Yosemite National Park - Articles - Zimbio

Yosemite, my backyard playground, smoke filled or not

Fri, 16 Aug 2008 18:36:00 GMT

posted by
In addition to my own writings and photography work, I decided that it would be great to let others like myself, contribute to my blog. One of my favorites, Kristin Chiara-Platts, has graciously contributed this excellent Photo Essay about Yosemite National Park. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Feel free to leave comments for Kristin here on the blog. Thanks and happy reading! -Guary Nicholson

Yosemite, my backyard playground, smoke filled or not.
By Kristin Chiara-Platts

It might be cliché to quote the most obvious person tied to Yosemite’s fascinating history—John Muir. But who else has put it into greater perspective than he?

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places
to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and
cheer and give strength to the body and soul.

---John Muir

Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge

But he was right. It’s the simple things in life that often make us the most content, and free our minds, bodies and spirits. Though Yosemite is anything but simple, with its towering ancient tree covered mountains, its vast canyons and descending cliffs, it is there for the taking. An adventure for our minds. A work of art for our eyes.
Glacier Point survey marker

On a recent trip to Yosemite with my husband, we started our day at the West Route 140 entrance to the park. While the beauty is free for the animals, we paid a $20 fee upon our entrance, a small price to pay I say, for the ongoing preservation of one of our nations majestic National Parks.
Tall trees abound at Yosemite

Within minutes of entering, I felt my mood change from road trip annoyance to a warming calm. Warm perhaps due to the near 100 degree temperature but…calm nonetheless.

The ride began with us noticing that the traffic in the park was much heavier than we’d experienced in the past, and reassured us that coming on a weekday or not during the peak of tourist season in late July, might have been a better idea. That sense of calm I had was now muffled just slightly by a mixture of tourists, rental motor homes and—smoke? Yes, fire season is in full swing here in California and continues to linger in the Sierra’s. It seems that wherever you go this summer, the air is ugly.
Smoky sunlight at Yosemite

Not to let it damper our spirits, we ventured ahead. Our first stop once we reached Yosemite Valley was Yosemite Valley Chapel, often referred to as ‘The little brown church’. Located in the Western most part of the valley among Yosemite’s most famous glacial rock formations, Yosemite Community Church is a landmark in its own right.
Yosemite Community Church

Though the church is not in its original site today, it still stands as the oldest public structure in the park. The New England style church was built under the sponsorship of the California State Sunday School Association, and the first service was held June 7, 1879. Nearly 100 years later the chapel earned a spot on the list of National Historic Buildings by the National Park Service in 1965. Today, the church still holds regular services, only changing service hours with the seasons.

Directly across the meadow from The Yosemite chapel is the first of several well known, if not the most recognized, waterfalls as you make your way into the Valley heading east. Yosemite Falls, like most waterfalls is ever changing with the seasons. Gushing and churning during the spring snowmelt, it is quite a different, slightly less exciting trickle during the late summer months, though still beautiful. The falls can cease to flow altogether in the latest summer months I’m told, so I was just thankful for what I had on this visit.

Yosemite Falls
At 2,425 ft, Yosemite Falls is the highest measuring waterfall in North America, and ranks number 6 in the world. The Ahwahneechee people of Yosemite Valley called the waterfall "Cholock" and believed that the plunge pool at its base was inhabited by the spirits of several witches.

Making our way along the valley floor, dodging traffic and tourists, we came to one of my favorite places in the park, The Awhannee Hotel. The Awhannee is probably the most well known hotel in Yosemite, if not the state. Its history, preserved architectural beauty and its location are the reasons the likes of U.S. presidents and queens have stayed within its walls. Opened in 1927, the Awhannee’s trademark distinctions include Native American art, stained glass windows and towering vaulted ceilings.

Awhanne Hotel

After leaving the Awhannee, we headed to Bridal Veil Falls. Bridal Veil Falls stands at 620 feet, a far cry from the height of Yosemite Falls but also beautiful. Once again, the true beauty of any of Yosemite’s waterfalls is realized when viewed at full flow—mid spring to early summer, as snows melt. Of course, in a time of severe water shortage here in California, we’ll be lucky to see it at all next year.
Bridal Veil Falls
The final stop of our whirlwind day trip was to Glacier Point, which is always a good way to end a trip to Yosemite. The ride up to Glacier Point takes about an hour (give or take) from the Valley floor. The road is mildly curvy but a great way to see parts of the park that one might not even know exists. There are a large number of notable hikes and meadows along the drive to Glacier Point as you travel along Glacier Point road, for the leisurely walker to the outgoing hiker.
Northern View from Glacier Point. Notice the smoke!

The entire Yosemite Valley can be viewed from atop Glacier Points 7,215 ft ridge. On Glacier Point lies a pastoral scene which includes views of Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls, the entire valley floor, and one of the world’s most famous rocks—Half Dome.
Half Dome at Yosemite
One of the more interesting little known facts about Glacier Point and Yosemite’s history is the long gone tradition of Yosemite’s firefalls. Those who are old enough (I’m not one of them, though my grandmother and father both claim to have witnessed them), may have seen something that today would be considered irresponsible, if not completely insane. It was once a nightly occurrence for a large bonfire to be lit at the top of the cliffs at Glacier Point before being tipped over the edge while still in full blaze. This was known as 'firefall'. The firefall’s fell 3,000 feet onto the forests and meadows of Yosemite Valley below, a practice that was ended in 1968. With the smoke which surrounded us on this trip, I still find it mind boggling that such a practice ever existed.

We left the park with our cars covered in ash from the telegraph fire, which burned on the south east tip of the park in Mariposa County that day and into the next several weeks, consuming thousands of acres, and dozens of homes.

I want to make one thing clear, Yosemite on any other day, if a fire is not burning, is one of the most amazing places you will ever see. If you visit, plan on coming in the off season for an optimal experience. The best times to beat the crowds are mid to late September, when the crowds tend to die down, all the way up to late May. In any season, one will find a different park, as views are ever changing with the seasons.

I plan on making a winter trip up to the park this year and hope to have entirely different pictures to share then.
Stained glass windows at the Awhannee Hotel in Yosemite

-----Kristin Chiara-Platts is an Editor/News Reporter/Photographer for The Stanislaus Farm News, the only weekly Farm Bureau newspaper in the country, published by The Stanislaus County Farm Bureau in Modesto California. Though Kristin primarily writes about agriculture, she is interested in and enjoys general news reporting, and has occasionally freelanced her writing and photography for a variety of newspapers in the state.

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Yosemite National Park rock slide destroys cabins

Wed, 9 Oct 2008 00:48:52 GMT

posted by bengani

Chunks of granite crashed to the Yosemite Valley floor in a cloud of dust Wednesday, injuring at least three people and destroying several cabins and trees at one of the park's most popular lodging areas, officials said.

The rock slide was the second in two days in the area called Curry Village, a lodging and retail area defined by dramatic, sheer cliffs.

"We were awakened at 7 to what sounded like thunder and what felt like the Earth crumbling apart," said Deanne Maschmeyer, 41, of Monterey, who was staying in a nearby cabin with her two children. "People were stampeding everywhere and running, running like crazy. I felt like I was running ahead of a tsunami."

The slide destroyed five cabins and partially damaged at least three others, according to a park statement. Three visitors were treated for minor injuries.

The volume of rocks cascading from the granite face was estimated at about 1,800 cubic yards, or about 180 truck loads, said Vickie Mates, a park spokeswoman.

There was another, smaller rock slide in the same area Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured then.

In 1996, a rock slide in the same area sent as much as 162,000 tons of rock plummeting more than 2,000 feet, killing one visitor and felling 500 trees. A slide in 1999 killed one climber and injured three others while narrowly missing the popular campground.

Tom Trujillo, of New Milford, Conn., who was with a group of amateur photographers, saw Wednesday's rock slide and ran toward it.

"Trees were crushed all over the place," Trujillo said over the sound of a hovering helicopter. "A couple of kids, fifth or sixth-graders, were stumbling out of the area. I tried to pick them up, tried to get them out as fast as I could."

Trujillo said he helped one boy, who had blood on his forehead and down his back, get out and find his mother.

"It was a really big mess," Trujillo said. "Tents were crushed, trees were knocked down, hard cabins were moved out of their positions, with boulders blocking their doorway."

Another photographer, Rena McClain, a nurse from Dover, Del., told The Associated Press that she had her back to the granite face when she heard what sounded like a thunderclap. She whipped around and saw a giant cloud of rock and dust coming down.

"People were starting to yell, 'Run, run,' and kids started to scream," McClain said.

As the dust settled, shaken teachers and chaperones gathered groups of high school students and tried to get head counts.

"The kids were crying," said McClain. "I tried to comfort them. I'm a nurse; my immediate response was, 'What can I try to do to help?'"

Mates said the rocks fell across an area that used to be traversed by a trail no longer maintained because of heavy rock falls.

The beauty of the sheer granite face towering above the camp helps make Curry Village one of park's most popular lodging options.

In recent years, geologists have published studies describing a series of cracks along the cliff's face and hypothesizing that pressure from water flowing beneath the surface may be one trigger of the slides.

Researchers also say that tree roots growing down into cracks can sometimes wedge apart sheets of rock, sending sections of cliff tumbling.

Curry Village, founded in 1899 in south-central Yosemite, has 610 canvas and wood cabins in rows among huge boulders, which geologists say are there because of prehistoric rock falls.

Those who saw Wednesday's slide wondered about the safety of the camp.

"With the village right below the rock face, there is definitely a safety issue," said Trujillo, pointing out that the cabins could be moved farther away from the granite cliff, into the parking lot area.

To McClain, on her visit to the park, the rock slide was an eye-opener.

"Nature here is unbelievable, but until you see what can happen, don't realize the danger that can result," McClain said. "I would return to Yosemite. But would I stay in Curry Village? I don't know that I would. I'm pretty shaken up."

---

Associated Press writers Juliana Barbassa and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Yosemite National Park: 2008 Fire Season ends

Thu, 7 Nov 2008 17:03:09 GMT

posted by ROCDAD

Yosemite National Park
2008 Fire Season Concludes in Yosemite National Park

The fire season concludes this year with a number of projects successfully completed, including those which significantly protect communities in and around Yosemite. In April, 1,124 acres were burned immediately adjacent to the community of Wawona, and in early June 50 acres were burned in the 1990 A-Rock Fire area just southwest of Foresta.

Due to large wildland fires in the central Sierra, including the Oliver Fire and the Telegraph Fire, no large wildland fire use projects were authorized in the park. All lightning strikes were monitored to ensure limited spread, or they were actively extinguished. Over thirty lightning-caused fires occurred within the park in 2008: the largest grew to 12 acres. The remaining fires were extinguished or monitored and contained at well under an acre, including the Cabin Fire which threatened a historic structure in Yosemite’s Wilderness.

Fall prescribed burning was successfully completed in several key areas around the park, including two units in Yosemite Valley. Two weeks after the Valley burns, four small contiguous units in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias totaling over 100 acres were completed. Finally, another piece of the Wawona Northwest project was recently completed. This unit, some 600 acres in size, was contained by the Jack Fire to the north and this spring’s burn to the south. Starting at the head of the Mosquito Creek drainage, firefighters brought the prescribed fire down to a safe anchor along the Wawona Road, previously prepared through roadside thinning and burning from recent years.

In addition to the prescribed fire treatments above, several hundred acres of mastication, pile burning and other clearing were completed, mostly in our six designated wildland urban interface areas. The community of Yosemite West conducted nearly one hundred acres of fuel reduction on private land through a grant from the California Fire Safe Council, funded and facilitated by the National Park Service. The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors approved this for completion as part of Yosemite West’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). A nearly quarter-million dollar appropriation was awarded to Central Valley Forestry for several hundred acres of fuel reduction around Foresta and Wawona, which is set to begin soon and continue through the winter.

Yosemite’s fire personnel also responded to and suppressed two significant structure fires, including one which destroyed the historic El Portal Market.”

Source: http://www.nps.gov/yose/parknews/2008fire-ends.htm

Yosemite National Park

Tue, 10 Sep 2008 18:41:00 GMT

posted by caltraveler

Yosemite is a must for visitors to California. The landscape is stunning and definitely worth the trek. If you like outdoor activities (I prefer the drive by kind) there is plenty to do from camping, to hiking, to rock climbing and more. Regardless of whether you like to actively enjoy the outdoors or just passively enjoy it, Yosemite is definitely a spot to enjoy with a variety of scenery.

A drive through the valley is most impressive and this is the place for tourists. The majestic El Capitan looms over the valley. El Capitan is the largest granite monolith in the world.

Another impressive sight from the valley is Half Dome, a sight which can be seen from other points in the park. It is recognizable by its domed shape.

Yosemite is definitely worth the visit. While I didn't visit the Giant Sequoias in the park (I went to a different grove I will mention in another post) I would highly recommend visiting one of the groves in Yosemite. One of the groves (Mariposa) is seasonally accessible by car and the other two require hiking. The Giant Sequoias, however, are worth the hike as these are a sight to behold.

Driving through the park on the Tioga Road you will pass by Tenaya Lake, one of the few esily accessible lakes in the park, and through Tuolumne Meadows, which is generally less crowded than Yosemite Valley.

Continuing through the park on Tioga Road takes you through the Tioga Pass and outo f the park. Continue on the Tioga Road to where it meets US Route 395 in Lee Vining on Mono Lake. Travel further on up 395 and you can visit the ghost town of Bodie.

Yosemite National Park - Prescribed Fire

Thu, 26 Sep 2008 18:26:24 GMT

posted by ROCDAD
Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias Prescribed Fire

Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias prescribed fire perimeter map

When: This Prescribed Fire is scheduled to begin Tuesday, September 30, 2008. On September 30, 2008.
The National Park Service plans to conduct this prescribed Fire weather and air quality permitting,
Location: Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias is located in the Wawona area of the Park and near the southern entrance gate, in Mariposa County.
Size: Approximately 90 acres are planned to be burned. Ignition is expected to last one to two days. Fire information Officers and Interpretive Rangers will be present daily to answer visitor questions.
Fuels: Parts of each of these units have been burned in the past and are comprised primarily of White Fir and other mixed conifers.
Closures: No trail closures are anticipated. Daily tram tours and access to the Grizzly Giant will continue.
Air quality: Visitors will experience diminished air quality due to smoke accumulations. However, the burn is planned during ideal atmospheric conditions to mix and lift the smoke out of the area, Park fire managers will monitor smoke on a consistent basis. People with respiratory problems should use caution when exerting themselves in smoky areas.
Why Prescribed fire: Fire has a natural role in maintaining healthy ecosystems in Yosemite. Decades of fire suppression have altered the park’s natural fire regime.
The forests have become dense continuous stands of shrubs and trees increasing the risk of uncontrollable Wildland fires. Prescribed fire is designed to thin forests and reduce unnatural fuel loads in areas that are in close proximity to visitor use areas as well as public and private structures.
Giant Sequoia reproduction and propagation:
Fire produces the optimum conditions for Giant Sequoia reproduction and propagation. Fires not only removes the accumulated layers of dead woody debris exposing nutrient rich mineral soil, but dries the cones allowing the seeds to shed. Fire also creates holes in the forest canopy while eliminating shade tolerant competition.
For further information:
• Yosemite’s Fire Information Office: (209) 372-0480
• Yosemite’s Prescribed Fire Manager, Mike Beasley: (209) 375-9574
• Yosemite Fire Management Website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/2008fire.htm