Sierra News Online News from the communities in and around Yosemite National Park

My dog Sally and I took a drive across Tioga Road to see what the snow conditions were and knew that you would like see what we saw. A very small lake called Siesta Lake (7,987′ elevation) is along the south side of Tioga Road and I like to stop to see beautiful morning reflections. The lake delivered! Olmsted Point ...

You know me. Nothing like an an adventure on horseback, riding through that beautiful country in Utah, pretending I am a cowboy or an Indian or an outlaw! I signed up for a horseback adventure to cover an area that I hadn’t been before–Capitol Reef National Park in south central Utah. Let me start by sharing some information about Capitol ...

Imagine a copper strike in the middle of nowhere, so huge that it warranted building a railroad 60 miles long to it to haul all of the bounty out. It could even be the Lost Spanish Mine! With other people’s money, imagine what could be accomplished! Where: Death Valley National Park Date: February 28, 2018 We visited many places on ...

Our plan was to take a blooming Dogwood adventure in Yosemite Valley. First stop were the Half Dome Village dogwoods, then the Mirror Lake Loop dogwoods and the finale was the pink dogwood near the employee housing but we also had a few surprises along the way with a trail issue and some romantic critters. Where: Yosemite National Park Distance: ...

Wildflowers were celebrating Earth Day at the Striped Rock Conservation Preserve, one of the Sierra Foothill Conservancy’s special areas that you can only visit with one of their docents. Where: Sierra Foothill Conservancy, Striped Rock Conservation Preserve Distance: 4.49 Miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Range: 1,720′ – 2,160′ Date: April 22, 2018 Maps: Ben Hur Topographic Quad Dog Hike? No I ...

Frogs were singing and turtles were basking on logs at the Stockton Creek Nature Preserve where I learned how to identify some of our local amphibians and reptiles with the Sierra Foothill Conservancy. Where: Sierra Foothill Conservancy, Stockton Creek Nature Preserve Distance: 2.21 Miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Range: 2,250′ – 2.406′ Date: April 15, 2018 Maps: Ben Hur, Buckingham Mountain ...

I had heard of the Racetrack at Death Valley and its mysterious moving rocks, but the stories that I had heard of the washboard road and that 3 1/2 hour drive had not put this adventure on my list until now. We rented a jeep for the day and took it where I didn’t want to take my personal vehicle. ...

If you want to see Yosemite Valley’s big waterfalls, now is a great time to go. Yosemite Valley is open and those waterfalls are putting on their best show right now. What is the best way to view the waterfalls? In person, of course. I took a little drive today to check out them out. Yosemite Falls is impressive, dropping ...

Wildflowers are putting on a show in the Hite Cove area right now. Redbuds were in their prime and the poppies were looking mighty pretty, along with all other kinds and colors of flowers. And those Sierra Newts were out and about. Where: Sierra National Forest Distance: 9.24 Miles Difficulty: Easy to Moderate Elevation Range: 1,400′ – 1,694′ Date: April ...

We did not snowshoe Tamarack Ridge but we carried our snowshoes all day thinking that we would. We headed up above Shaver Lake to find well packed snow and once we left the main trails, that snow was pristine and untouched by people. Where: Tamarack Ridge SNO-PARK, Sierra National Forest Distance: 5.82 miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevational Range: 7,354′ to 7,800′ ...