Skip to main content

Yosemite National Park (Fall Season)

Continuing from my previous blog, Sunday was the third National Park visit of the weekend out in Yosemite.  Given Glacier Point is likely to close sometime in the next 45 days I took my passengers up to the overlook early in the morning.  There was actually a fairly decent amount of snow above 7,000 feet which had fallen the week previously.  Crowds were fairly light which is something I suspect was due to the cold temperature and ongoing fires.  Either way, still weird to see Glacier Point Road so free of traffic at 9:30 AM in the morning.


Glacier Point has had ongoing issues with the Empire Fire which has lapped up almost to the observation point and Glacier Point Road.  Glacier Point itself was actually closed for much of August due to ongoing fires.  There was actually three large forest fires between Oakhurst and Yosemite this year, as far as I know none of them caused serious damage.


Glacier Point is located at 7,214 feet above sea level and is about 3,200 feet above Yosemite Valley.  Looking at the of Yosemite Valley Panoramic left to right the following can be seen; Lower/Upper Yosemite Falls, the Merced River, Tenaya Canyon, Half Dome, Vernal Falls, and Nevada Falls.  The views of Yosemite Valley are probably among the best in the National Park system, or at least that's my opinion.






The most obvious feature of Yosemite Valley is the large granite crest; Half Dome.  Half Dome is located at 8,844 feet above sea level and can be seen from much of Yosemite National Park.  I've been pretty much everywhere in Yosemite but I'm debating actually pursuing a permit to climb Half Dome next year, the climb involves chain cables.





Approximately directly behind where I'm standing in the below picture was the location of the Glacier Point Hotel.  The Glacier Point Hotel opened in 1918 and operated until 1968 when winter storms caused damage to the roof.  The Glacier Point Hotel burned down in 1969 due to an electrical fire.





On the way back to the Wawona Road I stopped at an overlook of the Merced River Canyon.  The Merced River Canyon is the canyon located below Yosemite where the river continues westward.  CA 140 traverses the south bank of the Merced River Canyon to Briceburg while the Yosemite Valley Railroad once used the north bank.





There are no State Highways within the boundary of Yosemite National Park.  At one point the continuation of CA 140 was implied from the El Portal Road northwest to CA 120 via the Big Oak Flat Road before the new Tioga Pass Road was built.


The Tioga Pass Road is the implied connection of CA 120 through Yosemite over the Sierras which I covered in detail on AAroads:

Tioga Pass Road on AAroads

Approaching Yosemite Valley on the Wawona Road the Big Oak Flat Road can be seen descending on the northern rock fall face.  The Big Oak Flat Road was completed as a stage route I believe back in 1874.  CA 120 west of Yosemite uses much of the right-of-way established by the Big Oak Flat Stage Road.




As for the Wawona Road it was completed in 1882 as a stage route from the Wawona Hotel.  The Wawona Road originally used a series of switchbacks to reach Yosemite Valley before the Wawona Tunnel opened in 1933.  The Wawona Tunnel is 4,233 feet in length and I want to say is still the longest road tunnel in California.  The Tunnel View at the end of the Wawona Tunnel is largely considered to be one of the signature views of Yosemite.






As for Yosemite Valley, given my group largely consisted of first time visitors it was largely a site seeing oriented trip.  Primary the stops included El Captain and Lower Yosemite Falls.








Give that I'm not a fan of back tracking and I wanted an easier route of Yosemite on the weekend I took CA 140 through the Merced River Canyon.  CA 140 definitely is the fastest road and easiest to drive of any of route which approaches Yosemite.  CA 140 is largely below 2,000 feet at the bottom of the Merced River Canyon and is pretty much route of choice during winter chain restrictions.  Back in 2006 the Fergusson Slide took out part of CA 140 which was routed onto temporary bridges on the Yosemite Valley Railroad alignment on the north back of the canyon.







I covered the alignment history of CA 140 on AAroads roads earlier this year:

CA 140 History on AAroads

As for the Yosemite Valley Railroad, it ran from Merced to El Portal from 1907 to 1945.  The route of the Railroad is largely intact and can be observed easily with in the Merced River Canyon.  Rail traffic would disembark in El Portal and take a stage up to Yosemite Valley proper.  Much of the alignment of the railroad is submerged at times beneath Lake McClure at times along with the Bagby ghost town which used be on the line.  Really with automobile traffic becoming a reality in the Merced River Canyon there wasn't much of a need for a railroad which declined rapidly after CA 140 was built.  Landslides in the mid-40s didn't help keep the Yosemite Valley Railroad afloat as well, sad to see something that was probably really special in such disrepair. 




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tulare Lake returns

During the winter of 2023 California experienced one of the wettest seasons in recent decades.  Enough snow and water were deposited into the Sierra Nevada Mountains that the runoff was enough to partially reform Tulare Lake within San Joaquin Valley.  Tulare Lake was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi River by surface area.  Tulare Lake has been largely dried for the past century due to irrigation divisions and upstream impoundments.  This blog will examine the history of Tulare Lake and its recent return.  Pictured as the blog cover is Tulare Lake from 19th Avenue in Kings County during early May 2023.  Tulare Lake can be seen near its maximum extent below on the 1876 P.Y. Baker Map of Tulare County .   Part 1; the history of Tulare Lake Tulare Lake is the largest remnant of Lake Corcoran.  Lake Corcoran once covered much of the entire Central Valley due to being it being located at a in natural low point from where mountain run-off would accumulate.  Lake Corcoran is thou

Former US Route 101 through Sargent

  Sargent is a ghost town and siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad located in southern Santa Clara County.  The original alignment of US Route 101 was aligned through Sargent via what is now known as Old Monterey Road.  Sargent was bypassed gradually due to shifts of the alignment of US Route 101 which occurred during 1941 and 1950.  Pictured as the blog cover is a view on Old Monterey Road which is now no longer accessible to the general public.  Below is a scan of the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Santa Clara County which depicts the original alignment US Route 101 through Sargent.   Part 1; the history of US Route 101 in Sargent Sargent lies on land which was once part of Rancho Juristac.  During 1856 James P. Sargent purchased Rancho Juristac and plotted what was known as Sargent Ranch.  By 1869 the Southern Pacific Railroad coast line reached the relocated town site of Gilroy.  The Southern Pacific Railroad coast line would be constructed through Chittenden Pass by 1871 whic

California State Route 60/Former US Route 60/70 through the Moreno Valley Badlands west to Riverside

This past month I drove California State Route 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands westward towards the City of Riverside.  CA 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands was once part of the corridors of US Route 60 and US Route 70. The present route of CA 60 is a 70 mile (76 counting multiplex) slice of former US 60 between downtown Los Angeles east to I-10 near Beaumont.  The vast majority of CA 60 aside from a small section in the Moreno Valley Badlands is presently a freeway grade. For me CA 60 holds some personal history as it was the route I used most frequently accessing work sites in the Inland Empire circa 2011-2013.  Despite what many others probably would say I always really enjoyed the Moreno Valley Badlands portion of CA 60.  Considering I frequently worked on US 60 through Arizona and New Mexico the route holds even more appeal.  I even have a CA 60 shield hanging up in my garage. Part 1; History of Roadways in the Moreno Valley Badlands CA 60 between B