Daylight Spendings Time

We are 10 days from an early equinox and the Sierra winter is melting away already. The Merced watershed has 38% of average snowpack water content and Yosemite Falls is running with the water that's not supposed to flow until June. Horsetail Fall didn't produce appreciable 'firefall.' The big storms just didn't come this season. The low-elevation canyon west of the park has a decent quantity of flower species and numbers, but the slopes look surprisingly dry instead of their usual green. Redbuds punctuate the verdure now.

Rough-winged swallows, white-throated swifts, and turkey vultures are all flying overhead in El Portal. This foothill region also has singing flickers and orange-crowned warblers; ruby-crowned kinglets are warming up with partial songs.

We are curious to see what COVID-19 does to Yosemite visitation this season, where people over 60 are advised to stay home, large gatherings are to be avoided and many people don't want to travel. My May trip to our sister national parks in China has cancelled, but I hope to go in September. With our park getting at least 25% of its visitors from other countries, we expect to see less of the world in Yosemite. The park will be here nonetheless.

Build Me Up, Kumlienia

The first waterfall buttercup of the new season has bloomed in the Merced Canyon across from Ned's Gulch. A couple of the dippers that keep their toes cool in this part of the canyon have started to sing, as well. Solstice has just passed and the greening of spring is underway in the lower reaches of the Sierra. Quite visible (thousands of feet) just above, new snow is accumulating on the healthy base we've acquired in the past month or so. Ski season is young at the same time the first flowers emerge; altitude is everything.

Slash piles are putting up smoke in the Valley now.

Most of these are cleanup from all the ponderosas that have died (overstock, warming, drought, and lastly, beetles) and been felled (hazards to people while they stand). Some of the downed trees and burn piles are from meadow restoration near the Ahwahnee and from vista clearing. I am one who does not lament the shocking mortality of the pines; because of fire suppression they'd grown too dense. The small fraction that is gone from the Valley has opened up fantastic views that no one has seen in generations, a real win. Yosemite Falls is flowing nicely again, though the Merced is running below average volume. Our Christmas Bird Count had good weather and fine birders, and turned up an average number of species and individuals.

We are disappointed that our well-regarded Superintendent has been re-assigned to Denver by NPS HQ, but we are pleased to have the respected Cicely Muldoon arriving to cover in a temporary role that we hope will become permanent.

We've just renewed our sister park arrangement with Huangshan National Park in China for another five years.

I had a good visit there in September and look forward to returning there and to Jiuzhaigou in May.

Night Equals Day

Yesterday we were treated to the unusual intersection of vernal equinox and a full moon. Here was a nice moment when hours of sunshine were balanced by hours of - wait - moonshine? Let's say moonlight, rather. If you follow your horoscope (and if you don't) this coincidence of full moon and equinox means no more than an interesting astronomical curiosity in your life.

I am guilty of neglecting regular posts for most of the last year, but I'll try again to stay more up to date.

It's been a strong winter in the Sierra, with much more than average snowpack on the ground. It seems like we've had just one week without a storm since the end of January. As in other recent years, the snowline is higher than the historic average although Yosemite Valley got some heavy storms in February that damaged a lot of trees and the buildings beneath them. The Merced is running above average and the waterfalls are all at healthy volumes. Here's hoping for a gradual warming of spring that'll have the falls flowing well through the summer, instead of draining snowfields in a short burst.

The burned area of last summer's Ferguson Fire (shown here with a skier) has shed a bit of sediment (mostly from the South Fork) in storms but nearly all of that fire was of low intensity and is greening up nicely now. For all the rain and runoff we've had, there wasn't much intense rainfall and we haven't had the rockfalls along Hwy. 140 that we worried about. Not many trees were killed by that fire (lots of already dead trees didn't even burn) and the forest is healthier for it. Burned or not, as with much of California, it's looking like a good wildflower season. Kumlienia started in January, and the rocky banks that were cooked black in August are now coated in greenery and flowers. Poppies, popcorn flower, baby blue-eyes and fiddlenecks are already at photogenic quantities in the Merced Canyon, but are still densifying toward their peaks.

I am again leading trips to Yosemite's sister national parks in China. Mountain Travel Sobek has us headed to explore the natural and cultural history of Jiuzhaigou and Huangshan and to meet with park rangers to learn about China's park management. Hiking in both parks is truly astounding and I can't wait to get back there.

Vernal Equinox

Equinox arrives next week, when day length matches nighttime. Though they were closest on Monday night, it's still worth getting out in the evening to see the close positioning of Venus and Jupiter. They're a bright pair, impossible to miss as long as you have a view to the west for an hour or two after sunset. (You can actually see Venus with the naked eye all day, too, if you know where to look in the blue sky.) Though smaller than Jupiter, Venus is the more brilliant because it is closer to Earth.
Light precipitation off/on in Yosemite this week, with snow level remaining above the rim so far. We expect snow on the Valley floor this weekend. In the Merced Canyon below the park boundary, greenery is soaking up the moisture; great numbers of flowers are in bloom. Dense poppies cover the south-facing slopes in the area burned by the Telegraph Fire of 2 years ago. In contrast, last summer's Motor Fire area is generally not greening up well. Buckeyes are leafing out, elderberry leaves are barely emerging, and redbuds are just starting to show.
The waterfalls are below average in volume now, but it's good that we're adding some fuel this week for later runoff.
Contractors lucked out with dry weather and have re-opened the Big Oak Flat Road (connecting Yosemite Valley to Hwy. 120).
Superintendent Neubacher is contemplating adding more sister national parks - one on every continent is a goal. Asia and South America are already covered. We like the idea of Yosemite having this measure of global significance and await news of coming partnerships (and opportunities for travel to visit new relations.)