Farewell to Spring

Despite recent warmth, the Merced River has started to decline in volume already; it's running just below average (while the average is still ascending). We are excited to have our new webcam up, showing you Upper Yosemite Falls so you can keep visual tabs on the flows. We expect that by September this year it'll just be the 'Yosemite Wall' webcam.
Indian, Sentinel, Royal Arch and Ribbon Creeks all still run to the river. Eagle Creek has shrunk back from Northside Drive.
The high country along Tioga Road still has snow, lots of soggy trails, no new greenery - it's too early for dry, comfortable hiking that won't leave considerable impacts. People tend to hike outside wet trailbeds, creating new trails and crushing plants as they're trying to get started. Things will be drier in June and it'll be easier to LNT.
Yosemite Valley is alive with birdsong; yesterday's birdwalk included black-headed grosbeaks (plentiful and loud), western tanager, yellow, yellow-rumped, and black-throated gray warblers, Cassin's vireo, white-throated swift, flicker, oriole, Anna's hummingbird displaying in front of the Visitor Center, and more.
In the El Portal area the Clarkia (Farewell-to-Spring) is in bloom, as is buckeye, Ceanothus, and elderberry. Most of the grass and forbs have gone to seed and are browning. The dogwoods in the Valley are glorious right now.
Check out the eclipse of the sun on Sunday at sunset. We were not sure that Yosemite would be a good place from which to observe this spectacle because good western views from places like the Glacier Point Road might not yet be accessible; this year they are. Crane Flat Fire Lookout and Sentinel Dome will be prime spots.
For more enjoyment of the earth sciences: there's still space in our one-day geology course on June 16. Park geologist Greg Stock is a marvelous communicator and will clarify all those questions you have about Yosemite's origins.

Arrivals

This morning's birdwalk in the Valley had so-so sightings of the bright triumverate of western tanager, black-headed grosbeak and Bullock's oriole. All of these, and the warbling vireos sang loudly in several places. Two species of swift were a nice plus, though we didn't see them well either. The small birds can't be happy that park biologist CB has identified 11 peregrine falcon pairs this season, with 8 known nests. Seven of these are along the Merced corridor between Arch Rock and Little Yosemite. Hungry baby predators will be hatching from eggs very soon, making our peaceful park a rough neighborhood for prey species. The river has dropped a bit since last week's rain; it's possible that it reached this year's peak on the 26th-about a month early. Meanwhile north-draining Sentinel Creek is now flowing in more channels. Indian Creek now flows beneath the Yosemite Art Center. This weekend afforded one of Yosemite's transient delights for visitors: bicycling on Tioga Road without cars. Several dozen cyclists rode the quiet corridor, from both east and west sides, with a good number rendezvous-ing at Olmsted Point. The marmots are standing by to pose for pictures there. Road crews are still working but it shouldn't be long until the pass is open to cars.

It has Sprung

Apologies for the long silence here at a time when so much is happening with the change of seasons in the Sierra.
We had a couple of decent snowstorms last week, now it's very warm.
The Merced River has finally gone to above average volume (at about 1700 cfs overnight at Pohono Bridge) and Table Rock is partly under. Waterfalls are looking quite good. Sentinel, Royal Arch, Eagle and Ribbon Creeks are all flowing into the river. Horsetail trickles into Wosky Pond.
Because our snowpack has less than half of average water content, we don't expect a high runoff this year - very different than last spring. The big melting this week suggests an early peak, too.
Our regular Monday and Thursday birdwalks in Yosemite Valley have turned up lots of singing yellow-rumps and the R2-D2 songs of orioles. Black-throated gray warblers are in, as are black-headed grosbeaks. We haven't seen flycatchers (other than black phoebes) or vireos yet in the Valley, though we know they're nearby.
Flowers in the Merced River Canyon west of the park have been dazzling for the past few weeks: poppies, redbud, birds-eye gilia, caterpillar flower, wallflower, false goldfields, popcorn flower, fiddleneck, cranesbill and dozens of others are still putting on a marvelous show. Buckeyes are green, and the live and deciduous oaks are adding new foliage and dangling their flowers.
Conditions look to be perfect for Dave Wyman's "Spring Light Photography" course, May 17-20. There are a few spot still available; free park entry and free camping are included.
As if we needed one more sign that spring has sprung: Glacier Point Road opens this weekend.

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.)

Poppies and Teddy

The Merced River canyon below the park boundary has an early abundance of wildflowers including slopes covered with poppies in places. We've had a few modest storms over the past couple of weeks, adding a bit of snow above 5000 feet. The wet has brought out fiddlenecks, cranesbill, popcorn flower, baby blue eyes, paintbrush, red maids, etc. I haven't been up the South Fork but I bet it's getting colorful.
Chorus frogs are singing in various places, California ground squirrels are emerging in some spots, a turkey vulture was seen in the Valley this week. In El Portal, flickers and titmice have been 'singing.'
While spring tiptoes in at low elevations, we had a bit of frazil ice in Yosemite Creek this week, too.
The park has a new official place name: Roosevelt Point. This is on the south rim of Yosemite Valley, just west of Sentinel Dome, near the top of Sentinel Falls. Some scholars believe that Muir and Roosevelt camped near here on the second night of their 1903 trip together. They're usually described as having camped at Glacier Point because that's a better known landmark than the forest near Sentinel Dome, and because of the famous photo-portrait of the two men at Glacier Point. Sentinel Creek would've been the most reliable water source for a camp, so it's likely that they actually spent the night there.
TR will be coming to Yosemite Conservancy's Spring Forum on March 31 in the form of actor Alan Sutterfield. He and John Muir (Lee Stetson) will chat about their time together and their passion for park stewardship. Muir visits us again on John Muir Day, April 21, this time in the person of actor Frank Helling. He'll be strolling with Muir's great-great grandson, Robert Hanna for one of the Conservancy's field seminars.
We pursue Muir's footsteps again in July, backpacking on a field seminar to where he recognized the first known glacier in the Sierra. Climate change (as even Muir realized back then) has removed all but relictual evidence of the glacier's presence. We visit a living glacier in August's field seminar trek to the north slopes of Mt. Lyell.
History lives on.

Darwin in Yosemite

"His noble character has suffered from silly, ignorant, and unbelieving men who say much about Darwinism without really knowing anything about it. A more devout and indefatigable seeker after truth than Darwin never lived." -John Muir, 1878.
This Sunday is Charles Darwin's birthday. Muir read and was a fan of Darwin. For context: "On the Origin of Species" came out when Muir was 21 years old (still living with his family in Wisconsin) and 5 years before Yosemite was first protected (with the signature of President Lincoln, who was born the same day that Darwin was!) Muir's writings made it into print while Darwin was still alive, but it's doubtful the British naturalist encountered the Sierra naturalist's tales. These two great individuals are closely joined in perpetuity south of Yosemite where Muir Pass provides access to Evolution Basin and the John Muir Trail runs beneath Mt. Darwin.
Our dry spell continues. We had a day of light drizzle on Tuesday. A few chorus frogs are calling at lower elevation, but they sound parched. Another chance at precipitation comes through on Sunday/Monday. NPS snow surveys show around 30% of average water content for our park watersheds. Elevations below the survey areas are drier yet. The Merced is flowing at 60% of average now. A few common mergansers have been paddling in El Portal, dippers doing a bit of singing.
On Saturday 10 March one of the park's best (and most delightful) naturalists, Karen Amstutz, is leading a fun Conservancy field seminar on snowshoes from Badger Pass out to Dewey Point and back. If you're up for a modestly physical (and extremely pleasant) day of exploration and discovery, think about coming up to join Karen. If you love a Yosemite experience, this one's a natural selection.

Rock and Road

I had a chance to explore the area of the 22 January rockslide on the Big Oak Flat Road recently. The slide is maybe a couple hundred meters west of the old diversion dam at the junction of 140 and the Big Oak Flat Road (sometimes mistakenly called Hwy. 120 here). The rockfall happened in the middle of the night, after a couple of rainy days. It originated perhaps 5-600 feet above the highway, dropping straight down a cliff face onto the talus above the road. It broke through the roadbed of the Big Oak Flat Road and NPS road crews did well to rebuild it so quickly; their patch should be repaved soon. The material that came loose totals about 500 cubic meters and is dominated by one large boulder half the size of the Yosemite Conservancy office building in El Portal. It cut a very straight swath through the mature live oaks and bay trees above and below the highway, not spreading out too much.
Surprisingly, the big rocks rolled to a stop about halfway between the Big Oak Flat Road and Highway 140, still on steep enough terrain that it seems they might have spilled to the river. One refrigerator-sized slab did make it all the way to 140 but it stopped in the storm drain ditch on the side of the road where almost no one would notice it. Some bigger rocks came within 10-20' of reaching 140.
A couple of jumbo SUV-sized boulders were stopped by a historic artifact: the old penstock foundation. This is a rock causeway built 1916-18 that supported the redwood pipe which carried water almost a mile from the diversion dam to plunge down through the turbines of the powerhouse at Cascades. It's interesting to think that the Valley used to generate its own carbon-free electricity from the Merced. Two weeks ago part of that relict operation caught a couple of big rocks (pictured) that might have smashed Hwy. 140 - an energy project that captured a rockfall's energy. (The one really big boulder stopped immediately above the causeway, slowed by the irregularities of its shape and the slope down which it tumbled.)