Quotechick-on Modern on top of 1938. Interesting that that's a 1938 map. The new road was completed out to GP in 1935. I know that, even nowadays, these USGS maps sometimes have a publication date of some particular year when, in fact, the actual drawing was done a number of years before. Regardless of when the map was actually drawn, it's clearly the old road and your overlay is very helby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Yup...I've done the whole stretch that you've got here and from Badger Pass west to Chinquapin. It's what happens east of here that I still need to explore more. In particular, I wonder about that service road that goes up to the back of Sentinel Dome. It sure feels like it's part of the old road. It gets a little confusing when you get to SD, though. If you follow the line of the service roby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Interesting: on this overlay, it looks like the old road just crosses over the new alignment after the section that leaves the BVCG and then stays north of the current road until you approach the Mono TH (where it crosses to the other side of the new road). The document I posted above makes it sound like the two roads were actually on the same alignment for much of this stretch. I know that thby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotechick-on The section below Washburn is intact... mostly... kinda neat. You have seen? No...haven't checked that out yet...for years, I was under the impression that there had NOT been any realignment of the switchbacks so never even looked for the old road there but now it's definitely on my list to go looking for that next time I'm out there. Quotechick-on Haven't explored much aroundby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I just stumbled across this old "Historical Overview" of the Glacier Point Road that has quite a bit of detail that I'd never seen before...including a reproduction of a map showing several variant alignments of the current road when it was first being proposed. This map, on page 9 of the document, is (unfortunately) pretty blurry and hard to make out but the accompanying text points oby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Very cool site with some stunning pictures. I would never dream of doing this route without an experienced guide and even then I'm not sure I could manage it (I kept picturing myself starting the hike and then, time and time again, getting to points where all I could think was "if I do this next bit, there's no going back!" ). As I scrolled through the pictures, I kept thinking "by DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thanks for the info, Bearproof. Seems like $3280 (the fund-raising goal) would be pocket change for the Yose Conservancy (based on the vast funds they've spent on things like the Wawona Fountain refurbishment and the extra parking at Tenaya Lake) but it's nice to know that this relatively small amount (as in, easily achievable through a collection of small individual contributions) can do this mby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Thank you, all-powerful and all-knowing pink one!by DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
That actually brings up something I've always wondered about...I don't expect to be back in Yosemite until late next spring but I would like to explore the Canyon one of these days. How far up Tenaya Canyon could I go without getting into any kind of technical climbing? Obviously, it's a cakewalk to go up to the bridge where the Mirror Lake loop trail crosses Tenaya Creek (just beyond the Snowby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thanks for posting, Leslie...looks like a wonderful trip (and glad to see that your camera came back to life!)by DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Two GPR-starting hikes that I did recently are Take the Mono Meadow Trail down to IllilouetteCreek and turn left at the creek (you can follow this to the intersection with the Panorama Trail and either take it down to Illilouette Fall or up to GP). Not sure how much water will be in the creek but we did this hike about 6 weeks ago and it was quite lovely (although there's a fair amount of uphilby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Actually did assume it was something like that. Given the amount of reading I've done about that point in the Valley's history, I'm surprised I've not seen (or at least don't remember seeing) that particular picture before. I also notice that there seems to be a fair amount of re-arrangement of the slabs on the Visor...certainly recognizable as the same feature but, in particular, the spot wherby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Of course, this begs the question: if that's George Anderson on top of Half Dome, who took the picture?by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
FWIW, we spent a couple nights at Tuolumne Lodge last month and got into a conversation with one of the long-time staffers in the dining room. He said that, at least up there, food quality had everything to do with who the local manager (i.e., the individual) was. He said that the food this year has been consistently very good (it certainly was the nights we were there) but that last year (diffby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
what time of year did they film this? If they were building mockups of El Cap in the Tunnel View parking lot, I would guess they were restricting traffic coming through the Tunnel as well. Even if this were very much off season, it must have been a big hassle. Frankly, I'm kind of appalled that this was allowed (I mean, it's not like Yosemite needs more publicity!)by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteRob65 I've noticed a few signs of what might have been the old road diverging from the modern alignment in a few places, but I haven't explored it in any depth. The only stretch of the Pohono trail I'd never been on was the short stretch between GP and Sentinel Dome (more accurately, from GP to that radio facility (or whatever that service building with the big antennas is) right before youby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thanks for the info, Rob (and good to see you posting again!). As far as driving on the OCR, NEVER!!! I can't find it right now but I know somebody posted about driving the old road from Coulterville to Big Meadow a few years back but, for me, part of the joy in these old stage roads is imagining what it was like to actually ride it on a stage or on horseback. Much easier to do that on footby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
QuoteDavidK42 2. Am I correct that the OBOFR comes out at Carlon Day Use (I know there's an old road there and it has the feel of the OBOFR but, without doing a good map overlay, I'm not sure if it's the OBOFR or the OTR)? On some maps, it looks like the old road comes back to the current BOFR at Hodgdon Meadow but, based on the old maps I've looked at, it appears that it continued past that toby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Just re-reading this and loving it every bit as much as when I read the original posts! I've done most of the OBOFR, OCR, OWR and OGPR (well, at least the parts inside the park) and several short stretches of the OTR but lots of that one left to do. Thanks, guys, for all the detail and for sharing the love of these old roads!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I've hiked the entire lengths of the Old Coulterville and Old BOF roads (at least as far as the park boundary), with 2 exceptions: OCR between Little Nellie Falls and Mercer Grove OBOFR between Tuolumne Grove and the intersection with the old Tioga Road (which I believe is near the current Carlon Day Use area) Since both of these stretches are a little far to do as out-and-backs in a day (aby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I assume that's one of the old RR beds? Interesting that they'd take the rails and not the lumber (although I guess the iron in the rails would have been more readily recycled and considered more valuable?). In London several years ago, I came upon a furniture store where everything was made out of reclaimed railway ties. Very nicely done stuff and quite reasonably priced but that stuff was HEby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotewherever That search doesn't bring up anything useful on my browser. But here is a link that will help: http://yosemiteexplorer.com/trails/alder-creek-fall I was going to post the same thing but as I was going through the stuff that DID come up to see if a topic may have veered off into Alder Creek Falls, I found so much stuff about the Old Wawona Road in that area that I've been readingby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
You might be interested in this blog entry from the NPS/yose site (if you haven't already seen it).by DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
We'll be making our annual trek to Yosemite in a few weeks, spending several days at Yosemite West and then a couple nights at TM (all we could get up there). We'll be doing day hikes in both places and I'm looking for some stuff I haven't yet done in the southern part of the park. I'm looking at various options in the area between GPR and Wawona and I seem to remember reading a TR a while backby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I've never been to either Lyell or Maclure so can't comment on what it takes to get there (although, if I recall correctly, Lyell is 20+ miles from the TH and probably an overnighter unless you're comfortable covering significantly more-than-average miles-per-day). I did want to point out that, technically, Lyell is no longer a glacier (it's no longer advancing). I'm not versed enough in glacieby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
One of my favorite Bill Bryson books...hope the movie does it justice!by DavidK42 - General Discussion
Many thanks for the write-up. All the more interesting to me because I just finished reading that 1920 guide and was trying to make some correspondences between the old trail names and their current versions (or, more to the point, trying to figure out if it was just the name that changed or also the trail itself).by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Looks like I'm a day late but happy birthday, L. Sounds like you've got plenty of celebrating lined up!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechicagocwright Did you ask him to pose for the classic Half Dome portrait? I didn't have to...he did it on his own! When he got to the wall at the edge of that overlook, he jumped on the wall and started to walk along it. Again, not aggressively...just going for his morning stroll. I got a couple of almost head-on shots (from a bit of a distance...just in case!) but, as I recall (I'dby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
A couple of years ago, we had gone up to Glacier Point to watch the sunrise. As we were walking from our car, a little ways past the "never-open" toilets, I saw a slight disturbance in the bushes immediately on the other side of the small stone wall and noticed a bear foraging there. He (she?) proceeded to pretty much walk along side us until we got closer to the snack stand. He thenby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion