Yosemite lodging, snow treks wide open
With its winter brush and 5 feet of snow this month, nature has painted a fresh coat across Yosemite, the world’s finest artwork.
The timing this week offers a rare opportunity for Northern Californians: the ability to venture across the living canvas of the Yosemite masterpiece, with lodging sites available, the Nordic Center opening Friday through Sunday, few people in the park and no out-of-staters in sight.
Through Wednesday night, up to 25 inches of fresh snow had piled up above 5,000 feet in a 48-hour span. This comes on top of 51 inches measured in a four-day period at the turn of the month. Locals only: Only 4 percent of the year’s visitors to Yosemite National Park arrive in March, according to park headquarters (6 percent in April). Most of those are from the San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento and the Bay Area. Lodging: As of Wednesday, you had your pick of lodging and campsites this weekend and next (Friday and Saturday nights). Weekday bookings are wide open. For anyone who has tried to book these same sites in July and August, this might seem to be a miracle. Glacier Point Road: It reopened last weekend from Chinquapin junction at Highway 41 up to Badger Pass at 7,200 feet, for access to the staging area for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. It had been closed all winter. Nordic Center: The Nordic Center at Badger Pass will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this month, with cross-country-ski and snowshoe rentals available, plus guided trips. Winter treks: For cross-country skiing, the plan is to groom Glacier Point Road with fresh tracks for 4.1 miles up to the Ostrander Point trailhead, said Sean Costello at the Nordic Center. Beyond, either toward Glacier Point or the loop route to Ostrander Hut, skiers likely will have to break trail Friday and perhaps Saturday morning. The same will be true for the snowshoe route, with signs and trail markers posted high on trees to keep you on track to Dewey Point for the world-class view.
To put this winter’s wild swings in focus, consider the report from wilderness rangers Laura and Rob Pilewski at Tuolumne Meadows (at 8,600 feet on closed Tioga Road): From December through February, they measured a total of 52 inches of snow, and then in a four-day span at the end of February, 51 inches. In an email, they said the levels of extremes include temperatures, when last week, the low temperature hit minus-12 on Monday, and then the next day, the high hit 46.
After a three-month dearth, the fresh snow at Yosemite arrives with near-perfect timing for Northern California residents.
Lodging lowdown
For this Friday and Saturday nights, rooms are available at the Ahwahnee, er, I mean, the Yosemite Majestic Hotel, as well as at Yosemite Valley Lodge (near the trailhead for the walk to Yosemite Falls). Heated wood cabins, canvas tent cabins, heated or unheated, are available in Half Dome Village.
Big Trees Lodge in Wawona opens for the season next Thursday. That will add to the room inventory and options before the masses arrive.
Outside the park, a check at several hotels showed a similar state of affairs. The historic Groveland Hotel, for instance, refreshed from big winter renovation, had rooms available for this weekend and next. Same with Tenaya Lodge (near Wawona and Fish Camp); any day, your pick.
“It really doesn’t start rockin’ and rollin’ until the end of the month,” said Melony Vance at the Groveland Hotel. That is because the first warm days of April will melt snow in the high country and jump-start the waterfalls in Yosemite Valley and begin attracting the big weekend crowds..
For visits to Yosemite, these types of opportunities are rare.
Historic trek to view
This week’s storms have transformed the high country into a virgin snowscape. You could break trail Friday and feel like you were the first person to trek from Badger Pass across to Dewey Point and the south rim of Yosemite Valley, to claim the towering perch and lay eyes on the showpiece of the world. Just like John Muir saw it.
It’s a 9.8-mile round trip, easy when following the tracks of others, likely by late Saturday or Sunday. From the parking area at Badger Pass (7,200 feet), you walk 1.4 miles up Glacier Point Road to Summit Meadow and the turnoff for the Dewey Point Meadow Trail. Turn left and look for the yellow markers, triangle or rectangles, some with the number 18, high on the tree trunks, that mark the route. It is 2.5 miles with a gradual climb to the Dewey Point Trail, then another mile down the other side to Dewey Point.
Dewey Point is a towering exposed crag at 7,385 feet, off which the snow melts quickly. Last weekend, for instance, the rock exposure was bare, and by afternoon, warm, an ideal perch with a view.
From the brink, the walls plunge 3,000 feet to the valley floor. Directly across is 7,573foot El Capitan. To the right is Cathedral Spire and Taft Point. Beyond at the foot of the valley is Half Dome, and on its spine, Clouds Rest. Dozens of 12,000foot peaks rise from the horizon.
You could search across North America and not get a better adventure trek with a view across nature’s masterpiece artwork. Or in the next two weeks or so, have a better opportunity to make the trip.