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New Yosemite Nature Notes Video and Yosemite Gazette are out

See the new Yosemite Nature Notes on Granite featuring Greg Stock, the Park Geologist. For a tad more, read Chapter 2 of “One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome.” I once tried to mildly get into the geology of the park, but it quickly gets overwhelming. There are so many types of rocks and fine points that I got lost very quickly. I think know enough to get by at a cocktail party.

The new issue of the Yosemite Gazette is now out and available.

 It’s a free publication, but subscriptions help out. I do a few articles for them and have one on the Panama Canal and the link to the Sierra. Really. What was going on here was a direct reason the canal ended up being built. Cool. We also are proud to announce that Leroy Radonovich is now submitting stories. He is “Mr Mariposa” and has a gigantic collection of archival photos to supplement his stories. He profiles the Mariposa Courthouse this issue. It’s the longest continuously operating courthouse in the state.

The 16-page quarterly is given out in the greater Yosemite region at libraries, visitor centers, dog kennels and jost houses. I get a couple …

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San Francisco to vote on removing Hetch Hetchy Dam

 

A wrong created 90-years ago may have a chance to get righted. The dam that holds water for the city of San Francisco and some neighboring cities was erected on federal land – Yosemite National Park, in one of the shadiest land grabs in American history. For the first time, a city obtained the rights to the water flowing out of a river located in a National Park. The Tuolumne River flows from high in the Sierra Nevada mountains through the backcountry of the park and down towards the Pacific.

After the 1906 earthquake, the government of the city of San Francisco felt a need for a reliable source of water to combat fires and to support an exploding population. They petitioned the US Department of the Interior for access to this water source. Despite efforts of the Sierra Club and its founder, John Muir, the 1913 Raker Act was passed and the deed was done. Muir died a year later but once said: “Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.” The O’Shaughnessy Dam was built and …

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Little Half Dome Discovered at Yosemite

From Olmsted Point on the Tioga Road, you can clearly see Half Dome out in the distance. The view is a lot different than we normally see from the Valley. I took this shot yesterday and you can see Sub Dome and the main bump of Half Dome.

While walking the last mile to Half Dome recently, I looked out to the right, towards Clouds Rest and there before me sat a miniature Half Dome. Compare this view with the one above.

Wow – pretty darn close to the same. As I walked over to give it a look, I could see a trail of ants working their way to the top. . . . just like on the real Half Dome. The only thing missing from a true out-of-body experience would have been teeny tiny cables going up. This one is only about 5 feet high.  Ah, the things the mind does when deprived of water.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “That’s  one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” – R.I.P. Neil Armstrong

MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome…

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