Last Friday, we went from the Wawona Tunnel up the Pohono Trail for two nights at Dewey Point. As everybody might have heard, it was an unseasonably warm weekend. The lowest we saw was 43F at 3am Sunday morning (measured by a thermometer well away from the tent). During the day it felt like early summer.
Snow starts past Inspiration Point, becoming between 5’ and 10’ around Dewey Point, melting very fast. It’s very well consolidated, though. In some open spots we sank down to our ankles, but it didn’t make sense to put on the snowshoes. In most other places it was solid other than a very thin slushy layer on top. Overshoes and microspikes were very helpful.
Saturday we hiked to the Bridalveil Bridge. It was slow going, despite the relatively solid snow. The melting made so many small humps and holes, navigation was difficult. Also, many temporary creeks appeared, one even fooled us into going the wrong way for a few minutes. Accessing liquid water was a challenge in many places, having to climb down the steep snow.
The Bridalveil Bridge had the remnants of a huge snow bank on the two ends, with the middle collapsed. It would have been impossible to cross at this time, but that situation won’t last long.
Other than that: birds are out in full force. Bugs are appearing, too, but we didn’t encounter any biting mosquitoes yet. All valley waterfalls are roaring, with many temporary ones making appearances.
I’ll post more pictures soon.
Steven
yourownhike.com
