Snow in Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite National Park was stunning! Jerry, I, Devin and Jane caught a bus from San Francisco to Merced, four hours away. The highway passed through kilometres of low rounded green hills, each covered with rows of wind turbines. After the turbines we travelled for a couple of hours along a busy highway lined with mall towns - there seemed to be dozens of them, all seemed to consist of large low level shopping malls, fast food cafes, sale yards for RV vehicles and cheap housing. Merced was reached after dark and our lovely hotel room was a welcome sight. Up early next morning to catch the bus for the 3 hour drive into Yosemite National Park. Pretty countryside with a sprinkling of snow in a couple of places. The road to the park wound along the fast flowing Merced River for the last half of the trip - it really was beautiful scenery! By the time we arrived at the park the snow was quite heavy on the ground - we were all thrilled at what was an unexpected sight.
Check in was not until 5pm so we put our bags in an anti bear box. Black bears are a major problem in the area though I’m sure all sensible bears would have still been hibernating! It was freezing cold and we were all wrapped up in woolly gear. We spent an exhilarating day crunching along the snowy paths - the trees were heavy with snow crystals, the lake edges were starting to freeze (there had been no snow in the park a couple of days before - a late winter storm had bought this snow fall) and it was slippery in places.
Towering over us were walls of granite - Sentinel Rock and the massive Half Dome which dominated the central park area.
We were surprised to see some people camping, their tents weighted down with snow. Most of the campsites were closed for winter, as were the higher areas of the Park. The skiing area at Badger Pass was open though we didn’t visit it. To get between the main walking paths there was a free shuttle bus operating - a great way to get an overview of the park and to stay warm. After visiting Mirror Lake we headed off to check out Yosemite Falls - the highest in North America at 2425 feet (the height of a 63 story building). It fell in two falls and you could walk (climb) to the top of them, though obviously not in the current weather conditions. We saw squirrels and lots of deer around the park. Jane and I headed back to the main lounge area for an open fire and a glass of wine whilst Jerry and Devin did some more walking. It was getting pretty slushy underfoot as the snow on the paths was melting.
That evening we slept indoors - most of the accommodation was in permanent tents but we had basic heated rooms with indoor bathroom. It wouldn’t have been much fun going out in the dark and cold to visit the loos! Also if you stayed in a tent everything with a smell (toiletries and food) had to be locked in bear proof boxes. We had been told that a severe snow storm was to hit the valley during the night and we woke next morning to snow falling. It got heavier as we ate breakfast and was nearly a white out as we left the park. Even a skiing competition at Badger Pass was cancelled due to the weather. Some of the roads out were already closed and all cars were being checked for snow chains before they were allowed to leave.
We all loved the area and are all hoping to come back one day - it would be a beautiful park in spring or autumn, though it was a wonderful unexpected bonus to see it under snow. The snow eased as we drove further away from the park and on our arrival in Merced we found that they had also had some bad weather with very high winds. We spent a few hours at the airport waiting for our flight to Las Vegas to leave. The trip was probably the worst I’ve ever had - we were the only four people on the 19 seat plane we hit some bad turbulence in the last half hour of the flight which even set the alarms on the plane off. We WERRE all very happy to arrive safely on the ground in Vegas!

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Photos

Devin, Jerry and I in Yosemite
Courtesy of Devin's camera and Jane's photography skills!

Our private flight from Merced to Las Vegas
Courtesy of Devin

Comments

[Rosemary]

Beautiful
Thank God you are traveling and blogging again, fantastic writing and photos as usual