Snow play fun areas for kids?

Discussion about winter adventure sports in the Sierra Nevada mountains including but not limited to; winter backpacking and camping, mountaineering, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, etc.
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ericZ
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Location: fresno, ca.

Snow play fun areas for kids?

Post by ericZ »

Hello all. i've got tomorrow off and my last day available to go to the sierra for fun before back to work. my 11 year old daughter wants to find some snow for throwing, sliding with discs, etc. we may bring my 2 and 3 year old nephews. does anyone have any suggestions for our needs? i've been checking out ski web cams, checking fly fishing forums for any accidental mention of snow conditions, etc and have found nothing yet. it looks like the "sno parks" along 168 are snow-free. my buddy has a photo of a meadow along glacier point road from last wednesday which showed snow but that was a week ago. i drove the sierra vista scenic byway about 10 days ago counterclockwise from north fork until i hit snow on the road past arch rock, not sure what it's like right now. i wonder if north facing areas on the scenic byway (clockwise, say around soquel CG) might have good snow. or up 180 around SEKI, maybe big meadows. or 168 past dinkey fisherman towards wishon...

as you can see, i have several ideas in mind, all in different directions. i'm hoping someone here can offer recent snow-sightings accessible for snow play. i'm located in fresno. thanks.

eric
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tim
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Re: Snow play fun areas for kids?

Post by tim »

I'd try Glacier Pt road in Yosemite. You should find snow near the parking lot for Sentinel Dome or if that's too open and melted out try the Mono Meadows trailhead. We tried to do that on Memorial Day weekend but it was snowing so much the road was closed.
SEKI won't work - it was already patchy there near the road a month ago
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ericZ
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Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:41 am
Experience: Level 2 Backpacker
Location: fresno, ca.

Re: Snow play fun areas for kids?

Post by ericZ »

thanks tim. it is sort of a silly question considering the amount of snow we've received this winter. the determining factors included quick roadside access for my daughter and parents who came along and something relatively close by.

we were on our way towards yosemite but on a tip from one of the five ranger stations i called, i hit beashore road above bass lake first and found enough snow for the daughter to slide a bit. she had fun, mission accomplished.

eric
fresno, ca.
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