A Tale of Two Pullouts: Yosemite Valley From a Different Angle

El Capitan and the Merced River from the east

I know that I am truly privileged living as I do only a two-hour drive from one of the most sublime places on Earth, Yosemite Valley and the Sierra Nevada. We head up there two or three times a year, sometimes with students in tow, and sometimes on our own, so in 30+ years we've been there at least 100 times.

And I never get tired of it.

Part of the allure is seeing the seasonal changes. Winter provides the coating of snow, while fall provides the changing colors of foliage. Spring offers surging waterfalls and wild river flows. Summer provides...well...crowds, but also nice moments in places we learn of where the crowds can be avoided. We have favorite meadows and lakes for instance where people rarely stop. No matter when or where we visit, there always seems to be something new or different.

The Cathedral Spires are tucked away on the east side of the Cathedral Rocks at Bridalveil Falls

I know how it is if one gets to see Yosemite Valley for the first, and maybe only time. I've had that experience at so many other places around the world. The time available may be very limited, one may be part of a tightly controlled tour, and no one wants to miss any of the most famous views or hikes. And so it is that there is the required stop at Tunnel View, Bridalveil Falls, Cook's Meadow for the view of Yosemite Falls, and maybe Ahwahnee Meadow for a view of Half Dome. The walk to Lower Yosemite Falls, or Nevada Falls. And the Visitor Center. It makes for a full day, and a fulfilling day too. One of the most spectacular days you might ever experience.

And I never get tired of it. I'm perfectly happy to hit those same spots on my 101st trip to the valley. The season, the time of day, and the weather all conspire to make each stop a unique experience of wonder. But sometimes there are changes of a different nature, and that makes some trips really memorable. That is what today's collection of views is about.

Sentinel Rock rises above the south side of Yosemite Valley across from Yosemite Falls

Since the time that Yosemite Valley became a park, suppression of all forest fires has been the official policy. It was not however the natural condition of the parkland, nor was it the normal condition of the valley floor over the last few thousand years when it was managed by the original inhabitants of the region. 

The Ahwahnechee people, with roots among the Miwok and Paiute peoples of both sides of the Sierra, depended in large part on the acorns of the Black Oak and grazing animals like deer or bighorn in Yosemite Valley. It was in their best interest over the centuries to allow fires to burn through the valley floor and hold the quick-growing conifers at bay. When the park administrators put an end to the fires, the pine and cedar trees choked out meadows (only 65 acres of the original 750 acres of meadows remain) and grew into impenetrable thickets, blocking views of the canyon walls above.

What's worse is that choking off small fires can cause a buildup of fuel in the forest that could only lead to much worse fires than usual. This was always a danger, but it is far more hazardous today in a time of warming climate and extended droughts. Every Californian is fully aware of how wildfires in the state have morphed into monstrous events without parallel in written history.

The National Park Service has come around in their fire philosophy, especially after extensive fires a few decades ago in Yellowstone and Mesa Verde National Parks. They have instituted new policies of prescribed fires and selective tree removal to make the parks safer, but also to enhance the experiences of park visitors. In what way? The views.

The distinctive profile of the Three Brothers is the result of parallel jointing, or fractures in the granite that occur as the rocks are exposed by erosion

There are the parking lots that attract the majority of park visitors, but on the roads that loop around the valley there are many small pullouts, enough for perhaps three or four cars. In years past there seemed no real purpose for them, as they were surrounded by thick forest and offered no views or trailheads. On our visit a week ago, I found that two of those previously uninteresting pullouts had had the forest thinned out, and that they now possessed some outrageously spectacular views! The familiar iconic cliffs were there, but from angles I had never really seen before. In particular there was the long vertical cliff extending east from El Capitan, a view of the rarely seen Cathedral Spires (as opposed to the Cathedral Rocks at Bridalveil Falls), the vertical pillar of Sentinel Rock (often missed by people staring at Yosemite Falls), and the Three Brothers, which have never really had a designated viewpoint and are usually hidden by the tall trees. Upper Yosemite Fall was visible as well, perhaps farther away, but how many of you Yosemite veterans can recall seeing the falls with not a single other person in sight?

Yosemite Falls from a pullout west of Swinging Bridge

We had a leisurely lunch at the pullouts and wandered about taking pictures, and only two or three cars pulled off the road, and no one else actually got out. Except for the noise of passing traffic on a crowded Sunday afternoon, we literally had the best of Yosemite Valley to ourselves.

Prescribed fire in Yosemite Valley, with Half Dome and Clouds Rest in the distance.

We stayed at the park through Monday morning, and when we stopped by Tunnel View we witnessed another chapter in the new fire/forest regime: the ignition of a prescribed fire. It was done in March because the ground was still damp enough to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the fire. If you are on Facebook and would like to know more about forest management in Yosemite, check out (1) Yosemite Fire and Aviation | Facebook.

A Different Kind of "Other": Yosemite of the Pandemic

Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge

I've spent a fair amount of time writing about "The Other California", the spectacular places we have in our state that don't tend to show up on postcards. But sometimes there are decent reasons to visit the places that are on the postcards. This is especially true with Yosemite Valley and Yosemite National Park. There are few places on Earth as spectacular as the granite cliffs and towering waterfalls. But summer isn't that time. It's hot and dusty, the waterfalls are dry or nearly so, and the crowds and traffic are...simply awful. It's my least favorite time of year.

But sometimes events conspire. A pandemic continues to rage across the country in large part because a significant proportion of the population refuses to mask up or get a vaccination. As a result, the National Park Service instituted a reservation system at Yosemite National Park, limiting the number of daily visitors. And despite the desperately dry conditions caused by the intense drought, there were a number of monsoon-related thunderstorms in the High Sierra in the last few weeks. Mrs. Geotripper and I decided to give the valley a chance, so I carefully watched the reservation site (recreation.gov) and caught a cancellation. We headed up the hill on Monday. 

The view from Swinging Bridge of Yosemite Falls

It was a different world in Yosemite Valley. Two years ago we paid a visit on Labor Day weekend (our out-of-town visitors couldn't come any other time), and it was absolute mayhem. There was an hour-long wait at the entrance station, and a two-hour long traffic jam that resulted in a single parking spot for the day with no chance for exploration (the trams were stuck in traffic too). But Monday there was no waiting to get into the park, and there were parking spots available everywhere, even the ones usually most impacted, like Swinging Bridge, and Sentinel Bridge. The weather was warm, verging on hot, but the ground was moist, the meadows still green, and Yosemite Falls was flowing. It was the kind of day that every visitor to this beautiful place deserves, and it was the kind of day that had become exceedingly rare in recent years.

There is usually a gaggle of photographers standing on Sentinel Bridge (the top picture) because of the artful possibilities of catching the reflection of Half Dome on the Merced River. We had the bridge to ourselves. Swinging Bridge (which for the record does not swing) was crowded as always, but even there the bridge was empty for a few moments and I was able to score a shot of Yosemite Falls without the aforementioned crowds in the picture.

There are lesser-known viewpoints like the one above of the Cathedral Rocks and Cathedral Spires, and on most days the three parking spots are taken. But once again we had the pullout to ourselves, and got a wonderful view of these cliffs that would qualify for national park status in any other place, but which barely catch the attention of travelers on their way out of the valley.

Another crowded spot on a normal day is Valley View at the west end of the valley. The small parking lot is usually packed, but once again there were spots available. El Capitan (left) and the Cathedral Rocks and the wispy, nearly invisible Bridalveil Falls (right) reflected on a slow-moving stretch of the Merced River.

I was going to write about the need to come to Yosemite on a weekday if at all possible, but it occurs to me that a better discussion is whether to implement a reservation system permanently. The concessionaires and surrounding communities of course depend on as many visitors as possible to thrive and maintain their profit margins. But the quality of the experience of visitors is radically diminished when they spend most of their time waiting in lines and being jostled by crowds on the trams and the trails. People expect that sort of thing at an amusement park, but that's not what our national parks were meant to be. Consider the mission of the parks: to preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. That simply doesn't happen in our most popular parks like Yosemite, Zion, Arches, and others that are bursting at the seams with tourists.

Our park system has not expanded with our population, and the budget of the park service is cut seemingly every year. The last administration actually cut the size of a number of precious parks. We need to expand the opportunities of people to experience the parks in the best way possible. 

Yosemite Valley This Week: A Moment of Spring Richness and an Uncertain Future

 

I admit it. I fear what lies ahead. That's not the usual opening statement in a photo-essay of Yosemite Valley at its best moments. But that's the problem. I was there last week, when the heaviest snowmelt should have been weeks in the future. And the valley was at its best, a lovely escape from the summer-like heat of the Great Valley downstream.

But the peak runoff is not weeks in the future. It is probably already past. This year's snowpack was an unmitigated disaster. The few storms that did come dropped a bit of snow, enough in some years to get by, but very warm and dry conditions during April dropped the snowpack to around 5-10% of normal, or what passes for normal in these uncertain times. The snowpack would usually keep the famous waterfalls busy until mid-June or even July, but many of them may be dry within a few short weeks. And then the fires will come. I don't know what lies ahead for this most beautiful of valleys, but a disastrous fire has to be considered as a possibility.

The natural condition of the floor of Yosemite Valley has always been controlled by wildfire. Lightning strikes have caused fires for thousands of years, leaving the valley floor as a patchwork of open meadows with a few mature oaks and ponderosa capable of surviving the occasional grass fires. When humans first discovered the valley thousands of years ago, they continued the practice of burning the valley floor every few years. They had their motives of course; the acorns of the fire-resistant Black Oaks provided much of their diet, and the hunting of game was easier when the prey was in an open meadow rather than a deep forest.

When the valley was "saved" by turning it first into a state park in 1864 and later into a national park in 1890, fire suppression became the governing philosophy. The park's original 745 acres of meadows were invaded by young saplings and the 65 acres of meadows today represents only 7% or so of their original extent. It didn't help that drainage outlet of one of the wetland areas was dynamited to keep down the mosquito population.

Much of the valley floor has become a thicket of young and unhealthy conifer trees, a fire hazard of the highest order. The park service has come around to accept the need for fires in the management of the valley, but their success has been spotty and controversial. Prescribed fires have been done in some areas of the park, but more than one has gotten out of control and damaged structures. And prescribed fires are done when soil and fuel conditions are on the wet side. That is not the case at Yosemite this year.

An alternate practice was begun around a decade ago, and it too has been controversial. Instead of burning, the park service has been allowing tree-cutting to be done in some areas to remove the unhealthy trees. The buzz of chainsaws does not seem compatible with the general notion of "preserving" natural lands, but it may be a necessary evil. It led to an unexpected change for me as we visited the park last week.

Everyone always seems to be in a hurry as they scurry through the park looking for parking spots. The traffic was a problem because the free park shuttles weren't running due to the pandemic. So to see the many features of the valley, one had to park and hike quite some distance, or else drive from parking lot to parking lot looking for a good view. I was letting traffic pass by pulling into roadsides that normally don't offer much in the ways of views. But this time was different.

A lot of trees had been cleared from a pullout that I knew had never had much of a view before. No one else was there, but as I got out I could see something was different. The rocks above were, well, unexpected. I've struggled at times to get an interesting angle on the Cathedral Spires (above), but they were easily visible. And as I turned, I realized the Three Brothers were also in the open (below). 

And as I turned yet again, I had a full-on view of El Capitan that showed the full expanse of the cliff from the "Nose" to Horsetail Falls. The sawn-down trees in the foreground were perhaps a sad mess (that will be cured in time by natural forces of decay), but the view of the cliffs was dramatic and quite unexpected. We sat in the pull-out and enjoyed a quiet lunch.

The Pacific Dogwoods were in full bloom. The trees are a somewhat nondescript part of the understory for much of the year, but during the spring the flowers are dramatic (and for the biologists among you, I know that the big white petals are actually modified leaves or bracts, and that the true flowers are in the "button" in the middle). 

Our journey through the valley was our first in nearly a year. It included a stop at one of the most congested spots, but as is always true, there was a reason for its popularity. The Tunnel View is close to the spot where European colonizers first viewed the valley in 1851. The party, a militia trying to chase down a group of Ahwahnechee people, was largely unimpressed with the valley. But their medic, Lafayette Bunnell, was deeply moved by the sight, and later interviewed Chief Tenaya and others to learn what he could of the valley. He is credited with the names of many of the features, including the name of the valley itself. Yosemite seems to have been a derivative of the Miwok name for Grizzly Bear. Their actual name for the valley was "Ah-wah-nee".

So a hot and dry summer season looms. I hope for the best.

If These Cliffs Could Talk: The Cathedral Rocks vs.the Cathedral Spires

Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Fall from the Gateway View (April 2014)

Yosemite Valley has such a richness of sheer and spectacular cliffs that I imagine any one of them would rate being a national park or monument of its own in any other setting. Looking at the most famous cliffs, one can be distracted from recognizing the awesomeness of cliffs that loom behind. . We began yesterday with a look at Leaning Tower and Bridalveil Fall at the west end of Yosemite Valley on the south side of the canyon. These rocks are familiar because they are often the first to be encountered when one arrives at Yosemite for the first time. Bridalveil Fall is visible from the Tunnel View, and is the first major parking area when starting the valley loop road.

Today's cliffs are the Cathedral Rocks and Cathedral Spires. The Cathedral Rocks are as familiar as Bridalveil, as they provide the backdrop to the falls (above). There are three prominent triangular peaks. From the Tunnel View or from the Valley View turnout they are spectacular, but are not vertical cliffs. To get that perspective, you'll have to walk or drive east of Bridalveil Falls. Things get very steep in a hurry.

The Cathedral Spires and the Merced River, November 2014

One of the first things to note is that the Cathedral Rocks and Cathedral Spires are two different features. The spires are a pair of prominent towers of rock tucked into a recess just east of the Cathedral Rocks. The imposing towers are composed of the very tough El Capitan granite, but are separated by exposures of the highly jointed Diorite of the Rockslides, a rock that is subject to mass wasting (rock falls and slides).

Spires like these are usually found along the rim of Yosemite Valley, high above the valley floor, as they are easy targets for removal by glacial ice. The later ice ages, the Tahoe and Tioga stages, did not come close to filling the valley at this locale, and thus were not able to strip away the narrow fissured towers.

The Cathedral Spires, November 2014

The Cathedral Rocks, when viewed from other angles in Yosemite Valley, are simply stunning. I was lucky to show up in Yosemite in January 2011 on the heels of an intense snowstorm. Snow was literally clinging to the cliffs in the late afternoon, and the winds had died down, leaving a mirror-like lake in one of the meadows, with a cold mist rising. It's one of my favorite pictures (below).

Cathedral Rocks in January 2011, from near Leidig Meadow

Another perspective is provided by the trail that winds east from Bridalveil Fall. It follows the base of the sheer cliff, an angle hard to capture in a photograph.

Does it look to you like the dead stump in the foreground is holding back a really big boulder?

The cliffs are visible from several other meadows, although people are sometimes distracted by the views of El Capitan or Yosemite Falls. The picture below is from Cook Meadow, which is better known for the spectacular view of Yosemite Falls and the Three Brothers.

Cathedral Rocks from Cook Meadow

Finally, one should never forget that there are places where you can look down into Yosemite Valley. A drive to Glacier Point is never a wasted day, but one should set aside some time to take a couple of short trails to the rim, including Sentinel Dome, and Taft Point. Taft Point in particular offers a wonderful view of the Cathedral Rocks from above. It is from here that one gains a real appreciation for how tough the El Capitan granite truly is. The rocks project well into the valley, forming a narrow passageway between Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan. The valley is barely 2,500 feet across at this point. El Capitan rises 3,000 feet on the one side, while the Cathedral Rocks loom 2,600 feet above. At this point the canyon is deeper than it is wide!

Write About a Tree and it Falls Over: How it was in Yosemite today....

On our last trip to Yosemite in October, we had a delightful time witnessing the contrast between the vivid fall colors and a fresh new coating of snow. I also spent some time photographing a group of acorn woodpeckers working in their tree, an old dead ponderosa at the edge of Cook's Meadow (see the post by clicking here). The tree has been in this spot for a century or more, though it looked pretty unstable when we were last there. I should have known that writing about it would probably in the cosmic picture of things doom it. Here's how the tree looked today; I hope the woodpeckers are okay.

Meanwhile, winter is sort of wrapping up, with some snow in the high country this week, and clouds that were building up as we wandered about the valley. The falls were running nicely, but there was barely a speck of green anywhere (although the foothills are beginning to show a lot of color, especially poppies and fiddlenecks).

Half Dome was a no-show from the Tunnel View, but Bridalveil Falls looked nice, and had a huge pile of frazil ice at the base. Frazil forms when spray from the waterfall freezes and drifts down to the base of the falls.

 Yosemite Falls was also full of water and ice, and the wind was forming nice patterns of mist and shadow on the cliff face.
 In the later afternoon the rain clouds opened up, so we knew it was time to head on down the hill. As we were leaving, we could see the ghostly presence of the Cathedral Spires on the south rim of the valley. Winter isn't quite done with the Sierra Nevada...

And that's the way it was today.

How it was Yesterday: Yosemite Jumps From Fall Right Into Winter

Mrs. Geotripper was a bit disappointed two weeks ago when I visited Yosemite Valley and she wasn't able to tag along. So it wasn't too much of a surprise that we ended up making our way to the valley yesterday, looking to take in some of the fall colors.

California may be a leader in many things, but the fall season is not one of them. When most of the deciduous leaves in the nation have long since fallen, our fall colors are just getting started. I saw precious few fall colors two weeks ago in Yosemite Valley, but one could see they would be changing soon.

We weren't disappointed. The oaks and dogwoods where at their brightest shades of yellow and red (and yes, my readers in the eastern U.S., I know our colors can't come close to the colors out your way!). But there was a twist. We arrived on the heels of the first real snowstorm of the season. There were still occasional flurries of snow and pogonip ice coming down as we arrived in the valley.

It was just stunning to me. Yosemite National Park is one of the most beloved of my favorite places in the world, and I go there every chance I get, but in twenty years, I'm not sure I've seen it prettier than this (although I admit I seem to say that with every new season). In the picture above, the oak tree is framed by the lowest of the three Cathedral Rocks (this is the side of the rocks opposite of Bridalveil Fall). The cliff is supported by the El Capitan granite, which lacks jointing (fractures) so it forms vertical cliffs.

In stark contrast to the cliffs of El Capitan granite, the Diorite of the Rockslides is riddled with fractures, and breaks down easily into talus slopes. It lies just west of El Capitan, and is relatively unremarkable unless new snow covers Bridalveil Meadow.

In the picture above, Yosemite Point is almost ignored for much of the year, because the attention of most people is drawn to Yosemite Falls, which normally plummet off the cliff just left of the center of the photo. The cliff is composed of El Capitan granite (102 million years old) and Sentinel granodiorite. The Lost Arrow is a jointed spire just to the left of the point.

Looking at Yosemite Falls, one can also miss one of the other prominent cliffs of Yosemite Valley, Sentinel Rock (above). It's on the south wall of the valley, opposite of Yosemite Falls. It is composed of Sentinel granodiorite, which is about 93 million years old.

Upper Yosemite Falls was not flowing, but enough melting snow collected in the basin below to provide a wispy flow of water to Lower Falls (320 feet).

In the photo above, one can see the cliffs near Taft Point. If you ever need to conquer your fear of heights, you can walk to Taft Point from Glacier Point Road (about a mile) and look straight down for thousands of feet through the Taft Fissures. Needless to say (but I always do anyway), you can't get there right now by road.

The prominent tower in the picture above (on the right side) is one of the Cathedral Spires. I used to get them mixed up; the Cathedral Rocks are just to the west, and are much larger, providing the frame for Bridalveil Falls.

Sentinel Rock looks quite different from another vantage point.

I have no idea if this storm was "it", the final closing down of the high country. If this is another drought year, the snow could all be gone in a few days, and we could be driving over Tioga Pass in January like we did last year. Or, it could be the beginning of the buildup of a nice snowpack that could ease our drought worries here in California. All I know is that it was an indescribably beautiful day (despite my efforts to describe it anyway...).

Next up: the birds of the day, and the sunset...

A Beautiful and Precious Day: How it was in Yosemite 2

My geology field trip to Yosemite Valley last weekend was one of those stunningly beautiful days, the kind made all the better by the clearing storm that cleaned the air, filled the waterfalls, and left a wonderful pine-filled scent throughout the valley. Although I had two dozen students with me, I had a two hour break in the middle of the afternoon (because we needed to utilize the NPS trams to get around the valley, we made "appointments" at various spots on the valley floor). With those two hours I had a choice of walking four miles along the Valley Loop Trail, or sitting in a pizza joint and grabbing a tram at the last second. I opted for the former.

For all the times I've been to Yosemite Valley, the north side of the Valley Loop Trail was a new one for me. I'd been on parts of it here and there, but not the whole thing. It was pleasantly deserted, and offered some very nice perspectives on familiar sights from new angles. I started at Yosemite Falls and walked around the base of Yosemite Point (above), which towers about 3,000 feet above. That little spire near the tip is Lost Arrow, a famous destination for rock climbers. It formed as a consequence of vertical joints (fractures) in the granitic rock.

I had thought the trail stuck to the valley floor, but it actually climbed a hundred feet or more onto the talus slopes, giving a nice view down-valley towards the Cathedral Rocks and Cathedral Spire. These cliffs, famous, but sometimes overshadowed by El Capitan across the valley, are also the result of vertical joints. The Cathedral Rocks (slightly right and partly obscured by clouds) have widely spaced joints that could not be effectively quarried by the glaciers, the cliffs are bold and protrude as bold cliffs.

Zooming in on one of the Cathedral Spires reveals a more narrow and sharper tower. The cliffs are more closely jointed. Looking closely in the clefts, one can see fall colors starting up (click on the picture for a closer view).

The trail is a pleasant and quiet way to explore the valley. It was not a crowded day anyway, but I seriously saw no more than 4-5 people in an hour. The sound of motors was present, but distant.

I wasn't the only person in Yosemite last weekend. Fellow teacher of geosciences SciGuy315 posted a series of absolutely stunning photos of a rainbow in Yosemite Falls, from across the valley on Sentinel Dome. With his permission, I've posted one of them here. Copyright is obviously his, check the link for contact info.
Precious? Every day in Yosemite is precious! If you want to learn more about the geology of this wonderful place, check out my newly revised roadguide to the geology of Yosemite Valley at Geotripper Images. I also did a themed blog series some time back called Under the Volcano and Into the Abyss.