Yosemite Valley Ciruit 5/11-5/16
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 8:11 pm
Yosemite trip 5/11-5/16
In one word: DRY!! Nothing like previous years. No snow at all. Few if any mosquitoes except dusk in Yosemite Valley. Hot days.
5/11 Tunnel View to Bridalveil Creek. Artist Creek running. Small creeks both sides of Stanford Point- running but very little. I was going to camp on Dewey Point but no water at normal sources. Trail in poor condition. Many very LARGE fallen trees that have to be worked around or climbed over. Particularly bad from Dewey Point to Bridalveil Creek. Warm during day, froze at about 6AM.
5/12 Bridalveil Creek to bridges over river above Bunnell Falls. Trail not as bad but still some deadfall. Just a few wet spots on the trail from Taft Point to Glacier Road. Trail over Sentinal Dome a bit confusing at the junction up top. Fallen logs obscure the trail. Several logs over the trail from Glacier Point to Illouette Bridge. Not large but real leg-bruisers if not careful. Some seepage from the top of Panorama Trail to Nevada Falls and a bit of wet trail. Little Yosemite Valley and up to Bunnell Falls totally dry. Trail crews have recently sawed logs on the trail up to Merced Lake.
5/13 Bridges over Merced River above Bunnell Falls to small tarn on Cross Trail. Water still seeping at the top of the trail to Echo Valley, but no wading needed. The river is well below the bridge to Echo Valley. Amazingly, the entire trail across Echo Valley up to Merced Lake is totally dry except for one small section. No wading needed. The small tarn is a bit low but still full of ducks. No outlet flow from the tarn down the slabs.
5/14 Cross Trail to JMT down to junction of Clouds Rest trail. VERY SAD! No wading required on any small creeks. Sunrise Creek also very low- I would be surprised if it lasted more than a few months. After about half a mile on the trail, the burned area is very sad. Trail crews have recently sawed logs that blocked the trail, but the JMT particularly is extremely overgrown with cat's claw (I think that is what it is- thigh high and thorny). Not a bit of snow. Hiked up to Half Dome saddle and out to rim. There is one tiny snow patch in the saddle between Half Dome and Quarter Dome.
5/15 JMT down to Valley. Still water seeping on your head on that portion of the trail that always drips. Merced River and Nevada Falls far from normal peak but flowing well. Clouds built in the afternoon- got a few sprinkles. Trail in good condition. TONS of people! Seriously, do not go to Yosemite unless you are vaccinated. NOBODY is wearing masks or following any rules.
5/16 Valley trails and up Glacier Point Road to Tunnel View. Valley is fantastic as usual (just ignore the crowds). Evidently the last weekend before reserved day use is started, so everyone was taking advantage of this. Horrible traffic jams. Dogwoods blooming- a bit past prime in the valley but peak up on top at 120 jct. Unusually dry in the Valley- wildflowers a bit past peak, grasses beginning to dry up. The south side trail below Cathedral Rock is still good- in shade with mosses and very green. Construction on Bridalveil parking- have to go out on road. I walked up the road shoulder- right (downslope side) shoulder is pretty good with a nice curb. Still road walking but relatively safe. I did not do the old Glacier Point Road because given the condition on the Pohono Trail I was worried that there would be a lot of deadfall and damage to deal with.
Only saw 2 people above Little Yosemite Campground and Sunrise "pass through" campsites. Very few on Pohono Trail. TONS on Panorama, and the Nevada Falls Loop. Lots of posted "COVID rules", no enforcement, sort of a free-for-all. They did do a good job of checking that everyone in the Backpacker's campground were actually backpackers with permits. BP campground was only about half full.
Added note: Lots of smaller branch debris on most trails that have not been cleaned up even on trails that have been worked on.
In one word: DRY!! Nothing like previous years. No snow at all. Few if any mosquitoes except dusk in Yosemite Valley. Hot days.
5/11 Tunnel View to Bridalveil Creek. Artist Creek running. Small creeks both sides of Stanford Point- running but very little. I was going to camp on Dewey Point but no water at normal sources. Trail in poor condition. Many very LARGE fallen trees that have to be worked around or climbed over. Particularly bad from Dewey Point to Bridalveil Creek. Warm during day, froze at about 6AM.
5/12 Bridalveil Creek to bridges over river above Bunnell Falls. Trail not as bad but still some deadfall. Just a few wet spots on the trail from Taft Point to Glacier Road. Trail over Sentinal Dome a bit confusing at the junction up top. Fallen logs obscure the trail. Several logs over the trail from Glacier Point to Illouette Bridge. Not large but real leg-bruisers if not careful. Some seepage from the top of Panorama Trail to Nevada Falls and a bit of wet trail. Little Yosemite Valley and up to Bunnell Falls totally dry. Trail crews have recently sawed logs on the trail up to Merced Lake.
5/13 Bridges over Merced River above Bunnell Falls to small tarn on Cross Trail. Water still seeping at the top of the trail to Echo Valley, but no wading needed. The river is well below the bridge to Echo Valley. Amazingly, the entire trail across Echo Valley up to Merced Lake is totally dry except for one small section. No wading needed. The small tarn is a bit low but still full of ducks. No outlet flow from the tarn down the slabs.
5/14 Cross Trail to JMT down to junction of Clouds Rest trail. VERY SAD! No wading required on any small creeks. Sunrise Creek also very low- I would be surprised if it lasted more than a few months. After about half a mile on the trail, the burned area is very sad. Trail crews have recently sawed logs that blocked the trail, but the JMT particularly is extremely overgrown with cat's claw (I think that is what it is- thigh high and thorny). Not a bit of snow. Hiked up to Half Dome saddle and out to rim. There is one tiny snow patch in the saddle between Half Dome and Quarter Dome.
5/15 JMT down to Valley. Still water seeping on your head on that portion of the trail that always drips. Merced River and Nevada Falls far from normal peak but flowing well. Clouds built in the afternoon- got a few sprinkles. Trail in good condition. TONS of people! Seriously, do not go to Yosemite unless you are vaccinated. NOBODY is wearing masks or following any rules.
5/16 Valley trails and up Glacier Point Road to Tunnel View. Valley is fantastic as usual (just ignore the crowds). Evidently the last weekend before reserved day use is started, so everyone was taking advantage of this. Horrible traffic jams. Dogwoods blooming- a bit past prime in the valley but peak up on top at 120 jct. Unusually dry in the Valley- wildflowers a bit past peak, grasses beginning to dry up. The south side trail below Cathedral Rock is still good- in shade with mosses and very green. Construction on Bridalveil parking- have to go out on road. I walked up the road shoulder- right (downslope side) shoulder is pretty good with a nice curb. Still road walking but relatively safe. I did not do the old Glacier Point Road because given the condition on the Pohono Trail I was worried that there would be a lot of deadfall and damage to deal with.
Only saw 2 people above Little Yosemite Campground and Sunrise "pass through" campsites. Very few on Pohono Trail. TONS on Panorama, and the Nevada Falls Loop. Lots of posted "COVID rules", no enforcement, sort of a free-for-all. They did do a good job of checking that everyone in the Backpacker's campground were actually backpackers with permits. BP campground was only about half full.
Added note: Lots of smaller branch debris on most trails that have not been cleaned up even on trails that have been worked on.