Thanks to Kim Fishburn and Tom Clark, I found these pictures from an early October snowfall in 2011. So we had snow accumulation in early October in 2015 and 2011. May happen again this weekend judging from recent weather warnings.

This is October 5, 2011 Tuolumne Meadows from the YNP page on Facebook. The accompanying text read "Our Tuolumne Meadows wilderness rangers are still up in Tuolumne Meadows and are reporting about 12 to 18 inches of snow. (Yes, this picture is from today!)?The Tioga and Glacier Point Roads remain *temporarily* closed; we're not sure how long it will take to reopen them."



To see directly on FB see?
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John Curran Ladd
1616 Castro Street
San Francisco, CA? 94114-3707
415-648-9279

There is a very good one very near the new location at the end of A Loop.

开云体育

That's kind of a funny complaint for a 200+ mile walk. The nearest bathroom is about 500 feet away. The next nearest it's maybe 100 feet further. I don't know if it's real or photoshopped but you can find an image on the web of a 24 hour fitness gym with an escalator.

Hopefully they'll be adding a bathroom near the backpackers sites. I was a little surprised at how far I had to walk last year.

A side effect of having no accommodations for backpackers in Tuolumne during the campground renovation is that this will put more pressure on the backcountry in the Lyell Canyon and Cathedral Lakes area (and maybe Sunrise). I suspect most JMT thru hikers starting at Happy Isles will camp at one of the Cathedral Lakes and then camp at the first legal camping in Lyell Canyon four miles from Tuolumne. I hope Yosemite has considered this side effect of closing the backpacker campground.

Here's what I think we can do: point this out to them in the last question:? I included a comment to the effect that they could take a look at increasig their ridership by looking closer at the summer patterns: weekend Reno Service, more trailheads, coordinating USFS on permit issuing times and YARTS on connections etc.

Steve:? This is a highly valuable process you have initiated, and I intend to participate and support in any way I can.? Two priorities are on my screen: weekend Reno service and Tuolumne Meadows.

First Tuolumne: for the next two or three years, there is no backpacker camp planned for Tuolumne.? At the same time, the allocation of JMT/Donohue permits to Tuolumne has increased, to a full two-thirds of the total, 30 of the 45 Donohue permits.? Because of the campground closure, both early starts and transportation out of Tuolumne on exit are going to be very difficult.? In addition to the afternoon service, early morning service and increased shuttle service between TM? and the east side campgrounds between Bishop and Bridgeport could go a long way to getting us through the interim, and relieving pressure? on the new facility going forward. Effective coordination with YARTS could help here, as well.

I think the need for weekend Reno service has been apparent for years, so no need to dwell on that.

I encourage everyone to support this survey effort, and please consider particular emphasis on Tuolumne and the other? hot spots Steve has mentioned.? Squeaky wheel, y'all.

I just submitted feedback and mentioned weekend service and a Whitney Portal/Horseshoe Meadow shuttle. If they do something similar to the Bishop Creek shuttle in the Lone Pine area, that would be great for a large number of backpackers and day hikers.

On Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 09:10 AM, Henning Rech wrote:

In future, those who like can use location devices like Apple AirTag for such purpose. E. g. in the lid of your bear can. May also help you to find your bear can the next morning. All you need is always?take the phone with you.

Just be careful when following your AirTags... it may lead you to a bear's den if the bear ate the AirTag. :)

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The application 'Fire and Smoke' shows relatively dark smoke conditions across the entire Southern Sierra. Does anyone have recent experience in the Cottonwood Lakes area?

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I once reached the top of a dayhike (in daylight) but got disoriented when it was time to start back down. I started down the wrong way, but my dog started down the right way, so I followed her :-). After that, whenever I did that hike, I left one trekking pole at the start of the trail down so I could spot it.

Re leaving/not leaving gear on the trail when you leave it for a bathroom break - some groups ask its members to do that, so that the person bringing up the rear doesn't assume that you are ahead.

On the same theme, I have put small strips of reflective tape on 4 sides of my bearcan and some on my pack. I've found it useful at times for "homing" in the dark. I usually sleep cowboy, so the reflective guylines (great point) would not be enough for me. Surprisingly easy to get disoriented.

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John Curran Ladd
1616 Castro Street
San Francisco, CA? 94114-3707
415-648-9279

It's a very sad story and somewhat hard to understand, but she actually survived 26 days after getting lost according to her journal entries. So she had some survival skills, but somehow just couldn't find a way to hike out.



I think this situation will always be somewhat of a mystery:

"The camp was less than two miles from the Appalachian trail. Adam wrote that walking south from the campsite, the dense forest became open woods with good visibility after 60-70 yards, and after another 25 minutes he found “a clear logging road” that led to lodging. In total the walk took about 30 minutes."