Quotehulkman75 I've a hiked few trails there that had evidence of old paving and was wondering how and why they did it. My guess was to encourage people to explore the trails by making it more like walking down a street. I was thinking it was done to keep down erosion and dust, and maybe to improve the traction for horses. I've never seen a horse (nor horsepoop) on the Four Mile Trail but apparby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteNot quite The Geezer, but getting there Which leads me to a question: much of the Panorama trail between the JMT and Panorama point, included part of what is now the use trail out to the point, had clearly been paved with asphalt many years ago, some of which remains today. When was the original paving done? And when was the decision made not to maintain the paving? I don't have any speby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteplawrence I've taken this bus when it was operated by DNC (before Aramark). The earliest bus (which is the one you should take) never appeared to sell out. If there was enough of a demand, DNC would add a second bus to the later trips if warranted. In previous years I could pretty much count on finding space on the 8:30 if I booked a day or two ahead. DNC usually added a second busby gophersnake - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
QuoteLowell So, is the only way to get from the valley to glacier point is to use the tour bus for $25 one way? Is there not a free "hiker's shuttle"? Thanks, LK The bad news is, there is not a free hiker's shuttle. The good news is, you can walk up for free by either of two trails (three if you count the Pohono from Tunnel View, but that's kind of long for a day trip).by gophersnake - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotechick-on You may want to check out Panorama Pt. It's a bit more difficult to find though. Enough people have asked me how to find Panorama Point that I came up with these directions. They were accurate two years ago but I haven't managed to get back there since, so I don't know if anything's changed. 1. After you cross the footbridge near Illilouette Fall, the trail starts to zigzag,by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I rode the shuttle to or from Bridalveil a few times in 2015 and 2016. One thing I noticed was that the drivers had to kill a lot of time so they wouldn't arrive ahead of schedule. They'd creep along sections of road where other traffic could pass easily, or pause for several minutes at stops like the El Cap Picnic Area or Bridalveil. I liked the idea that I could get to the Bridalveil/Tunnelby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I can offer only a few experiences, most of them tangential to your question: 1. When I was a kid I lived in snow country. My mittens would regularly get soaked from handling snow so my parents got me a pair of waterproof ones. It looked like a great idea on paper but they turned out to be just awful. They didn't have much insulating value to begin with and they'd quickly get cold and clammyby gophersnake - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
That was made in the same era as the Keystone Cops movies. I don't know exactly what went into determining when/how much the speed of the motion would get changed, but speeding it up for effect seems to have been popular. Here's an example from 1915 that includes the Keystone Cops toward the end: https://archive.org/details/love_speed_and_thrillsby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
One of the Highway-140-is-open stories mentions the sewer line too: https://sierranewsonline.com/highway-140-into-yosemite-now-reopened/ QuoteSierraNewsOnline Park officials would like to thank all the park employees who worked hard to remove the rock, assess the underground sewer line, and make temporary road repairs. No mention of what, if anything, the assessment found nor of how theby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
The road has been reopened: https://sierranewsonline.com/highway-140-into-yosemite-now-reopened/ Quote SierraNewsOnline YOSEMITE — Park officials are reporting that Highway 140 (El Portal Road) into Yosemite National Park is now open, after a rock slide at Dog Rock closed the roadway on Monday, June 12. Work was completed earlier than expected. The scheduled time to reopen had been setby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteMY HAPPY PLACE wouldn't surprise me if more slides happened as the earth heats up and cools from the summer temps and maybe a California tremor. It's been an ongoing problem for as long as there's been anyone around to notice it. Here's the NPS page about rockfall with links to more. Some of the diagrams distinguish among rockfalls by season. The emphasis is on Yosemite Valley, since thatby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Are there any indications that this is or isn't related to the Route 140 rockslide? As far as I know, the sewer line from the Valley to the El Portal treatment plant runs under the road so it would currently have a few thousand tons of rock debris on top of it.by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteMY HAPPY PLACE Did i miss it? and Does anyone have the exact location that the rockslide happened, just trying to understand if its in the area after the last hotel along 140 where the road starts to climb, that area has seen lots of activity since the fire and the air tanker crash a couple of years back. This LA Times article includes an aerial photo (credited to NPS): http://www.latimesby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Happy Birthday!by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Hey, thanks, chick-on! The view is pretty similar to the "El Capitan" webcam on Turtleback Dome, but much better resolution. In those webcam shots I can barely pick out Union Point when the lighting happens to be good. In yours I can identify individual switchbacks.by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I think you're right about the customization. That's a major reason I avoid starting with anything that's so elaborate that customizing might defeat its other features, and so expensive that I wouldn't want to give up on it and move on. Fortunately I've never had much in the way of ankle issues. I guess if I did, I'd have to reconsider higher-top boots. As it is, I've always found them a bit tby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I've been buying all my hiking footwear at REI in Berkeley. I haven't found it useful to rely on the staff too much, as they all all seem to have their own ideas of what boot would be best for me. I've tried on a number of name-brand boots, some of which I hated from the first step even though they were very popular with other wearers. They just didn't seem well suited to the way I walked, and Iby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
The Chron has an article on frazil ice and trail/bridge closures: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/frazil-ice-Yosemite-Falls-Creek-National-Park-10900388.php?ipid=articlerecircby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
One "summer view" coming up! This is part of a photo taken a few years ago -- but from Columbia Rock, not from the valley floor, so the perspective is a little different. The red zigzag shows where the Four Mile Trail runs through the area of the snow picture. Here's the larger photo that it was cropped from, without the red zigzag but with the area marked: Here's theby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
There was about two feet of snow in the Yosemite Village area when I got there on Tuesday. All the paved bike paths in the area seemed to have been plowed clear of loose snow but there was plenty of packed snow and ice underfoot: I had Yaktraks with me put I never put them on. The Lodge, in particular, had signs up warning visitors not to wear traction devices indoors because of the dangerby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I was on the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail a few days ago and got some pictures. The features at the former Picasa (now Google Photos) seem to work differently from before so I'm not sure if these links will work right. I went up the east branch of the LYFT. The trail had been packed by several people walking on it but not otherwise cleared of snow. There were no closure signs at Northside Drive,by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Thanks, folks, I'll let you know what I find.by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I expect to be in Yosemite Valley for a few days this week and I'm wondering what I need to prepare for. I'll be traveling by bus (YARTS) and I'd like to get a look (on foot) at some places like Cook's, Sentinel and Leidig meadows.The only other times I've been in the Valley in January, there was so little snow that I couldn't begin to guess what it's like with snow. How soon after a significby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteags... Each time I've spoken with a ranger, it seems to me (might be my perception, but I don't think it's terribly skewed in this instance) that s/he never says "Yes - do that" - or "No! don't do that". It's more like "there is risk in that activity and I wouldn't advise it" or "you will have to decide that for yourself". I once asked about free-climby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteplawrence I'm sure that the water at the drinking fountain is treated, otherwise there wouldn't be a drinking fountain for the public to use. My guess (it's only a guess) is that the treatment system might use some sort of membrane filters that will clog when the water is very turbid, so they shut down the intake before it hits the treatment system. Maybe they shut it down after the filtby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Happy Birthday!by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I've finished plotting the trail. I can see room for some tweaking here and there, but on the whole I'm pretty well satisfied with it. Here's the Gmap4 link. By now the data are complete enough to start computing the track length too. The two-dimensional track lengths I get, disregarding elevation differences, are: From Southside Drive to the Union Point junction: 3.1 miles From the UPJ toby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
And here's the Google satellite view of Columbia Rock. Again, the white crosshairs show the latitude and longitude where the benchmark is supposed to be. The red X shows my guess of where it would be in that image. Update: this newer picture shows a much-improved guess after taking another look at the area on 5/26/17.by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Thank you kindly, folks! My latest "draft" version looks pretty good so I'll share the link: http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=37.732832,-119.587655&z=15&t=s&tilt=off&q=https://sites.google.com/site/fourmiletraildata/MappingTest160208a.txt On the first 26 switchbacks I've curved the line to represent approximately the shape of the switchback. I haven'tby gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehotrod4x5 Was there another thread where this was updated? Yes, here: http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,82750by gophersnake - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion