Driving from spring at the Central Valley into winter at Yosemite National Park (28.2.-1.3.09)

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We left San Francisco in the morning to escape a huge pacific weather depression that was heading with a lot of rain for the coast and predicted snow fall for the mountains. We wanted to do the next day a hike at the famous Yosemite National Park and feared this would not be possible due to snow. Also tire chains maybe required at bad winter conditions; we had none and were also not allowed to use them on a rental car. So we decided to leave San Francisco early and headed full speed on the 3-4 hour trip to the National Park more or less straight east of San Francisco. It was somehow strange since we passed blooming apple and almond trees at the central valley, spring seemed to be everywhere and it was hard to imagine snow tire winter conditions just 100 km further east. As it is always when you do not have time, we missed a turn and headed straight south until we noticed our mistake after 30 minutes. A supposed short cut back to the main street ended in hilly pre-mountain terrain and the journey took us in the end 6 hours. We did not regret it since the pre-mountain area has its own fascination with a lot of lakes and old historic town from the gold rush time with Salons right of an old John Wayne movie.
We hit finally the main mountain range with the park entrance and yes there was snow. Still enough to cover the valley bottom and plenty at the mountain tops. Chains were not required and snow fall was predicted for only next afternoon. We did a short afternoon hike at mirror lake, got surprised by the fast sunset and had to pitch our tent at night. It got pretty cold with temperatures around freezing, but still above the -10 C level of our sleeping bags.

We woke up next morning in a stunning landscape of big sequoia trees and snow. The weather was still reasonable with a cloudy sky and day time temperatures of about 8 C. We did a nice 5h return hike to the top level of the major waterfall with good views over the valley to the Half Dome Mountain. This is a peak of solid monolith granite cut in half. It can be climbed only with the support of iron chains mounted late spring - a project for the next time. The Yosemite Valley is unique since it was created by uprising inner Earth magmatic rocks (granite), cut into by a river, polished by glaciers and filled later with a plain layer of sediments. This results in a geological feature that is found in such a pronounced way nowhere else. We left the park in the afternoon and went south. The snow disappeared soon and again the blooming fruit trees of the central valley greeted us on our way to Death Valley.

Practicalities:
Yosemite National Park Entrance fee 20 US$ per car
Camp ground 20 US$ per site

The “America the Beautiful” annual pass is valid for one year in all American National Parks and National Recreation sites (not in state parks!). It covers access for the car including passengers and is personalized for two persons. Cost 80 US$. A great deal if more than four parks are visited.

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