FISH CAMP — Something spooktacular is happening this weekend, and visitors to Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad will want to know: locomotive #15 has been taken over by Halloween spirits. Ghosts in the know say the eerie train will be rolling down the rails this on Saturday, Oct. 27. Children are encouraged to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating at the stores ...

O’NEALS — Minarets High School’s local climbing and outdoor activities club is on the move, having recently returned from Twin Lakes, where students and their faculty advisers hiked Kaiser Peak in the Kaiser Wilderness. With a handful of hiking, climbing and backpacking trips under their belts, the Glissaders Club, as it’s known, is getting ready to plan another big trip ...

OAKHURST — The elegantly undead Madam Gadzinka and her traveling sideshow family are making an appearance in town to perform a special pre-Halloween revue at the Golden Chain Theater, where they’ll reveal themselves for one weekend only. They have traveled all across America performing in small towns as they go — leaving each place forever changed, or so we have heard. ...

MARIPOSA — The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra, a program of the Mariposa County Arts Council, is excited to announce a series of very special chamber music concerts to be held at the Mariposa United Methodist Church on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26 and 27 at 7 p.m., and the Greeley Hill Methodist Church on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. These ...

I just returned from Utah with an unexpected adventure full of scarecrows! Why were so many scarecrows congregated in one place? Some were resting under a tree and some were showing off in full sun. Some were scary scarecrows. Some were cute scarecrows and some were just plain silly scarecrows. Each scarecrow was definitely unique. Who knew that scarecrows were ...

YOSEMITE — Over the past 20 years, Yosemite National Park officials have achieved notable results in their work to protect bears by reducing the number of incidents between bears and humans. Compared to statistics at this point in 2017 — the lowest year on record — bear incidents in 2018 are down by 50 percent and damage amounts (in dollars) ...

I explored high places by horseback in Utah, looking out for miles and miles at amazing views showcasing the San Rafael Swell, Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument. We rode around parts of Boulder Mountain, the largest and highest plateau that is part of the Colorado Plateau. Those rides took us through stands of large aspens, spruce, ...

By Jeannie Harsha — OAKHURST — On a cool, misty day in early October the second graders from Oakhurst Elementary School embarked on a field trip to Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. Intrepid chaperones and students headed up the fog-enshrouded trail gathering information on Sequoias, forest ecology and factors that make a healthy forest. The mist was short lived and ...

By YHS correspondent — OAKHURST — YHS Boys Water Polo improved to 4-2 in the North Sequoia League (NSL) and 9-9 overall, avenging close losses to Chowchilla and Sierra with an easy win at Chowchilla (12-3) and a convincing defeat of Sierra (11-7) at home on Oct. 4. BOYS TIED FOR FIRST IN NORTH SEQUOIA LEAGUE Their other league wins ...

By Greta Ziegler —  O’NEALS — Minarets High School is home to one of the very few school-sponsored equestrian teams in the Central Valley. Though competition with other schools is limited, the Minarets Equestrian Team dominates. In fact, they have such a prestigious competitive record that schools who do have equestrian teams do not want to compete with them. The ...