Yosemite waterfall wonders on display
Recharged by rain and snowmelt, the multitiered Yosemite Falls — photographed here from Sentinel Meadow — is among several waterfalls currently putting on a show at Yosemite National Park. The spectacle is likely to continue into midsummer, but the optimal chance to see it comes in the next two months before schools let out and the crowds arrive. For more on what’s open and what’s not at Yosemite, see Tom Stienstra’s Outdoors column.
In Yosemite Valley this week, you could gaze up from Cooks Meadow and take in the classic panorama of multitiered Yosemite Falls, where silvertasseled cascades glow against the north wall.
The world-class waterfall show is a go, from now into midsummer.
The melt-off of the giant snowpack has started in the high country, recharging Yosemite’s waterfalls, igniting the start of spring and transforming Yosemite Valley into an international showpiece.
This month and next are your best chances to see the spectacle before the masses show up when schools begin to let out. That is when 20,000 people from across the country — and the world — jam into 2.5 square miles of valley floor every day and when finding a parking spot after 10 a.m. is akin to winning the lottery.
In most years, the waterfalls peak in late May, coinciding with the arrival of the throngs of visitors. But this year offers a rare opportunity to take in the show for a full two months before then.
Epic snowpack: Heavy rains prime the watersheds and saturate the soils, but it is snowmelt that feeds Yosemite’s waterfalls. The March 1 snow survey showed that the Merced watershed’s water content was 177 percent of normal, according to Mark Fincher, Yosemite’s wilderness specialist. The water content of the Tuolumne drainage was 208 percent of normal, he said. Grace Meadow had 16½ feet of snow with a water content that represented 85 inches of rain. At Tuolumne Meadows, wilderness ranger Rob Pilewski reported last week that he measured a snowpack of 119 inches, an inch shy of 10 feet. That is deep enough to delay opening of the Tuolumne Meadows campground well into July, perhaps August.
Yosemite Valley: Everywhere you turn, it seems every crevice has water running down it. The most famous are three-tiered Yosemite Falls (2,425 feet), the curtain free-fall Bridalveil Fall (620 feet), and the Mist Trail’s Vernal Fall (317 feet) and Nevada Fall (594 feet) at the foot of Liberty Cap. But many others, for years nothing but a trickle, a wisp or dry, are flowing again: 1,612-foot Ribbon Fall, 2,000foot Sentinel Falls, 1,250-foot Royal Arch Cascade, 1,000-foot Horsetail Fall, 574-foot Silver Strand Falls.
Trail conditions: For Lower Yosemite Falls, the western trail is open, and the eastern trail is closed with ice. The Mist Trail is open to Vernal Fall, but above that it is closed at the junction with the John Muir Trail (ambitious trekkers with climbing gear can pass sections of ice to reach the top of Nevada Fall. The Four Mile Trail, which goes from the valley floor to Glacier Point, is open to Union Point, about halfway up.
Mirror Lake: On Monday, Yosemite park ranger Jamie Richards shared an Ansel Adams-quality photo of Mirror Lake reflecting Mount Watkins. Mirror Lake is near the foot of the face of Half Dome. A trail runs along the far side of the lake, fed by Tenaya Creek. To get the best photos, be sure you go after the sun has hit the water; when it freezes overnight, it renders the mirror effect inert until warm temperatures arrive. In late winter and early spring, this is a hike that gets overlooked (it’s crowded in summer and nowhere as scenic).
Hetch Hetchy: Now is the rare chance to make gorgeous Hetch Hetchy and its waterfalls your own. After you cross the dam and emerge from the tunnel, the water is framed by 5,772-foot Kolana Rock on the right and Hetch Hetchy Dome on the left. The trail spans 2.5 miles (oneway) past 880-foot Tueeulala Falls to the base of 1,400-foot Wapama Falls. Storm damage has closed access to Yosemite Valley from Highway 120/Big Oak Flat Road (so most take Highway 140 through Mariposa), and as a result Hetch Hetchy — reached via Evergreen Road just before the entrance to the park — is often overlooked. Hodgdon Meadow Campground is available at Big Oak Flat near the park entrance kiosk. Spring arrives a month earlier at Hetch Hetchy, at an elevation of 3,783 feet, than at many other destinations in the park. The trail is clear to Wapama Falls, but the bridge at the base of the falls is closed because of flood damage.
Tom Stienstra is the outdoors writer for The Chronicle. His Outdoor Report can be heard Saturdays on KCBS (740 and 106.9) at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m. Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com