Monday, April 26, 2010

All Hydrologies



In the sun, our tremendous snowpack is moving downhill in more and bigger creeks flowing into Yosemite Valley. The heavy wet snowstorm that damaged a lot of trees 22 January is continuing to have its effects now, with fallen branches and tree trunks blocking some stream channels. There's a small ephemeral stream that drains the gully east of Sentinel Rock and the lower part of the Four Mile Trail; you've hopped over it if you've hiked this trail between May-August. On the Valley floor it usually runs through a culvert under Southside Drive and down toward the Merced River. A fallen black oak is sending it down a small overflow channel, where there is no culvert beneath the road. It's exciting to see it creating a new pond in Chapel Meadow at the moment.
Eagle Creek is flowing nicely, but it's not in its main channel at Northside Drive; I'll hike up there soon to see what's diverting it to the west. Sentinel Creek, Ribbon Creek, Bridalveil Creek are all flowing quite strongly now and the river has gone above average volume, to almost 2000 cfs at Pohono Bridge last night. Table Rock is all but covered. Great times to be a mallard or a merganser.

3 comments:

  1. Nice start to a blog on Yosemite, one of my favorite places (though I have many!). I've linked to Nature Notes at my blog, geotripper.blogspot.com. I did an extended series on Yosemite a while back (http://geotripper.blogspot.com/2009/10/under-volcano-and-into-abyss-yosemite.html). Best wishes on your continued blogging!

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  2. Hey, welcome to the blogosphere, Pete! Garry clued me in on your blog. I'll be posting about your work over at the Little Red Tent.

    I've enjoyed your tweets, and look forward to reading here.

    All the best,
    Edie

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  3. love love love yosemite. my favorite place on earth.

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