Yosemite Travel Blog

We are still waiting for any snow to arrive in the Sierra!  Tioga Pass and Glacier Point Roads remain open – a good six weeks after the usual closing dates.  Skiers and snowshoers are frustrated that they can’t get out and play here yet.  But when the big snows arrive (they will) Yosemite...

The Sierra is having a remarkably (scary) dry winter so far and Yosemite’s Tioga Road and Glacier Point Road are both still open.  These are generally buried under many feet of snow after mid-November, so to be able to drive over the  highest highway pass in California at Christmastime is a...

If you follow the forecasts you’ll see that Yosemite winter conditions can vary between cold, snowy, wet, sunny, or mild and a winter visit can often feature a mix of all of these.   To some extent you can pick your weather by elevation: stay in Mariposa or El Portal in the foothills and you’re...

Yosemite’s waterfalls offer a mellow show at this time of year.  Ice builds up overnight at the top of Ribbon Fall and Yosemite Falls, then melts away as the sun warms the cliffs.  A lucky few visitors get to watch these spectacles in peace. Fall and Winter The park was quiet today but we...

Recent dry weather has allowed rangers to re-open both Tioga and Glacier Point Roads at the park’s higher elevations.  Glacier Point Road is only open as far as the Sentinel Dome trailhead because there’s still ice on the last mile of narrow, twisty switchbacks to the road’s end. ...

More snow arrived in Yosemite this week; the high country is cold and not accessible to vehicles.  Both Glacier Point Road and Tioga Pass Road are closed because of the snow and ice.  It may be that they’re now closed for the whole winter, but that’s yet to be formally determined.  (Mariposa...

The prescribed burn near Glacier Point Road and Hwy. 41 has been postponed a bit, due to moister weather, but fire crews are burning brush piles throughout the park instead. Aspen leaf in Yosemite waters Yosemite’s weather is terrific these days with blue skies and a few clouds to make it interesting:...

Yosemite’s park managers plan to ignite a 1400-acre prescribed fire today.  This is the first section of a 5200-acre burn that’s planned along Highway 41 between Wawona and the Glacier Point Road.  There’ll be several days of smoke production and travelers along Hwy. 41 should get...

Fall foliage color in Yosemite Valley is looking good now.   The one famed sugar maple across the street from the chapel is bright orange/red, the oaks are yellowing, the maples are very bright yellow in places.   Nights are chilly, there’s been frost in the very lowest meadow spots, but the...

While the Sierra does not have the renown for fall foliage color that New England has, we do have our own moments.  Now is such a special time, when the aspen on the range’s East Side turn bright yellow before going leafless for the winter.  Near Yosemite one great place to see brilliant aspen...