repel's lemon eucalyptusby Sierrafan - General Discussion
Thanks for the report Mike, I hope it's a lot cooler up there than it's been here (near San Luis Obispo), as we're going up Sunday for a Monday Half Dome visit. At least the elevation helps, and we should be headed down by the hottest part of the day. Any mosquito problem yet? I've been worried about the hot weather bringing them out a bit early, but maybe with the season being so dry in the lby Sierrafan - General Discussion
The Katadyn hiker costs quite a bit less than the MSR one linked, though the ceramic filter sounded like a good idea. Until I read the reviews from those who had accidentally broken it. I've been really happy with the Hiker...works well, easy to clean, and not too bulky. I also have a Katadyn dip-in-water bottle that has the filter, plus the purification step, but it sits unused, as I hate theby Sierrafan - General Discussion
I'd be really cautious with kids that age...even if they're wading, make sure there are adults who are interacting with them (so they're paying attention and right with them). The river is fairly wide there, so not moving at full speed, but it's deceptive, and there are many snags and faster parts just downstream as it joins Tenaya Creek. As others already told you, it's mighty cold... http://wby Sierrafan - General Discussion
I looked here expecting eeek to have posted this already, he usually gets the news up practically before it happens, so I thought I'd take my one chance to beat him to it...8^) Right on schedule, they predicted Friday and here it is, and they're up (the Half Dome cables). For anyone planning to go who's new to it, with this hot weather expect to need a full gallon of water per person, don't beby Sierrafan - General Discussion
I've noticed driving habits seem to be deteriorating everywhere; RV's or slow, never-one-mph-over-the-limit-but-lots-of-times-below drivers seldom pull over to let people by, where that used to be fairly standard procedure. The other side is just as bad and probably more dangerous...I call them road bullies...they tailgate even if you're doing over the speed limit, pass and expect the oncomingby Sierrafan - General Discussion
Not since last May, but I imagine the trail is about the same. http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/sierratrail It should be nice with all the falls big; maybe next week I'll be able to fit in a visit.by Sierrafan - General Discussion
Thanks for the great trip report, you've got me excited to get up there. I'm actually glad to hear there's a good amount of snow above...it keeps the falls and rivers flowing nicely. In two weeks from right now I expect (or hope) to be thoroughly exhausted after a Half Dome venture, and since Glacier Pt. road is open, hope to get out to Sentinel dome, Taft Pt. and the fissures, places I don't oby Sierrafan - General Discussion
forrestranger wrote: > i must be the minority here, i love having a campfire, that's > one reason why i like to go. love to sit around a fire at night > and talk. From a quick look at the campground maps, there are over 400 campsites at the east end of the valley, not counting the backpacker campground which has at least 50, and Camp 4, which is not fully at the east end. How many fireby Sierrafan - General Discussion
My thoughts on campfires changed over time; a few years ago, we camped at the beach often, and one time we had a neighbor who just loved a campfire...morning until night, despite it being warm weather. Unfortunately the wind was going in our direction. So we ended up with tent, sleeping gear, car, clothes, bodies and probably inside of lungs that just reeked of smoke, so they could look at theby Sierrafan - General Discussion
They normally try to have them up by the third weekend in May; the 16th is just before that weekend, so without some "inside info" it's hard to say, if you're actually going to try the trek on Friday the 16th. I took a gamble on setting up our Half Dome trip during the following week (just after the third weekend), and figured if they weren't up, we could do the rest of the hike anywayby Sierrafan - General Discussion
I'm all for it, Jon. The air in the back end of the valley gets ridiculously bad whenever there are many campers; the valley just isn't a good location for fires. They do restrict the hours starting in May to evenings only, but it gets bad there quickly in evenings. And the rest of the year, people get up and light a fire the first thing, and quite often it smolders off and on all morning. Ifby Sierrafan - General Discussion
Vince, I'm trying to figure out where I said that, did you mean you thought the "truck/suv they don't need" part meant that I was telling you what to drive? I wasn't telling anybody what to drive, but I meant those other people didn't need it, not you or me. There's plenty of fuel for us to drive around in the vehicles we so richly deserve, I ain't about to drive no sissy car; it's thby Sierrafan - General Discussion
You're not supposed to understand it; it's the old "written filibuster" process of putting in so many words that no one actually has the stamina to read through and understand it. Unless a problem arises, then someone who charges $500 and hour can read it looking for any actual meaning in there that helps his case. It probably says, somewhere in there, that they can build an amusementby Sierrafan - General Discussion
Thanks for the refreshing photo...I can feel the cool mist. We should be passing there in about three weeks, enroute to Half Dome, cables-willing, and your photo of that familiar site has me anxious to go.by Sierrafan - General Discussion
swede42 wrote: > It all still seems very cheap to those who pay more-normal > prices in the rest of the developed world. It starts to bring > home the true cost of the profligate purchase of some massive > SUV. Perhaps when it gets to $7 or $8/gallon we'll finally get > smarter Stateside on transportation. I've been saying that since it went toward $3, and there does seem to beby Sierrafan - General Discussion
I drink out of the Merced all the time (upstream of the campgrounds)...the water tastes great, icy cold, and have never had an issue. Bob Rockwell's article that was linked by Rob is an enlightening one; after reading it some time ago, and doing some more investigation, I realized that we've likely been fed a bunch of baloney all these years. One of the interesting stats is that San Francisco'sby Sierrafan - General Discussion
Are the sites that are already reserved going to be at maximum occupancy? They allow 6 persons per site, and I don't think they do a lot of counting unless you give them reason to. I guess it depends on whether you're using tents or staying in RV's though (easy to add a tent or two, not so easy to add another RV to a site). You could try for cancellations at the campground office each day; ifby Sierrafan - General Discussion
eeek wrote: > Do you really think it'll be unique? I'm better on a wee crowd. > "Unique" and "original" photos, not by a longshot; it's still fun to go there and see it if you're there around that time. You can get OK photos of it if you can avoid all the flashes from people trying to take a photo with a point and shoot autoflash cameras. Focusing is tricky because iby Sierrafan - General Discussion
y_p_w wrote: > > I know better than to get that close. I've taken pictures > before, but those clowns look like they're maybe less than > 40-50 ft away. When I came across this bear, I assessed the > situation, backed off a little, and was at least 100 ft away > when I snapped away. Zoom lenses are very useful. The people shown in that photo had a great view to begin with;by Sierrafan - General Discussion
forrestranger wrote: > i haven't given it a whole lotta thought, but seeing that photo > with the bear boxes outside the front door makes me nervous. > outside the FRONT door???? lolol why not in the back or the > side? if i had to exit, i certainly wouldn't want to if the > bear was right outside my door. The bear boxes aren't really to store stuff in for the bears to get...it'sby Sierrafan - General Discussion
The ingenuity of bears is just amazing. I heard of one in the past that had learned to open car doors with the handle; and one somewhere in Yosemite that was throwing Bear canisters in the river (If I can't have it, nobody can 8^) I was thinking maybe they should just put chunks of termite-infested wood in a bunch of canisters and leave them around. After a few major efforts that resulted in &by Sierrafan - General Discussion
Mirror Lake is a good one...there's loop that goes back to the Snow Creek Trail intersection, then crosses Tenaya Creek and heads back to Mirror lake on the other side. 5 or 6 miles, not steep, very scenic. Vernal Falls is a good hike, but there's a lot of huffing and puffing even before the lower bridge, as it's pretty steep. Once past the bridge, the Mist trail is beautiful but steep, and soby Sierrafan - General Discussion
In Vince's defense, there's almost nowhere in the park that someone hasn't been, and most will have a camera, so just going to a "scenic" place and taking photos isn't going to make them sell. Marketing and photography are two entirely different things; if you really want to make money at it, find a market first, then shoot whatever the market demands. It will take all the enjoyment oby Sierrafan - General Discussion
There's lots to see, just not so much a view of the valley. Maybe change it to "Ouzel view?" http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/image/88152402 8^) Watching an ouzel is sometimes more fun than yet another look at the valley...by Sierrafan - General Discussion
You probably mean Valley View, and it's a beautiful spot but there isn't much of a "valley view" there. Of course it's not necessarily trees http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/image/74718399 I'm not sure about the concept of native trees spoiling "nature", but I guess the trees were blocking a classic view to some extent. Didn't seem to bother these folks: http://www.pbase.coby Sierrafan - General Discussion
eeek wrote: > I'm sure there's no snow there. It's only 4000 feet. That's what I thought at the end of March when we stayed at upper pines. I thought the 2+ feet of snow that was there in February would be mostly gone (with the warm March weather), but it was basically just pushed around into piles. The Pines campgrounds and Curry are pretty much the icebox of the valley; riding around onby Sierrafan - General Discussion