A solstice to remember

Our remarkable year continues to surprise with storms into June. The Merced River has hovered near flood level for several weeks, running 3-5 times usual volume. Only now is it showing a typical seasonal decline, more than a month later than 'normal.' Low elevation tributaries are already drying or dried, but the main stem still runs strongly.

The lower canyon shows an interesting color reversal of early spring's redbuds underlain by white Nemophila or Claytonia, whereas now it's the white of buckeye overlying the purple of Clarkia.

Steve's newest Yosemite Nature Notes video has been released; you can learn something about Yosemite's grizzly bears here. How would your Yosemite visit be different with grizzlies around? Here's a brief travel item on Yosemite in the Huffington Post. Both of these media items have something in common with this blog...

Tioga Pass opens to cars today, but don't expect any services in Tuolumne to open soon. Likewise, hiking will be quite challenging for a while because of lingering snow and high runoff. (Do not take chances with stream crossings!) This IS an exceptional year and we won't see the high country we've become used to.