NOT! I typed Yosemite National Park in Microsoft's Bing™ Maps search field and this is what I got: Yosemite National Park according to Bing™ Maps (Good one, Microsoft!)by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Yeah, I found that hiking along it (or maybe I should say around it) wasn't too difficult simply because it was easy enough to go off trail and hike through the open forest where the road was overrun with deadfall or young pine trees. Still, it's a pity that the Park Service has stopped maintaining it.by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
The irony is that the old road basically would be a four-lane highway for hikers if would be cleared. Many parts of the old road are actually quite wide, I estimate around 12' to 15' in width. And would actually be a very nice and scenic east-west trail linking the two campgrounds (Yosemite Creek and Porcupine Creek) with a couple of nice viewpoints are some nice groves of Aspens along the oldby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
This past Friday and Tuesday I went exploring the old Tioga Road between the Yosemite Creek Campground and the Porcupine Creek Campground. Even though this part of the road is listed as a trail on all official National Park Service maps of Yosemite and on all topo maps including those from the USGS, this portion of the road is a trail (or road) in name only. Simply put, there doesn't seem toby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteparklover Another possibility is that they were driving with a GPS and it did not have current info in it. That reminds of a time when I got a new GPS for my car about six years ago. For fun (since I already knew how to get there) I programmed it to direct me to the Yosemite Lodge. To my surprise and amusement, it told me to make a lefthand turn from Southside Drive onto Swinging Briby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteparklover On one of our last Yosemite visits, we were riding our bikes down the path near the Visitor Center when a car came up the part of the path where it is wide. The driver turned into the road that goes to Degnan's, which is the wrong way, and then turned left onto the path. It appeared that they thought they could drive right up to the visitor center and park there. Once upon aby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
So you decided to bail on having the world's greatest pizza and instead munch on just chips & salsa two miles away because the line was too long? Exactly how long was the line for the fabulous Curry Pizza Deck pizza?by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteERICG Maybe the "peak" they were talking about was in Yosemite Valley and not on the east side. I too was on the east side this weekend and there were still areas of peak color. Mcgee Creek was at prime peak colors. As were most of the Aspen groves in Lee Vining Canyon and a number (but not all) of the groves on the June Lake Loop. (In fact, Lee Vining Canyon still had a few Aby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Ouch! Hope your mobility isn't too impacted tomorrow. Take care.by plawrence - General Discussion
Thanks for sharing your photos. They're lovely.by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotemrcondron Quoteplawrence Quoteszalkowski The caption below the photo on the back page of the current Sierra magazine might provide some perspective: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201111/lastwords.aspx Quotes like this one from the caption of that photo drives me nuts because of its simplistic inaccuracy: "The world's volcanoes spew about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide intby plawrence - General Discussion
Quoteszalkowski The caption below the photo on the back page of the current Sierra magazine might provide some perspective: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201111/lastwords.aspx Quotes like this one from the caption of that photo drives me nuts because of its simplistic inaccuracy: "The world's volcanoes spew about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year&quoby plawrence - General Discussion
Just thought some might be interested in this website. It's part of a study being conducted by UC Santa Cruz in regards to the fragmentation of the mountain lion's habitat. This website tracks ten wild mountain lions in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the Bay Area that have been equipped with radio collars. http://santacruzpumas.org/puma-tracker/by plawrence - General Discussion
QuoteDave Quoteplawrence There's not always something urgent that needs attending to by the rangers. And you know this how? By observation. In Yosemite especially, there appears to be many times during the day where the law enforcement rangers have enough time to park their vehicles by the road at the bottom of a hill and wait there to catch people speeding using radar. Hence, there isn'tby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehikerchick395 Up McGee Canyon on Thursday. Plenty of color left there, but some barren trees, too. That's the thing. Unless it's early in the fall color season, there will always be at least some barren trees when the major of a grove is in peak, or near peak color. Some aspen trees, even in the same grove, will turn yellow a lot sooner than the rest of the trees, and these "earlby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteDave No, I was just going slow. If they wanted to pass, and kill themselves, that's their problem. I wasn't playing traffic cop, just driving responsibly. I could have pulled over but the pullouts were slushier than the road and probably full of ice. If there were five or more vehicles behind you, then you should have pulled over at a turnout, regardless if it was slushy or not. If therby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteDave QuoteplawrenceI was just going to suggest that. The officer just needs to turn on his siren and lights so all the cars in front of him can pullover to let him pass.Do these lights go around blind corners? The sound of the siren does. QuoteDaveQuoteI've actually seen Law Enforcement Rangers in Yosemite do that – not to pullover the slow driver at the head of the line though, buby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I was in Lundy Canyon, Lee Vining Canyon, and the June Lake Loop on Friday morning. Lundy Canyon was slightly past peek, but still plenty a great color. And Lee Vining Canyon and June Lake Loop were near peak. And best of all – no wind!by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteCalaveras Okay, a couple of comments. The sky is not blown out. HDR would have made no difference. The sky was uniform diffused white. There was no detail to be had. Second, yes the bottom is distorted. It has to do with the way Photoshop assembles the images. I'm not sure what to do about that. By any chance, have you ever played around with Microsoft's Photosynth? http://photosynth.neby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteeeek QuoteDave How is he going to safely pass all those cars to get to the problem? Turn on those flashy lights and people get out of the way (usually). I was just going to suggest that. The officer just needs to turn on his siren and lights so all the cars in front of him can pullover to let him pass. I've actually seen Law Enforcement Rangers in Yosemite do that – not to pullovby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I think another reason some drivers don't use the turnouts is that they never look at their rear view mirror while driving. So they don't have a clue that a whole bunch of vehicles are backed up behind them.by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteeeek Quotetelfair aveOf course, this assumes that it will continue to get hotter. Of course, the one constant in this is that scientists will need massive amounts of spending to look into it. That part of the economy will surely continue to prosper. So you'd rather the money go to the parasites on Wall Street instead? It's not an either or proposition...by plawrence - General Discussion
Maybe the question that needs to be ask is "What qualifies someone to be a guide?" in this context. Someone who is familiar with the trail? Someone who has filled out an official "guide permit" if there is one? Is there any official qualification to be considered a "Guide" that's able to lead horses up one of these trails? The Park Service shouldn't confuse peoplby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
In which year did the Yosemite National Institutes (YNI) change its name to NatureBridge?by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteLouisP Would some enlighten me as to when the best time to visit Yosemite this summer? Is early June too soon to have access to Tuolumne Meadows? Thank you for offering your opinions. Early June could be too early for access by car to Tuolumne Meadows (but you can always hike to it from Yosemite Valley anytime of the year with a valid wilderness backpacking permit if you're willing to cby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechick-on It's on the works above Glacier Pt. Not the trail below. Again, the most impressive column is actually in the 2nd photo: http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,47695,47882#msg-47882 Approx. elevation of the 3 columns: 7250, 6600, 6300 Thanks for the info. Much appreciated!by plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehotrod4x5 I was driving the speed limit just east of the Tuolumne Meadows store headed out of the park. A guy tail gated me, then finally passed. No sooner had he gotten by me did he have to slow down for the entrance station. When we started down the pass, he became a snail and I was stuck behind him as he crawled down the pass at 30-35 mph, braking for every turn (he was already goingby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotequmqats It's probably the first time they've driven in a large vehicle/RV/SUV AND the first time they've been in real mountains. They don't know how wide they are and are over compensating. My guess is they're scared to death of the road. It's usually NOT people who are driving rental RV's (or any type of RVs) but usually SUV, pickup truck, or minivan drivers. And they vehicles don'tby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechick-on Quoteplawrence Quotehotrod4x5 Cool vid. GP via mule? Only on a special occasion such as Huel Howser, of did they used to do this regularly? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure pack animals (horses, mules) are still allowed on the Four Mile Trail. It's just not as popular as it once was. Horses are not permitted off the valley floor without a guide... soby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteCalaveras On the way back late in the afternoon, we were in the usual line of slow traffic with a SUV ahead of me, with 3 or 4 people in the vehicle. This driver spent half the time driving right down the center of the road, having to move right whenever there was an oncoming car. This went on for miles, even on blind turns. There's a lot more traffic at 4 pm than there is at 7:30 am. Whenby plawrence - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion