Thanks. Last time I was there, the approach was no problem. Just steep, open forest. Old Inspiration Point is connected to the rest of the world by a little saddle, and getting to that point was easy. But the point itself was covered with dense brush, head-high. In some places you had to get down on your knees and crawl under, or give up and back off. What finally worked was to traverse arby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechick-on You might like the one here: Old Inspiration Pt. - a place in the park where you can see 4 of Yosemites named Wa-wa falls http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,36402,36558#msg-36558 Ha! So you did get to the far side of Old Inspiration Point without falling off. Is the semi-impenetrable thicket there easier to get through with some snow on it? It gets pretty bad by lateby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotemtn man That hike along the river from Happy Isles to the Pines campgrounds is also one of my favorites. However it is the North Pines (not Lower Pines) campground entrance you want to go into to find the footbridge and the bike path to the Awhanee and on to the Awhanee meadow. Thanks for the narratives and pictures. Right. Sorry. Go straight into the campground entrance that the rby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteSherry How long ago was this? Do you basically live at the park :-)? 1963 No, I only get there a few times a year. But that adds up to a lot of trips, if you keep at it long enough .by wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotemissjw How did your daughter like Yosemite? I am planning on take my little nieces soon and will probably plan similar easy hikes. She loved it, but we there only there for two nights. Hiking is fine, as long as you realize that there will be frequent stops and distractions. She liked the hands-on Indian demo inside the museum as much as anything. She learned how to make a whistle fromby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteplawrence So is this the most dangerous part of the Sierra Point Trail? (see image previously) And on this specific section of the trail, was this how the Park Service maintained it while it was still an active trail, or has this portion of the trail deteriorated over time? I would think with trekking poles it shouldn't be that difficult of a decent. Obviously, I wouldn't want to tby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteeeek QuotewhereverThe guys on this forum won't have any idea of what you would consider "strenuous". I think the title of the thread sets the context for what strenuous is. Yes, I know what you call strenuous. I meant that we don't know what the guy that I was answering calls strenuous. I hope that I wasn't insulting him. But look at the previous dozen or so posts on thiby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteMarksm Any recommendation for long 6-8 hour hikes that are not too strenuous? The guys on this forum won't have any idea of what you would consider "strenuous". Here is what I always suggest when I'm unsure of the physical condition of the person asking: Go up the Four Mile Trail. All the strenuous uphill is at the start of this loop. If you poop out at any time, just turnby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
To build on a couple previous threads: I was up there last Monday and Tuesday. The trails in the Valley are clear of snow, though there is some snow under the trees, and you can expect some muddy puddles. Many of the trails out of the Valley will lead you to snow rather quickly. Less so on the sunny side of the Valley, of course, but you will get soaked if you go anywhere near the base of Uppby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
This report has appeared in a number of places. For example, the Modesto Bee. Here is teaser with the start of the story: Not even Yosemite National Park is sacred to scalpers Profiteers offering campsites, tickets By Marjie Lundstrom mlundstrom@sacbee.com Bookmark and Share Ticket scaby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
If you are to be up there for a couple of weeks, you can't plan for average temperatures. You could get snow, freezing rain, and/or hard frost in June, even if that's not very common. Prepare for the worst case.by wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteMax I saw your stuff from last year before I posted by search site, thanks. So coming down from Dewey is a no go because of having to run the creek, right? Looking on topo and Google Earth that looks like the only way to HIKE down. Makes sense that it would be late in summer before attempting that. I've swam in the pool above Yosemite Falls when I was younger. Don't like that idea any more.by wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
In 1974 you could still drive past the Tamarack Flat campground down to the bridge at Cascade Creek, and park there. The road was no longer being maintained, except for cutting fallen trees, but it was still fine down to that point. I suppose it was gated or had some other barrier to vehicles there. Below that point it was maintained as a hiking trail.by wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteMax Anyone hiked from Glacier Point road to the top of Bridalveil Falls? We are very interested in making that trip this summer and looking for first hand information on route. On topo it looks like it's easiest to cut off Dewey/McGurk trail when you get to top of Bridalveil Creek. Any thoughts? Yes, I've done it by swimming down through the brush off the main trail near Dewey Point (opposby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteAlmostThere Woodstock? Hardly! What I hate: TP blossoms everywhere. Everyone who thinks the restrooms every few miles are excessive should walk 10-15 feet off trail on either side for a while, after the half dome trail departs from the JMT. Bear bag ropes left in the tops of trees, all along the ridge on the way to the subdome. Litter. Everywhere. Pile of gloves at the bottom oby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Those are good anecdotes, and I'm sure that there are many more. But there are countless additional idiot-stories about the Yosemite Falls Trail, the Four Mile Trail, and (back in the day) the Ledges Trail and the Sierra Point Trail. The only real difference with respect to the Half Dome Trail is that idiots on the Half Dome Trail are more likely to endanger others, as they used to do on the Leby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
OK, but none of these is strenuous in the sense that Half Dome is: 16 miles, 5000 foot climb, and 5000 foot descent. It's easy to get the equivalent exercise by hiking over Clouds Rest instead of Half Dome, then return. Or by doing some tough off-trail stuff, which is well reported in this forum. If you want to limit the discussion to what you can do from the Valley without a car shuttleby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotequmqats Do they still have no way of re-using no-shows? Actual no-shows (as opposed to voluntary turn-ins) are impossible to reissue, because you can't know that they won't show up until the day is over.by wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteeeek I wonder how many of those will actually be used. That is a problem, especially if they actively prohibit people from leaving their extra chits with the ranger at the base of the dome steps (Which I believe was going on last year).. But the real issue with this sort of thing is that it appears to be fair, but isn't. The technically savvy with good internet skills and equipment havby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotebasilbop This is the closest I could find online: https://store.usgs.gov/yimages/PDF/CA_Yosemite_Valley_1970_45934_&_45933.pdf (warning: this is a 50mb download). This map seems to have only the old alignment of the Four Mile Trail just below (west of) Glacier Pt., but it also has the Union Point comfort station, both segments below Union Point, the Sentinel Dome shortcut from the Fourby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
If I understand it correctly, this will be your first mountain backpacking trip. In that case, let me make a suggestion for making this experience enjoyable. In my mind, there are two very different ways to do this. One is to choose a popular high altitude route, on a heavily traveled trail to a heavily visited destination. Glen Aulin is a good example of this sort of thing. My first backpby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteFrank Furter Besides being steep, narrow, with loose rock and smooth granite, no formal trail and a lot of water at times, isn't is also particularly subject to rock falls from the walls (eg, recent landslide east of Mirror Lake)? No, the big rockfalls downstream aren't a problem. The recent ones have all been on the southeast side of the creek, and the route below the gorge is all on theby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteWickett I have come across some pictures of others doing the rappels in what I would consider epic conditions. The photo below was uploaded on June 6th 2008 so I was thinking that they went shortly before that. I would do the canyon if it was like this. I would like to speak to someone who has done it just to get the inside knowledge. A wilder canyon would be phenomenal! If that was taby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteDavidK42 Actually the picture made it very clear where the road used to go and I know, based on historical photos of this shot, that all that vegetation has grown up in what used to be a pretty barren (or at least maintained) area. What I was really getting at was whether, once you enter the trees, if you were contending just with overgrowth or with overgrowth in addition to rockslide bloby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteDavidK42 A question on the wikimapia photo...does the rockslide extend in to the "woods?" In other words, is that whole yellow-and-blue route (i.e., the original road) completely gone or can you pick it up in the overgrown spot (it looks like the clear part of the road extends at least a little ways beyond where the red-dot scramble begins)? OK, we didn't exactly answer that queby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteDavidK42 Thanks for the clarifications, wherever. FYI, in case I wasn't clear, my questions about counting the "rockslides" was not really about "how much of this crap do I have to navigate?" and more just a question of keeping my bearings on the route (in other words, "am I almost at the zigzag yet?"). I'm thinking that I made it as far as the zigzag or possiby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Let me clarify these "rockfalls" a bit. They are not like the awful rockfall that closed highway 140 west of El Portal, or the big on Northside Drive some years ago. Those involved a lot of material coming down all at once, destroying the road and making a very hazardous crossing. The stuff on the Old Big Oak Flat Road is just a talus field moving slowly downward like a glacier everyby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehotrod4x5 Nice report! When you are at the ski area, where do you pick up the road? We went snowshoeing with the ranger (out over what was normally the snowtube area, not yet created) and I should have asked him. I had intended to snowshoe to Dewey but the weather wasn't cooperating. Anyway, I need to figure out where to get to the road from the ski lodge for next time. The parking lotby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Those of you who have followed my accounting of off-trail hikes from the rim to the floor in Yosemite Valley (see link off-trail) will realize that there is one glaring omission: The long, thinly wooded ridge above Turtle Dome that starts near the Badger Pass ski area. I call it Inspiration Ridge because the logical extension of this hike to the valley runs from Fort Monroe on the old Wawona waby wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
The guys at the Lodge front desk called over to the Village Store, who said that they are keeping regular hours this week. I wouldn't count on getting in near closing time, though.by wherever - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion