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.

Time Heals All Wounds. Or Does it Just Hide Them? The Ghosts of Nelder Grove (Reposted)

According to news reports, the Railroad Fire in the Sierra Nevada has reached the Nelder Grove of Sequoia Trees. It's uncertain what the outcome will be, as the trees are adapted to wildfires, but less so when the forest surrounding the trees is overgrown and stressed by five years of drought. Nelder is kind of a special grove, having been logged a century ago, and left out of the boundaries of Yosemite National Park. Abused, but precious. I wrote about Nelder when I visited for the first time a couple of years ago. Since it has been in the news, I thought you would like to learn of its threatened beauty. The original post follows...

It's a beautiful place, really. It was one of the most serene places I've been in my travels, away from busy roads, cities, tourist traps, and most of all, crowds. We were only 10 miles from Yosemite National Park on a Sunday afternoon, yet we shared the place today with just six other people, all of whom were quietly looking up as if in a a medieval cathedral.

Sequoia groves are like that. The ancient trees are so big and so tall, so grand, that they seem to inhabit a different universe than "normal" trees. They tower above, like placid gods looking down on their earthly domain. They are the only species in their genus,  Sequoiadendron giganteum. The species, or species very much like it, once grew across the northern hemisphere. Through habitat loss, perhaps related to the ice ages, they disappeared from most of their range. Only on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada have they survived, living in 68 isolated groves, and numbering only in the few tens of thousands (the more widespread Coast Redwoods of northwest California are related, but are classed in a different genus).

We were walking through a mountain cathedral, marveling at the beauty and size of the incredible trees, but I realized there were ghosts all around us. There were only 16 mature Sequoia trees along the trail we were following, but there were dozens of gigantic stumps. This serene forest was a shadow of its former glory. Someone had cut down these forest giants. According to the Friends of Nelder Grove, the entire grove includes just over 100 mature trees spread over 1,540 acres (2.4 square miles). There are 277 stumps hidden in the shadows. Three quarters of the trees that had survived for 2,000 years or more were cut down in a few decades, between the 1890s and 1920s.

The sad part is that the wood, though resistant to rot, is brittle and was rarely used for anything more substantial than grape stakes and shakes, even toothpicks. As much as 75% of the wood went to waste, as most of the trees shattered when they hit the ground. Loggers would build trenches filled with tree branches for the trees to have a soft landing, but to no avail.

The remaining trees have been protected since the 1920s, but they still face some serious threats. The trees are adapted to fire. Their trunks are very thick and do not readily burn, so the wildfires that would burn through the grove every decade or so would kill off saplings of other trees and clear the forest duff, but would rarely kill the Sequoia trees. The nature of the fires has been changing. The policy of the Forest Service for decades was to suppress fires at all cost, allowing the other conifers like White Fir and Sugar Pine to grow very tall, reaching the lowest branches of the giant Sequoia trees.

Sugar Pines are especially susceptible to catching fire, and the fire rises up the trunk into the crown. Crown fires can kill the Sequoia trees by destroying their foliage. So by protecting the trees from fire, we've made it easier for fire to destroy them. The situation has not been helped by the growing effects of global warming. Ongoing drought has led to super wildfires on a scale never before seen in the Sierra Nevada. Several recent fires burned through 200,000 acres or more.

The deep conifer forests threaten the Sequoia trees in a different way. The seedlings need bare soil and sunny conditions to germinate, but the thick forest instead provides shade and thick forest duff. The remaining ancient giants are not being replaced by young trees, not at a rate fast enough to guarantee the future of the grove.

At least we've reached a point where we know what many of the problems are, and steps (sometimes baby steps) are being made to preserve the future of these incredible trees. In the meantime, the Nelder Grove is a quiet treasure, a beautiful place for meditation.

The Nelder Grove is off of Sky Ranch Road, about 8 miles off of Highway 140 north of Oakhurst, just a few miles from the south entrance of Yosemite National Park. The last two miles of road are unpaved, but the gravel is well-graded. Our walk was along the Shadows of the Giants trail, but there is a network of trails throughout the grove. The Mariposa Grove in Yosemite is presently closed to visitation as the site is being renovated to improve the visitation experience and protect the trees. Of course when it is finished, the grove will still be visited by hundreds of thousands of people yearly. If you want to see a Sequoia grove the way it should be, quiet and uncrowded, check out Nelder. For more information, check out the web pages of the Friends of Nelder Grove, or this Sierra Nevada Geotourism site.

A Plea for Rationality: Science, Global Warming and the 2012 Campaign

Athabasca glacier (British Columbia) in 2005

Athabasca Glacier in 1909

Global warming is and will be one of the defining issues of our generation. It is so unfortunate that we have a political party that is in such a state of denial over climate change that it will fight to see that nothing is done for at least the next decade. As I have noted in the previous two posts, we have lost 12 years already when we could have made real changes in our production and consumption of energy. It isn't that the technology isn't there; we have simply chosen to ignore renewable energy technology in favor of continued production of oil, gas and coal.

Only one party accepts the need for change, but it has been hamstrung by the opposition. The Republicans are led by the likes of James Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Rick Perry of Texas, states that have been particularly hard hit by global warming in the form of horrific heat waves and crippling drought.

If it sounds like I am making a single-issue argument, I am not. Dealing with global warming is an issue that involves our energy policies, which in turn involves our foreign policy. We have now fought several wars in which the protection of oil and gas fields has been a primary aim. Does anyone remember that we liberated Kuwait in 1991 because we were worried about the civil rights of the Kuwaiti people?

Energy is going to be a burning issue in our economy as well (pun definitely intended). Anyone who doesn't like $4.00 per gallon gasoline is bound to be bitterly disappointed over the next 10-20 years as production falls while demand rises. Gas and heating oil will be increasingly expensive, despite the current excitement in the industry over fracking. Fracking just means we will produce and use up a limited resource all that faster. And the continuing use of fossil fuels will continue to fuel global warming, causing disruptions in agriculture and raising food prices as well.

Do we like our national parks? Global warming already has had measurable effects on many western national parks. Most notably, Glacier National Park will be glacier-free in a decade or so. In many the high mountain parks that I love so much, alpine species are being squeezed out, and pests are on the increase. I was appalled at the destruction of the Lodgepole forests across central Colorado on my trip there in 2011. The bark beetles responsible used to be killed by the intense winter cold, but no longer. And the fires...the devastation last summer affected all the western states, with record acreage being burned. It's only going to get worse.

We cannot hope to deal with as a society with global warming unless our citizens are educated. So this issue goes deep into the way we bring up our children as well. Science teachers at all levels are hamstrung by budget cuts that favor teaching to standardized tests, and they are not able to encourage rational and critical thinking.

I have been in turns angered and disappointed at how the campaigns have evolved over the course of the last year. I have not been responding rationally when I read some of the ridiculous things the candidates have been saying, including the few references to global warming and climate change. I felt like throwing things at my television, or flinging my laptop across the room. But I want to make some rational pleas to you now. I know I don't have the biggest soapbox around, and I may be mostly preaching to the choir, but I hope you will consider these arguments when you vote tomorrow.

If you live in California's new 10th congressional district, I hope you will consider voting for Jose Hernandez to represent us in the House of Representatives. Jose is a NASA astronaut and scientist; we have had few of either in congress over the years (John Glenn served well and there were a few others). He grew up in our valley, picking crops with his family. I would be far more assured to be represented by someone who has been trained in science. Representative Jeff Denham, his Republican opponent, seems like a nice enough guy, but he is a cookie-cutter Republican who voted with his party 95% of the time. He would do nothing about global warming and other science-related issues.

If you live in California, please vote in favor of Proposition 30 and against Proposition 32. The education system in our state has been ravaged by the Great Recession and the paralyzed legislature that cannot deal with taxes without a two-thirds majority. We have been given a choice to raise our sales tax one quarter of one percent to maintain our schools, colleges and universities. Not to raise our budgets, but to maintain what we have now. We can't cut anymore without damaging our society for years to come. Why vote no on Proposition 32? It would mean that corporations would have a clear field for unlimited expenditures in politics while hamstringing the unions and others who oppose them. Just look at who is supporting it.

And finally, I will be voting for President Barack Obama. I know there are many issues in the race and so many factors that go into a choice for president, some of them shallow and horribly misinformed, and some that are profoundly important. I know that President Obama is a proponent of science and intelligent choices in energy development (except for his pronouncements on "clean" coal). He has not been perfect, but he has proven to be a calm and collected leader in dealing with some of the toughest issues our nation has ever faced. I do not see any positive signs that his opponent understands any of the issues in energy, environment and education, and if he does, his many contradictory statements makes it hard to understand what he does know. I think Barack Obama has earned a second term.

Whether you agree with me or not, get the heck out there and vote if you haven't already done so. It is a precious right to do so in our society, and there are those who are trying to put up roadblocks. I am ashamed at the behavior of Governor Rick Scott in Florida and Secretary of State John Husted in Ohio and others in trying to suppress the vote in their states. To make someone stand in line for six or seven hours to exercise their right to vote is shameful and anti-American.