Yosemite In Winter

Once in a while it's nice to take time off from work. I tend to have more time to do that in the off-season. I had a great time with friends in Yosemite National Park this past Saturday.

El Capitan
The road into Yosemite Valley is blocked by a massive rock slide, but a one way detour was set up with a couple of bridges to get across the river and back. There are 15 minute delays in each direction, but fortunately we didn't see much traffic. Fortunately for us, but not necessarily for the businesses that rely on tourism to prop up the local economy. One reason is that the detour is set up with sharp right angled turns, and vehicles longer than 28 feet can't make the turns.

Lower Yosemite Falls
We got there between storms, so the roads were clear, but there was still enough snow to make things look interesting. Yosemite Falls were running. The lower trail is paved and wheelchair accessible, but Saturday there was a lot of packed ice and snow, especially on the little wooden bridges, and that made it slippery and slow going.