Sunday, April 18, 2010

National Parks Week


Free park entry has made for a busy weekend of lots of visitors in Yosemite Valley. I see cars parked in places I've not seen them before. Turkey vulture seen again yesterday, canyon wren singing at Swan Slab. Raven drinking sideways from a puddle atop a granite boulder.
Yosemite Creek has increased in volume, with more mist blasting off of Lower Yosemite Falls; nice rainbow at 8 a.m. All Valley side streams are gradually rising into more channels now, and they'll continue to grow for some weeks yet. Another foot or two of high country snow expected Tuesday will slow this week's runoff to a bit later.
Tioga Road plowing usually gets going from the Crane Flat side now, but the coming weather will stall that some. There's still 53 inches at Tuolumne Meadows, with more depth between there and Crane Flat, not to mention an extra ration of downed trees from our one damaging February storm. Glacier Point Road plowing operations are chewing into a depth of 7 feet of snow there. Winter still rules the uplands.

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