Ribbon Fall

 If there were nothing else in the park, these two places would still be world-class on their own.  We even put El Capitan’s profile on our money: the 2012 California quarter features the big rock as seen from “Valley View”.  (You can also see Bridalveil Fall from here, but that was too big to fit on a 25-cent piece.)

There are some interesting things that people drive by without seeing.  You can get a great look at the Valley’s west end by walking  a very pleasant bridle trail that loops the whole thing in a 5-6 mile jaunt.  If you park at Bridalveil Fall when you first enter Yosemite Valley, you’ll find the trail heading east on the right side of the one-way road with a small sign marking some destinations.  Follow it uphill over the terminal moraine (boulder debris pile) left by the last glacier, and along the dramatic base of the Cathedral Rocks; there’s a grand view of El Cap just a few minutes along that hardly anyone sees.  Beyond Cathedral Rocks you cross another section of end moraine, then have some quiet walking through old growth Douglas-fir and white fir trees, where the trail leaves the road a bit.  Watch for where a popular rockclimbers’ trail comes in from the left; you’ll see a small parking pull-out where climbers park to climb Cathedral Spires.  Take this cut-off to the El Capitan Cross-over Road which brings you north over the Merced River. 

If it’s April-June or September-October, be sure to stop and look at rockclimbers through the telescope on the bridge; our local climbing association is stationed here just to educate people about the sport.  Pick up the trail again on the right as soon as you come off the bridge.  After a couple hundred yards, cross the street at the busy dirt pull-through parking and you’ll find the trail sign that says, “Bridalveil Fall.”  Great views of the Capitan here, now that you’re right beneath it.  Now head west in the forest between El Cap and Northside Drive. 

Soon you’ll come to Ribbon Creek’s several channels.  In spring you might need to walk along the roadside to get by; in fall you might not notice any creek at all.  Look up through the trees to see the Valley’s tallest single-drop waterfall: at 1600′ Ribbon Fall is a longer fall than Upper Yosemite Falls.  It’s less well known because its seasonal life is shorter, it’s tucked into an alcove -and it’s in the unknown west end.  Beyond the creek is a crumbling roadbed; this is the Old Big Oak Flat Road, which entered the Valley in 1874 – imagine making your visit via a dusty, multi-day carriage ride.  Next comes the Valley’s woodyard and brushpile.  A CCC camp was built here in 1937; a few remnants remain if you’re sharp-eyed.  The pleasant route continues, over a couple more glacial moraines, then comes back to the road.  Cross Pohono Bridge and return another mile upstream to Bridalveil Creek. 

I bet you hardly saw anyone for most of this walk – even if you do this on a holiday weekend.  The Yosemite Field Institute usually leads a day-long hike here each spring and will show you far more stuff than I’ve mentioned here.  Right in busy Yosemite Valley there is something new and somewhere quiet to be explored.

Lower Yosemite Falls

You can see Upper Yosemite Falls from most of eastern Yosemite Valley – in spring it’ll really grab your attention as you drive into Chapel Meadow (in the autumn you might miss it).   The visibility of the tallest waterfall in North America makes it easy to navigate to this target just by eyeballing the way.  The falls is located between Yosemite Village and Yosemite Lodge. 

There’s no longer a parking lot near the foot of the waterfall-Yosemite lovers donated millions to remove the parking lot and improve the foot trail and signage.  Unless you’re a guest at Yosemite Lodge, the best parking for all activities in/near Yosemite Village is the Day Use Parking Area (Camp 6).  From here it’s about a mile of flat walking to the base of the falls, or you can take the free shuttle from the parking to the trailhead.  If you’ve got your bikes (or rented bikes at the Lodge or Curry Village) there are great bike trails to the trailhead – but obey the rules and don’t bring your bike on the busy pedestrian paths; there are bike racks near the falls shuttle stop. 

The trail makes a loop on either side of Yosemite Creek with the eastern (toward Half Dome) side being at wheelchair grade the whole way.  There’s a new, large bathroom near the Lodge end of the loop.  It’s a short stroll to find food at Yosemite Lodge or in the Village.

There are some quality interpretive signs/exhibits along the trail.  One display is a brass sculpture of the landscape around the falls, so you can orient yourself both horizontally and vertically.  From other signs you’ll learn about an early hotel keeper, the falls in different seasons, some park wildlife, and John Muir.  You can see two spots where Muir lived and a faint remnant of one of his workplaces.  Sometimes you see rockclimbers on the walls to either side of the waterfall.  Lower Yosemite Falls is a drop of about 320 feet – about twice as high as the American side of Niagara.  There’s a broad viewing platform adjoining a wooden footbridge over Yosemite Creek.  Thousands of family vacation portraits are taken from this terrace each year, with the roaring fall beyond. 

In April you might get lucky and see the incredible frazil ice.  If you come in May or June the base of the fall is an intense windy, misty place – too powerful to linger long.  If you come August-September there may not be a single drop of water here – that’s California’s Mediterranean climate: winter storms bring snow and when that’s all melted the waterworks are over.   Full moon nights during spring runoff provide a chance to see the elusive ’moonbow’ here.

Yosemite Falls has been waiting; come and be baptized in its mist.

Yosemite Falls in Snow

For skiers: Badger Pass Ski Area opened today for the season.  Lifts will serve all the slopes, lessons will be in session, snowshoes will be rented out to hikers, ranger snowshoe walks go out every day and the XC trails will all be open (free, as always!)  Badger Pass is one of the smaller ski areas in California, but it is the first in the West and it’s a great place to learn.  A big plus for many skiers is getting to stay in Yosemite Valley.

For travelers from the Bay Area: Heavy rain loosened some boulders on the slopes of our canyon which fell down on the road between Yosemite Valley and Crane Flat over the weekend.  If you’re coming to the park from the Bay Area or Sacramento, you probably want to detour a bit further south to come in on Highway 140 via Mariposa.  If you enter the park on Highway 120, you cannot get to Yosemite Valley, but you can still get to two giant sequoia groves, and the endless view from the Crane Flat Fire Lookout.  This road closure is expected to be in effect for at least 3-4 weeks.  Call the NPS road conditions recording at 209/272-0200 for updates.

UPDATE: NPS road crews have done an amazing job to rebuild this road and the road opens Saturday 28 January!

For Half Dome hikers:  This summer’s Wilderness permits for overnight backpackers are the same as they’ve always been.  The summertime day hiker permits are a little different this year: you need to apply in March at recreation.gov to a lottery that happens in April.  Those 300 day hiker permits per day will be issued for the whole season, which generally runs from late May to mid-October.  Separate from this summer’s permit system, the park is seeking public comments on the future management of the cable route to the summit of Half Dome at nps.gov/yose.  If you have an idea about protecting Half Dome and providing for people’s enjoyment of it, now’s a good time to weigh in. 

For ice skaters: Alas, the remarkable experience of ice skating on Tenaya Lake has ended with the closure of Tioga Road.  You can still have a great Yosemite ice skating experience at the outdoor rink at Curry Village.  From here you can look up at snowy Half Dome – something you can’t do at Tenaya Lake (where there’s also no Zamboni).

Once in a lifetime!  The remarkably dry winter of 2012 in the Sierra Nevada has created unheard-of experiences for Yosemite visitors.  The high-country corridor of Tioga Road is open to vehicles later in the season than it’s ever been in history, and people can access the summertime playground of Tuolumne Meadows.  Along Tioga Road, the mile-long expanse of Tenaya Lake is frozen solid and dozens of people can be found ice skating or just walking around in the middle of the lake.

Tenaya Lake is about a 90-minute drive from Yosemite Valley.  It is situated at 8500′ and is surrounded by the towering Tenaya Peak and granite domes named Pywiack, Polly and Stately Pleasure.   The road there and the lake itself are usually deep under snow by now.

For the moment you can do the inconceivable: drive up and ice skate on this glassy bowl.

Be careful: ice is slippery.  Keep dogs off the lake.  Do your best to ‘Leave No Trace’ with this rare treat.

UPDATE: Tioga Road is now closed in advance of a significant winter storm arriving this evening (Thu 19 January).  Glacier Point Road will likely close soon.