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3 weeks until Half Dome cables are up

Cables up May 25. Soon my children, soon.

Hwy 108, Sonora Pass is now open. Hwy 120, Tioga Pass will open Monday.

MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome

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Yosemite Wawona Entrance reconfiguration

Through May 24th crews will be working days and nights on the South Entrance Station. This is Hwy 41 out of Oakhurst. Night work will be Sunday thru Thursday 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM, with up to 15-minute delays. Daytime work Monday thru Friday 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM with 5-minute delays. No delays between Friday night at 6:00 PM and Sunday night at 8:00 PM.  They are moving he kiosks back and adding an exit lane to move traffic better. Click to enlarge.

 The Yosemite Helicopter Rescue Team and the California Highway Patrol was doing helicopter hoist training in the El Cap meadow on Wed and Thursday this week. Hope they don’t have to use them much – but they are ready.

Sierra Snowpack is at 40% now – tyhe last measurement of the season. It was 190% in 2011 at this time.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Bye, bye Miss American Pie. Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey in Rye. Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die. This’ll be the day that I die.” – Don Mclean 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch …

New Half Dome book

It is with great pride that I announce the release of the 2^nd Edition of my book, “One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome.”

I grew the text by 30% and doubled the photos. I added several historical vignettes and included GPS markers for all the points of interest. I did a big expansion of the geology and history sections. I am jazzed. The price bumped up $2.00 to $14.95 list but it is well worth it. There is also an e-book version for Kindle and iPAD. Cool. I’m most proud that Mr. Royal Robbins, the first man to climb the face of Half Dome, wrote the forward. Even if you have the original, this 2^nd edition got even better.

The book should be trickling into bookstores, REI and the Park. It is on Amazon now through a link on my STORE page. If interested, I will mail you a signed copy for $12.95 plus CA tax and $2.00 shipping. Email me to MrHalfDome at gmail.com

Other news: Tioga Raod opens Monday.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “This book is real good.” – My mom 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome…

YARTS update

YARTS bus

First, a shout out to the 88 people who attended my Talk today at the Livermore Library and the 25 who heard me at Trilogy in Brentwood. Welcome to the blog!

A few weeks ago I blogged about the Yosemite Rapid Transit System. YARTS Transit Manager and Blog Reader Dick Whittington, provided me with current information to set the record straight. YARTS is a public transit system and not a “for profit” enterprise as I had thought. They began operations in 2000 and they remain the only public transit system serving Yosemite. Their fleet of nine diesel powered buses operates year round on Hwy 140 between Merced and Yosemite. During the busy June – September months, it runs routes between Yosemite Valley and Mono County via Tioga Road. This bus is very popular with hikers heading to the upper back country.

In 2012, there is a daily round trip between Sonora and Yosemite Valley, and two additional round trips between Groveland and the Valley on weekends and holidays. On Hwy 140 between Merced and Yosemite, through Mariposa, there are two additional runs, one starting and finishing in Merced and the other in Mariposa. More service on the Mono County …

Half Dome in 3D

Gee, I thought it already was.

There are a few good “fly through” programs that let you take a virtual hike up Half Dome. So when Google announced yesterday a new Google Maps product giving users “a three-dimensional view of thousands of famous destinations such as St. Mark’s Basilica in Italy, Half Dome in Yosemite, and the Eiffel Tour in Paris,” I was very curious. The fine print sez that using photo tours requires Google Maps with WebGL. Huh? WebGL – whazzat? Their promo sez this means the latest version of Chrome and Firefox. (Not Internet Explorer.)

Technically they stitch together photos that are shared publicly on Picasa and Panoramio. Which means all those photos you upload to these sites are given to Google to use free. Hmm, you thought they were yours??  Nay, oh naïve one.  To try it out, I went to my Firefox browser and typed in Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, CA and didn’t see anything exciting. I didn’t have another half hour to figure it all out, so I’ll send you to their hype <HERE>. Give it a try and comment back.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Gee, Yoda, you …

Guest Blog – Canadians to Half Dome in 2012

Today’s guest blog is from Kristin I. of Winnipeg, Canada. Far friends to the north wanting to be Domers.  The problem is that they don’t have a lot of hills to train on that are close by. I stress doing up and down then doing it over and over and over. Here is a fun story that might help get you motivated.

Summer 2012.  The destination of choice for our camping trip was chosen as Yosemite National Park. Our first reaction when watching videos of Half Dome hikers was “no way!”, but over time, our curiosity grew and we entered the lottery for permits.  In earnest, we began “preparing,” though honestly, that just consisted of a few long walks, and the purchase of “One Best Hike:  Yosemite’s Half Dome”.  Preparations were kicked into high gear on April 13^th, when we received word that we had won the lottery, and had permits to climb the Half Dome cables in August.   

Both my husband and I practice Ashtanga Yoga.  This ancient style of yoga is physically demanding, and has resulted in an increase of strength, stamina and apparently confidence!  We also have a stationary bicycle and live …

R.I.P. Yosemite’s Pacific Fisher

The Pacific  Fisher is a weasel-like animal that is very rare. They are in southern Yosemite. On April 19, one was killed by a vehicle on Hwy 41 in Wawona. Sad.  It was the 10th documented road-kill fisher in the park in 20 years. 9 were on the Wawona Road. This killed animal was found near the “Slow Down – Wildlife Crossing” sign on Wawona Road. Keep your eyes open and speed down.

Our German delegation is flying home to Hamburg after a productive fact-finding mission. He discovered the eastern gate closed due to snow still on Tioga Road. Snow plows are busy but must go slow for avalanche watch. There was much snow on the Sierra down by Mammoth Lakes. Devil’s Postpile still closed as it was hit by a recent storm,  otherwise no chains required. He saw lots of CALTrans vehicles with plowing devices.

Plowing on Tioga Rd is at Yosemite Creek. Snow depth is 3-5 ft. still a lot of work to do, but could be finished in 3 weeks. The Whoa Nellie Deli above Lee Vining is still closed for the season.

Maureen L. reports: The Glacier Point Road opened April 20 – this is a record. …

Earth Survives Another Day

Earth Day is a relatively new event. The intent is to show a bit of respect for the planet that seems to be the only place we have to hang out until Mars opens for business. I did a hike up Mission Peak in Fremont with sister. She is mentioned in my book as the one who spurred me on to doing the Half Dome hike in 1990. She had been up twice before with a hard-core Yosemite guy. I had seen her photos of the cables earlier and said “no way – too scary.” Well, 31 times later I’m still at it. Our hike was about 5 hours RT.

As part of National Trails Day, I’m sponsoring a hike up Mission Peak in Fremont for anyone who wants on June 2. Save the Date. The American Hiking Society will  list my hike. Everyone is invited and it will be a pre-Half Dome theme. I’m thinking a 9 am start – hike the 1500 vertical feet in 3+ hours RT then back to the Ohlone Deli for a fellowship lunch. More info. 

I recently got interviewed by Backpacker magazine for the June issue. If you join the American …

Foreigners coming to Yosemite

On April 26, look for a gaggle of travel industry partners and media representatives who will be visiting Yosemite on as part of a familiarization tour The tour is one of eight driving around California. The 3-day visit will include: Mariposa Grove, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, the Ahwahnee Hotel and Mariposa. They then head over to Highway 1 and the Pacific Coast Highway and on to San Francisco.

The objective is to get more international visitation to Yosemite. Hmmm, record attendance and crowding…so we need more bodies. But from the local business perspective they can use the mooloah.

Glacier Point Road is now open. Tioga Road plowing goes on – target is Memorial Day to open it up.

Comments to the Merced River Plan are due by midnight tonight.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Most people are on the world, not in it – having no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them – undiffused separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate.”  - John Muir
 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome…

Roll-over on Priest grade

Photo: My Motherlode.com

Today the CHP reported that a large fuel tanker truck flipped on its side on the New Priest Grade. This is the “easy” way up Hwy 120 just before Big Oak Flat. It was a carrying gasoline and an estimated 30 gallons spilled onto the highway. Gosh at $4 a gallon I’d be siphoning it up. CHP directed vehicles to use the Old Priest Grade (yikes) with only big trucks permitted around the wreck.

Mr Half Dome is now in Utah with Sonke K. of our German office to do some serious hiking and petroglyph hunting. Carpe Diem – we don’t live forever! Internet is grim out here, so the blog may be in hiatus for a few days. Take a hike!!  One month until the cables go up.

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “How narrow we selfish conceited creatures are in our sympathies! How blind to the rights of all the rest of creation!” – John Muir 

*MrHalfDome™ – Rick Deutsch – www.HikeHalfDome.com

One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome

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