Now available!
Photo prints of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada!

Go Here for the on-line store for photos from YosemiteFun.com
Now you can purchase prints from Phil Hawkins Photography in a huge variety of sizes and finishes.

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Announcing the 2010 schedule
for the
Yosemite Series of Photography Workshops!
by

Phil Hawkins
Award-winning Yosemite photographer for 28 years

The finest photography workshops in Yosemite;
week long and weekend workshops in all seasons!

see:

yosemitephotoworkshops.com

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Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp and White Wolf Lodge are now open

The Tuolumne Meadows campground is also open and will all be available on a first come first serve basis, approx. 100 sites will remain closed due to wet conditions. On July 1st 1/2 of the 304 sites at Tuolumne Meadows will be available by advance reservations only.

Crane Flat Campground is open for the season. The campground is on a first-come, first-serve basis only. On July 1, one half of the campground will be open first-come, first-serve, and one half will be available by advanced reservations (which began to be taken on February 15).

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Glacier Point Road with 30 minute delays

Yosemite National Park will be rebuilding part of the Glacier Point Road beginning this Monday, June 22, 2009. Work will consist of the rehabilitation, restoration, and resurfacing of the road, including repaving and drainage improvements to include 5.1 miles of the road from the Chinquapin intersection to Badger Pass Ski area. Additionally, there will be work on the Wawona Road (Hwy. 41) near the Chinquapin intersection.

This work will result in thirty-minute delays for park visitors. The traffic delays will occur weekdays (Monday through Friday until 5pm) with one lane traffic control. Work will occur during daylight hours and night work will begin on August 1. Traffic will be stopped by flaggers and vehicles will be released every thirty minutes. Weekend construction will allow for two lanes of unrestricted travel for park visitors.

Restroom facilities at the Chinquapin intersection will be closed. Visitors are asked to use restrooms in Wawona, Yosemite Valley, and Glacier Point.

The project will have a winter shutdown date as to not affect the operation of the Badger Pass Ski Resort. The project is slated to be completed on May 27, 2010.

Wawona Campground is now open.

resurfacing of the roadways has been completed.

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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK RANGERS SEARCH FOR MISSING WOMAN

Yosemite National Park is seeking assistance in locating a missing woman who was last seen below the Vernal Fall footbridge at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, May 18, 2009. Katrin Lehmann, 31, 6' 0", 150 lbs. She has light brown hair and brown eyes. Lehmann was last seen wearing a maroon rain jacket, dark blue pants, light green button shirt, lightweight hiking boots, a light blue backpack, and a dragonfly necklace.

Ms. Lehmann was last seen when she fell into the Merced River below the Vernal Fall footbridge. If you have any information regarding this person, please contact the Yosemite Criminal Investigations Unit at (209)372-0614 or the Yosemite Communications Center, 24 hours per day, at (209)379-1992.
-NPS-

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Search for Suicide Victim - Yosemite Falls

On Monday, March 9, YOSAR was alerted to a suicidal 39-year-old man at the top of Yosemite Falls claiming to have a gun and intending to kill himself. The park Special Response Team (similar to a SWAT team) was mobilized with the park negotiation team to attempt to talk the man to safety. With the help of CHP helicopter H-40, the man was located standing on a snow-covered rock in Yosemite Creek just downstream of the Yosemite Creek bridge, a few hundred feet upstream of Upper Yosemite Fall, the highest waterfall in North America. After several hours of negotiations, the man dropped himself into the creek and was swept over the brink.

On Tuesday, March 10, air and ground teams searched the icy slopes of Yosemite Creek above and below Yosemite Falls, including the large ice dome at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls, but were unable to locate a body. The search has been called off until conditions improve.

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Helicopter Evacuation from Half Dome

A member of a Korean mountaineering party attempting Half Dome's Direct Northwest Face sustained life-threatening injuries when he was swept down the "Death Slabs" by an avalanche. See the full report and photos.

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Gas Prices
(7/2/09, regular)

2.75 in Fresno
2.89 in Oakhurst
Wawona 3.50
3.95 in El Portal!!

No one can figure out how they get away with charging so much more at the Shell station in El Portal. The park service is supposed to regulate that, but for some reason they get away with highway robbery.

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Thinking of climbing Half Dome?

Read this article appearing in Saturday's (7/7/07) San Francisco Chronicle: Go Here

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The 2006 Highway 140 Rockslide The Park Service released several photos of the rock slide, and this is the best one. Photo taken on June 4, 2006. This slide keeps getting bigger and bigger. Shot taken on May 31, 2006. Material continues to fall; dust in the lower left corner of the shot is the result of falling rock while the photos were being taken. You're looking at 15 acres of earth that has fallen on the highway. ********************************* Bear-proof food canisters MANDATORY in the backcountry! The Park Service announced today (5-11-04) revised wilderness food storage regulations in an effort to reduce the number of incidents of bears obtaining food from backpackers in Yosemite’s backcountry. Yosemite’s Bear Council endorsed this recommendation by Chief Ranger Steve Shackelton. Bear-proof canisters are required within seven linear miles of park roads. This includes the Wawona Road (Highway 41), the Big Oak Flat Road (Highway 120 West), the Tioga Road (Highway 120 East), the Glacier Point Road, the Hetch Hetchy Road, and the Lake Eleanor Road. Bear-proof canisters are required within one-half mile of the shoreline of Benson Lake and above 9,600 feet (above tree line). Yosemite National Park still strongly recommends backpackers use approved bear canisters throughout the wilderness. A map delineating the new wilderness areas requiring bear canisters can be viewed at http://www.nps.gov/yose/wilderness/bfoodstoragem.htm. Within the green shaded areas, backpackers are required to store food items, items carrying food scents, and toiletries in bear canisters. National Park Service approved bear canisters are available for a minimal rental fee from wilderness centers, some concession outlets, and the Hetch Hetchy entrance. Approved bear canisters for 2008: Garcia Backpacker Model 812-C Bearikade Weekender MKII (1766 and higher) and Expedition MKII (1766 and higher) www.wild-ideas.net/ BearVault 110b, 200, BV250 and BV300 www.bearvault.com Purple Mountain Engineering (PME) Tahoe Model (conditionally approved) CounterAssault Bear Keg (conditionally approved) Ursack TKO 2.0 Hybrid (conditionally approved) http://www.ursack.com/ BearVault BV350 and BV400 (conditionally approved) Approved panniers (for stock use): DeCarteret Aluminum Stock Panniers Berner Bear Box Bear Aware Panniers Bear Country camping (conditionally approved) ******************************************** Winter Driving Reality! If you are planning a winter visit, please read below... You will not be allowed to proceed without chains or 4-wheel drive. Many people attempt to ignore this admonition, but this friendly-but-serious ranger will make you turn back. In the 20 minutes I stood taking pictures, many angry, expletive-spewing people were turned back. If you do not have 4-wheel drive... ...you can let these enterprising gentlemen install your chains for a fee of $25. Actually, this is money well spent; these guys know what they are doing, which will save you much pain from flapping pieces of chains chewing away at your wheel wells or fender paint, or worse, chains coming off. Plus, they work fast and you don't have to get out and get cold and wet and frustrated. PS: You would not believe what these guys have to go through to get a permit to operate. They must pass a test of installing all the different kinds of chains available. Then, pay a fee... but during a major storm these guys clean UP! ************************************ Chain Designations and Highway Condition ratings: R-1 Park signs read "AUTOS & PICKUPS SNOW TIRES OK". This means chains are required for all vehicles unless they have snow tread tires. (4wdr without snow tires must chain up.) Snow tires must have a minimum tread depth of 6/32 of an inch to be legal. Studded snow tires may be used if the tires are also rated as snow tires, if not, the tires need to be chained up. (Studs do not replace chains!) · Any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 lbs must chain up. (Usually, large vans on up.) · All vehicles, including those with 4-wheel drive with snow tires that are towing trailers must have chains on one drive axle of the vehicle. · If the trailer has brakes, it must also have chains on one axle. R-2 Park signs read "4W DRIVE WITH SNOW TIRES OK". This means that chains are required on all vehicles. The exception is four-wheel drive vehicles with snow tires on all four wheels. (This is for all 4-wheel drive passenger vehicles with an unladen weight of 6500 pounds or less) · The 4wdr system must be engaged! R-3 Park signs read "NO EXCEPTIONS". This means that chains are required on all vehicles. There are no exceptions. (Yes "ALL" means four-wheel drives too.) Remember, State Law requires you to carry chains in your vehicle when entering an active chain control area. Tire traction devices can be link chain, cable chain and/or spider straps. The weather can change quickly; it was 80 degrees and sunny two days before this shot was taken, April 8, 2001. During Spring, be prepared! This is at the 4,000 foot elevation, just before you get to Fish Camp. ...and then there's this photo taken at the Yosemite National Park boundary on April 21, 2001 on Highway 41. Now, this snow melted rapidly, but for about an 18 hour period chains were required between Wawona and the valley. During the night many people were turned away by the Highway Patrol roadblocks and had to go back to Oakhurst and get a motel room. ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CHAINS until about the first of May. (vwf) :-(

Now available! Photo prints of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada!

Now available!
Photo prints of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada!