2021 Conditions Reports

[Wandering Daisy]

Yosemite trip 5/11-5/16

In one word: DRY!! Nothing like previous years. No snow at all. Few if any mosquitoes except dusk in Yosemite Valley. Hot days.

5/11 Tunnel View to Bridalveil Creek. Artist Creek running. Small creeks both sides of Stanford Point- running but very little. I was going to camp on Dewey Point but no water at normal sources. Trail in poor condition. Many very LARGE fallen trees that have to be worked around or climbed over. Particularly bad from Dewey Point to Bridalveil Creek. Warm during day, froze at about 6AM.

5/12 Bridalveil Creek to bridges over river above Bunnell Falls. Trail not as bad but still some deadfall. Just a few wet spots on the trail from Taft Point to Glacier Road. Trail over Sentinal Dome a bit confusing at the junction up top. Fallen logs obscure the trail. Several logs over the trail from Glacier Point to Illouette Bridge. Not large but real leg-bruisers if not careful. Some seepage from the top of Panorama Trail to Nevada Falls and a bit of wet trail. Little Yosemite Valley and up to Bunnell Falls totally dry. Trail crews have recently sawed logs on the trail up to Merced Lake.

5/13 Bridges over Merced River above Bunnell Falls to small tarn on Cross Trail. Water still seeping at the top of the trail to Echo Valley, but no wading needed. The river is well below the bridge to Echo Valley. Amazingly, the entire trail across Echo Valley up to Merced Lake is totally dry except for one small section. No wading needed. The small tarn is a bit low but still full of ducks. No outlet flow from the tarn down the slabs.

5/14 Cross Trail to JMT down to junction of Clouds Rest trail. VERY SAD! No wading required on any small creeks. Sunrise Creek also very low- I would be surprised if it lasted more than a few months. After about half a mile on the trail, the burned area is very sad. Trail crews have recently sawed logs that blocked the trail, but the JMT particularly is extremely overgrown with cat's claw (I think that is what it is- thigh high and thorny). Not a bit of snow. Hiked up to Half Dome saddle and out to rim. There is one tiny snow patch in the saddle between Half Dome and Quarter Dome.

5/15 JMT down to Valley. Still water seeping on your head on that portion of the trail that always drips. Merced River and Nevada Falls far from normal peak but flowing well. Clouds built in the afternoon- got a few sprinkles. Trail in good condition. TONS of people! Seriously, do not go to Yosemite unless you are vaccinated. NOBODY is wearing masks or following any rules.

5/16 Valley trails and up Glacier Point Road to Tunnel View. Valley is fantastic as usual (just ignore the crowds). Evidently the last weekend before reserved day use is started, so everyone was taking advantage of this. Horrible traffic jams. Dogwoods blooming- a bit past prime in the valley but peak up on top at 120 jct. Unusually dry in the Valley- wildflowers a bit past peak, grasses beginning to dry up. The south side trail below Cathedral Rock is still good- in shade with mosses and very green. Construction on Bridalveil parking- have to go out on road. I walked up the road shoulder- right (downslope side) shoulder is pretty good with a nice curb. Still road walking but relatively safe. I did not do the old Glacier Point Road because given the condition on the Pohono Trail I was worried that there would be a lot of deadfall and damage to deal with.

Only saw 2 people above Little Yosemite Campground and Sunrise "pass through" campsites. Very few on Pohono Trail. TONS on Panorama, and the Nevada Falls Loop. Lots of posted "COVID rules", no enforcement, sort of a free-for-all. They did do a good job of checking that everyone in the Backpacker's campground were actually backpackers with permits. BP campground was only about half full.

Added note: Lots of smaller branch debris on most trails that have not been cleaned up even on trails that have been worked on.

[mputt]

Are the lake levels in humphreys basin and bishop pass area low?

[kdemtchouk]

Deadman Canyon Loop 5/14-5/16 (HST->Elizabeth Pass->Roaring River->Siliman Pass->Wolverton TH)

Overall, conditions were warm and there was not much snow. The bugs aren't out yet and creek crossings are not a major hassle (calf to knee high at most). Water sources are plentiful (most seasonal creeks are flowing freely, though a few have already dried).

The HST from Panther Gap to the Tamarack Lake lateral junction was snow free. Tamarack Lake had some patches of snow and the water was just barely, barely swimmable (for about 10 seconds haha).

The South side of Elizabeth Pass is entirely snow-free. The North side has about 1,500 vertical ft of snow to deal with. We glissaded down most of it with some minimal postholing at around 12pm.

Upper & lower Deadman canyon are snow free and the crossings of Deadman Creek are straightforward.

[SSSdave]

Yosemite trip 5/11-5/16...Trail crews have recently sawed logs that blocked the trail, but the JMT particularly is extremely overgrown with cat's claw (I think that is what it is- thigh high and thorny)... Merced River and Nevada Falls far from normal peak but flowing well. Clouds built in the afternoon- got a few sprinkles. Trail in good condition. TONS of people! Seriously, do not go to Yosemite unless you are vaccinated. NOBODY is wearing masks or following any rules...TONS on Panorama, and the Nevada Falls Loop. Lots of posted "COVID rules", no enforcement, sort of a free-for-all. They did do a good job of checking that everyone in the Backpacker's campground were actually backpackers with permits. BP campground was only about half full.

Thanks WD for your excellent report. At this point given the recent announcements from the CDC and Biden plus media science based news stories on how almost no one over many months has been catching COVID outdoors, people ought not expect others to continue to wear masks or maintain 6 foot distances outdoors on trails even though Newsom relented and is extending that guidance till June 15. Indoors is more controversial. Thus those concerned are now responsible for themselves by wearing a quality N95 or better type mask and taking precautions. Here in San Jose the majority of people on streets and in parks are no longer wearing masks outdoors as that reality soaks in.

The thorny brush is Mountain Whitethorn, ceanothus cordulatus that is abundant at 5k to 8k elevations, especially on sunny exposures that have burned. Nasty stuff to avoid using GE planning. Rim Fire burned spotty areas here. On Google Earth it shows as a bluish green vegetation area though on caltopo is just green. Since you mentioned a next target of Falls Creek, below is an image of the trail below Beehive Meadow. To reach Vernon at 11 miles 3100 feet of vertical in a day is strenuous for most of us. One might break up that effort by the first day just hiking up from the 3.8k dam to about 6.3k or 2.5k and 5.5 miles to that frog pond. Above the trail frog pond is mostly all mountain white thorn. I would not recommend any near trailside or lakeside tent spots if one wishes to avoid bears that are notorious in this zone. Instead, at the pond traverse east 750 feet to a seasonal stream, cross it, continue a bit to find a camp spot in trees. Likewise at Vernon, stay well away from the many well-used lake side camps. Downstream bright sunny bedrock areas may also have few mosquitoes.

Beehive1.jpg

[Love the Sierra]

I just returned from Golden Lake yesterday, 5/25. Detailed TR with pics coming this weekend. However, I wanted to post the conditions ASAP for all of you. Road to Mosquito Flat is open even though the Inyo web site said it was closed at the Pack station. (At least as of the 21st when I looked.)
The trail is dry until the end of the switchbacks heading up to Mono Pass. Above the switchbacks, there is still plenty of snow. Trail runners were going up and down it without poles or traction devices. I was happy, in the morning, to have my crampons. It could have been doable without traction devices and just poles and sturdy boots to stomp a pad. However, going up in the morning after the snow storm on the 23rd, I found the crampons much less fatiguing and I was happy that I had them. Coming down in the late afternoon of a sunny day, I was able to just heel plunge with boots and poles.
Ironically, on the North side you can easily find a dry route until Summit Lake.

Dry from the top of the barren switchbacks to Trail Lake then plenty of snow in the forest switchbacks going from Trail Lake to the junction of Golden Creek, once again, lots of snow making the navigation and footing pretty tricky. Going down, it was late afternoon and didn't use any traction devices. Going up in the morning, crampons made things faster and easier. About 60% of the switchbacks on the north aspect are snow covered.

Though I do not fish, I met fishermen who came over Half Moon Pass to fish Golden for the Day. They said that there were lots of fish and it was a good year.

Golden is still completely frozen solid. Ruby is beginning to thaw around the periphery. All of the lakes in Little Lakes Valley are totally thawed.

Creek crossing info in the creek crossing conditions section.

No skeeters! Yeah!!

[Wandering Daisy]

5/26-5/31

Significant deadfall across trail between the "lake" that is no longer a lake (below Laurel Lake) to the Moraine Ridge-Vernon Lake trail junction.
Deadfall on ALL trails around Laurel Lake.

Moraine Ridge Trail not bad until the drop down to Jack Main. One section of very bad tangles. From Moraine Ridge-Vernon trail junction to Vernon Lake- not bad. Just trail gets faint on some of the rock slabs.

Jack Main not bad - a few large trees down but most have detours to get around. A few snow patches up by the PCT junction, but basically dry and snow free.

Off-trail in area north of Hetch Hetchy- lots of fallen trees and debris. Thick layers of bark, logs, twigs . Apparent damage from last Fall's wind storm.

No special equipment except wear sturdy pants! You have to scoot over a lot of dead trees. Be careful when there is a detour that you get back on the trail. For trails not well used, it is easy to get off the trail.

Talked to someone who came up Rancheria-Tilltill to Vernon Lake, and said not many deadfall, just muddy conditions.

[mort]

Bishop Pass trail is melting out fast. As of 05/31 there are a few snow patches, mostly at the turns of switch backs which need to be climbed around. There is one which blocks about one whole switch back and everyone has been climbing the rock pile between trail segments. About 20 vertical feet of small talus. There is one longer snow field to cross very near the pass, it is not too steep. But I did use crampons and trekking poles because I had them and didn't want to feel like I carried them in vain. Most people just stomp on over.
Also Knapsack Pass (Dusy to Palisade basin) has a few snow fields that make route finding trickier, but not too hard.
Thunderbolt pass had a few snow patches on the north side, but they do not make the route much more difficult, it is a tedious rock pile.
Upper Treasure Lake, upper Bishop Lake and the highest lakes in Dusy and Palisade basins had ice caps.

DSCN8398.JPG

05/27/2021 upper Treasure lake
From Treasure Lakes, through Barrett Lakes we saw 3 mosquitos. All the creeks shown on the map were running, but the Dusy Lakes were already low.
-mort

[schmalz]

Pine Creek Pass trail is more or less snow free minus a couple tiny sections. Royce Lakes are still mostly frozen.

[CAMERONM]

White Wolf trailhead>Pate Valley>Grand Canyon Tuolumne>Glen Aulin>May Lake. Tons of deadfall and overgrown paths adding an hour of hiking to each day. Leaves covering rocky trails. Snow patches on the eastern ascent to Ten Lakes. With all the diversions around fallen trees it often felt like an off-trail trip, a real unholy mess.

deadfall.jpg

[Wandering Daisy]

With similar conditions reported in many areas, it would be wise for everyone this year to add some contingency time to their routes that venture into the terrain below timberline. Thanks for the photo. I ran into many like shown, but was too busy just getting over the obstacle to take a photo.