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Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?

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Bob Weaver
What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 10:25AM
We are planning to spend one whole day in Yosemite Valley with a sunset trip to Glacier Point, and then the whole next day on Tioga Road. June 3rd and 4th. I want to do picnic lunches both days, but since my Mom will be with us, we are limited to places that can be reached by wheelchair. Tentatively I'm thinking of Swinging Bridge picnic area and Tenaya Lake. Are there any other great picnic spots that are easy to get to?
Thanks.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 10:29AM
Cathedral (right in the valley)... they have BBQ pits, and it's right next to a large beach type area along the river... i go there all the time in the summer to swim.
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 10:32AM
Thanks... can you see Yosemite Falls from that spot? The reason I tentatively chose Swinging Bridge is that from pictures at least, it appears to have a great view of Yosemite Falls.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 10:48AM
not the falls, but of El Capitan big time..
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 12:57PM
thanks, and I just surmised that from the Google images result for "Cathedral beach Yosemite" - nothing but pix of El Capitan.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 12:13PM
Swing Bridge can be a real zoo. All too often there isn't even a place to park.
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 12:59PM
That's what I was afraid of... however on Thursday, May 22, 2008, we were able to find parking easily, there wasn't a sight we wanted to see where we could not find a parking space nearby... guess it's all in the timing.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 01:00PM
Quote
Bob Weaver
on Thursday, May 22, 2008, we were able to find parking easily,

It helps to not be a weekend.
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RobE
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 11:59AM
Tenaya Lake is a great spot for a picnic. There are tables at the eastern end of the lake. Highly recommended.
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 12:59PM
Then Tenaya Lake is a done deal. Thanks. Just need to find a good spot in Yosemite Valley.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2009 01:00PM by Bob Weaver.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 01:25PM
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Bob Weaver
Then Tenaya Lake is a done deal. Thanks. Just need to find a good spot in Yosemite Valley.

Doesn't Tenaya Lake remain flooded and marshy with possible snow that early (june 3-4) in the season? Also consider that even after snow is gone, the high country takes a while to "leaf out" and can be brown and nastly looking for a while.


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:04PM
Bob;

i'll try to find a photo of Cathedral picnic area... i know i have one.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:40PM
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Frank Furter
Doesn't Tenaya Lake remain flooded and marshy with possible snow that early (june 3-4) in the season? Also consider that even after snow is gone, the high country takes a while to "leaf out" and can be brown and nastly looking for a while.

Possible other options: the Yosemite Creek Picnic site on Tioga Pass (lower elevation and seemed relatively easy access) or even just eating on the rocks at Olmstead Point overlook. One final option: consider exploring the short drive to trailhead for May Lake near Olmstead Point. I don't recall tables there but you could find some scenery on the way and there is a latrine. If I remember correctly you can see Tenaya Lake from that parking area. Won't be real crowded.


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:45PM
Thanks for the tip, Frank, I'll definitely keep that on the list of destinations.
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:44PM
Oh... ok, we'll keep that in mind.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:12PM
Cathedral Beach Picnic area

sorry that i don't have a photo of the picnic area, but this is what it looks like during the summer... the beach area of course won't be this big during spring, there is a lot more water right now... but it's a nice cozy area with tables and firepits in the tree lined area .


(my son pretending to elevate himself in mid-air lol)



to the right side of this last photo, is the picnic area.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2009 04:23PM by forrestranger.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:38PM
Is this taken from Cathedral Beach?

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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:44PM
Looks like it.


Old Dude
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 10:36AM
yep, that's it.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 02:08PM
In trying to locate on Google Maps the "old road" near Yosemite Creek campground mentioned by Len , I was stunned by the number and tangle of old roads north and south of the current Tioga Pass Road. If you look at the Crane Flat area or the White Wolf area, there appear to be old roads (probably sections of the old tioga pass road or roads related to Hetch Hetchy construction) in many places. I tried to find a good old map showing these but could not locate one on the Dan Anderson historical resource site even into the 1920's.


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 02:43PM
Google shows it as a road that is closed in winter. Not so. It is a roadbed that has not been maintained for what seems like decades. It shows up on newer topos as a trail but even then a couple of years ago it was well obscured by duff and brush where it leaves the northern end of the Yosemite Creek Campground. The northern end of the campground has been unused for many years as the bridge over Yosemite Creek is unsafe and closed. To get to the west end of the old road you have to search around at the northern end of the old part of the campground. A GPS really helps. You might have better luck looking for the end that terminates near 120. Of coarse now that I've typed all this in you'll find, if you go there, that the entire trail has been rehabed.


Old Dude
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 02:52PM
O... and those old topos from the early 1900's show... no Hetch Hetchy Reservoir...
Alot of no longer existing (to any degree! in some cases) trails... and...
the Old Big Oak Flat Road into Yosemite Valley.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 02:50PM
Check out #11 and #19 here:

<http://picasaweb.google.com/dale.dekeyser/Maps#>;

(click on the zoom button and drag the picture around)

I had a link to the original topos a loooong time ago... and it went horribly quiet.
Noone said a thing... nothing...

The original tioga road used to go thru Aspen Valley and White Wolf... most you can
still hike today... as they are maintained (sorta) trails...

I'm still looking for some topos of the park from the 1950's (yooo hoo Dearborn, got any?!?)
Many of the geo markers are from 1956.

I think I found a overview map somewhere with the old road... I'll look...
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 03:08PM
Quote
Frank Furter
In trying to locate on Google Maps the "old road" near Yosemite Creek campground mentioned by Len , I was stunned by the number and tangle of old roads north and south of the current Tioga Pass Road. If you look at the Crane Flat area or the White Wolf area, there appear to be old roads (probably sections of the old tioga pass road or roads related to Hetch Hetchy construction) in many places. I tried to find a good old map showing these but could not locate one on the Dan Anderson historical resource site even into the 1920's.



This link shows the road routings over time and gives good info. on the road's history:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/tioga_road/title.html
Using this low resolution drawing, you should easily be able to pick out most of the road's route on current topo maps.

Somewhere in one of the chapters is a great photo of an army patrol on the road when they were charged with park security (note that the lead horse is looking directly at the camera).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2009 03:28PM by szalkowski.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 03:43PM
Not totally relevant but amusing:
from Len's Tioga Pass Road reference:

"Although the first auto entered Yosemite Valley in 1900, it was not until 1913 that they were authorized legal entry. On August 16, 1913 the first auto permit was issued by Ranger F. S. Townsley. The car drove into the Yosemite Valley via the Coulterville Road (the only one open to autos) and was promptly chained to a tree. (6, 85, 86) According to Townsley, auto travel began in earnest in 1914 despite the more than 60 separate regulations aimed at limiting vehicular traffic in the park. Not only was oneway traffic the rule, but strict schedules had to be met. Fines of 50 cents per minute were assessed the hapless driver who dawdled along the way. (86) Top speed permitted, on straight stretches only, was 10 miles per hour, with 6 m.p.h. as the limit where curves were evident. (87) "

I would assume it was chained to a tree to prevent the owner from driving it in the valey and scaring the horses in use there.


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 04:46PM
Thanks, I'll keep that one in mind.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 05:14PM
Can't see Tenaya from May Lake parking lot.
Even the view of it coming down the trail (SE trail toward Tenaya)..
(another old road... I think it's actually the Tioga Road before
the ba-lasted out Olmsted)
What was I saying? ... yes, the views coming down that trail...
you only get some views here and there of Tenaya Lake on
that trail... so as far as picnicky... I'd skip May Lake rd.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 06:08PM
Quote
bill-e-g
Can't see Tenaya from May Lake parking lot.
Even the view of it coming down the trail (SE trail toward Tenaya)..
(another old road... I think it's actually the Tioga Road before
the ba-lasted out Olmsted)
What was I saying? ... yes, the views coming down that trail...
you only get some views here and there of Tenaya Lake on
that trail... so as far as picnicky... I'd skip May Lake rd.

Surely there is some redeeming social value to that road. What about the mosquitos? Aren't they pretty friendly there?


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 06:25PM
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Frank Furter
What about the mosquitos? Aren't they pretty friendly there?

It depends on how cold the nights were a week or two before.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 07:24PM
Quote
Frank Furter
Quote
bill-e-g
Can't see Tenaya from May Lake parking lot.
Even the view of it coming down the trail (SE trail toward Tenaya)..
(another old road... I think it's actually the Tioga Road before
the ba-lasted out Olmsted)

Surely there is some redeeming social value to that road.



It makes you appreciate the current road.

By the way, a fun section of the old road to hike is the "unmaintained trail" between the Yosemite Creek Campground to where it intersects the present road about a mile (~1.6km.) west of the Porcupine Flat Campground.

(The road down into the Yosemite Creek Campground is also part of the old road.)
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 05:45PM
Sky Campground, Point Reyes National Seashore.

What? Yosemite? Nevermind.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 07:34PM
Len, yup... a great loop is to start at Porcupine Campground and loop down to North Dome..
over to Yosemite Falls... up Yosemite Creek... and up the old road back to car...
But it sounds like you might have done that one, eh?
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 02, 2009 07:58PM
Ok, google "snow flat" historical resources for Yosemite. The May Lake road goes through Snow Flat, named apparently because it received some of the greatest snowfall in the park and offered good location for cross-country skiing and determination of snow fall depth. That circumstance would argue against the benefits of the location for an "early season picnic spot".

for map:
http://climber.org/DrivingDirections/TiogaPass.html


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 03:05PM
Uh... actually I had a bunch of maps of the entire park from various years that I
had found here and there....
I stuck them in the same place for you to peek at:

<http://picasaweb.google.com/dale.dekeyser/Maps#>;

Take a looky at #36-41.

Now... I hope that is what you were looking for...
(I don't get paid for this)

smiling smiley
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 04:00PM
Wow... thanks! Cool collection of maps. It's funny how difficult it seems to be to find detailed maps of Yosemite online. You'd think it would be the best-documented places in the world. But really detailed maps seem to be hard to find. I still haven't found a map that shows the exact location of Fern Springs, for example.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 05:31PM
Fern Spring is clearly marked on the USGS Maps:
Here it is for you:
<http://picasaweb.google.com/dale.dekeyser/Maps#5331758430284263410>;
You can't miss it...
(although it's yet another spot I need to now check out!)

And Discovery View is now Tunnel View. I had a discussion with one mrcondron about this
once. He insisted that it was Tunnel View. I think I had to eat crow on that one...
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 06:50PM
Thanks
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 07:15PM
Quote
bill-e-g
And Discovery View is now Tunnel View. I had a discussion with one mrcondron about this
once. He insisted that it was Tunnel View. I think I had to eat crow on that one...

I wouldn't give up so easily. All of the topo maps that I have seen list it as Discovery View. To my knowledge, it is only on the YNP maps where it is listed as Tunnel View. (Rationale: even the tourists should be able to find that tunnel?)

How about we call the view out to the valley Discovery View and the opposite 180° view INTO the tunnel Tunnel View?
(Makes more sense that way.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2009 07:18PM by szalkowski.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 07:21PM
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szalkowski

How about we call the view out to the valley Discovery View and the opposite 180° view INTO the tunnel Tunnel View?
(Makes more sense that way.)

Wouldn't INTO the tunnel be Tunnel Vision?


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 10:01PM
Quote
Frank Furter
Quote
szalkowski

How about we call the view out to the valley Discovery View and the opposite 180° view INTO the tunnel Tunnel View?
(Makes more sense that way.)

Wouldn't INTO the tunnel be Tunnel Vision?


That all depends on how close to the tunnel you are and your peripheral vision. I stand corrected: TOWARD the tunnel.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 07:58PM
Tunnel view (Discovery View, now quaint), the spectacular entrance to Yosemite Valley for those arriving from Wawona and the south. Sometimes referred to as Inspiration Point, but that is located on the old road (used before the tunnel) accessible via a steep hike up from the parking lot on the South Side of the road. Old Inspiration Point is further up from there.
The view, while timeless, changes with the weather, changes with the seasons, and changes from year to year. No matter when you visit it is unmatched. These range from April to December, with most in April or June.


Old Dude
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 10:10PM
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mrcondron
Tunnel view (Discovery View, now quaint)....

Mike,

I presume that this is a quote from somewhere.

Is it from the same PR genius that insists on calling the present-day pedestrian bridge across the Merced "Swinging Bridge" (or is that beyond quaint)?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2009 10:12PM by szalkowski.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 10:31PM
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szalkowski
Is it from the same PR genius that insists on calling the present-day pedestrian bridge across the Merced "Swinging Bridge" (or is that beyond quaint)?

While that bridge is a lot more stable that the previous one, it does move quite a bit. That may be why the name was kept.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 10:54PM
Quote
eeek
Quote
szalkowski
Is it from the same PR genius that insists on calling the present-day pedestrian bridge across the Merced "Swinging Bridge" (or is that beyond quaint)?

While that bridge is a lot more stable that the previous one, it does move quite a bit. That may be why the name was kept.



I've only been on that bridge in the very early morning in the Fall and Winter. Maybe it was still frozen from its overnight condition ... but I recall it as being "Great Wall of China" stable.

Are we talking side-to-side or up-and-down stability?
http://sfplayland.com/ggsag.html



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2009 10:57PM by szalkowski.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 11:10PM
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szalkowski
I've only been on that bridge in the very early morning in the Fall and Winter. Maybe it was still frozen from its overnight condition ... but I recall it as being "Great Wall of China" stable.

Maybe my situation made me more sensitive to movement:


http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/yosemite/sh-p5111837.jpg.html

Quote

Are we talking side-to-side or up-and-down stability?

Both.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 04, 2009 08:43AM
Quote
eeek
Quote
szalkowski
I've only been on that bridge in the very early morning in the Fall and Winter. Maybe it was still frozen from its overnight condition ... but I recall it as being "Great Wall of China" stable.

Maybe my situation made me more sensitive to movement:


http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/yosemite/sh-p5111837.jpg.html



Ah! The famous "Gossamer Tripod Experiment" for measuring the harmonic frequencies of the bridge.
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avatar Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 05:35PM
I remembered another picnic spot. There is one right after you cross Yosemite Creek going east
on the south side of the road.
I know I've seen people there a pic-a-nic-ing away... Never drove in there either though...
Mike might know more... he camped right on the road under the huge rock you go by... in the winter...
I hear about it every time we go by there... never gets old though... smiling smiley
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Bob Weaver
Re: What is your favorite picinic spot?
May 03, 2009 06:51PM
Thanks, I'll look for it!
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