Yosemite News

According to research published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire, Yosemite is likely to see about a 20% increase in both the number of fires and the area of land which burns at high intensity, from 2020-2049.Read more...

Yosemite National Park's meadows, trails and wildlife are better off thanks to a $5.8 million contribution by the nonprofit Yosemite Fund. Saturday a check was presented to Acting Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga at the Fund's Donor Day event in Wawona. Donors have paid for 56 projects so far this year to improve the Park. The Fund's signature project this year was the $800,000 rehabilitation of the Half Dome Overlook which improved vehicle and pedestrian access, educational signage and viewing terraces. In addition the project also is protecting a natural habitat.

Park rangers say two popular routes through Yosemite National Park are closed for the second time this month because of snow and icy weather. Tioga Road, the highest elevation route through the Sierra Nevada, closed Monday to all traffic. Glacier Point Road, one of the park's popular sightseeing paths, is also closed as a storm passes through the region. The two scenic roads also closed due to snowfall in the first week of October, and rangers are evaluating whether they will open again this season.

The season is definitely changing at Yosemite National Park, where the Half Dome cables have been removed for the season, and where snow and ice are causing temporary road closures. The cables, which enable hikers to summit the majestic granite dome, are taken down each fall and replaced in the spring. Hikers are strongly cautioned against attempting to scale Half Dome while the cables are down.

This just in: Bears (at least, Yosemite National Park's black bears) view your minivan as one big, delicious pic-a-nic basket. A new report in the Journal of Mammalogy has the details of data collected on bear-related vehicle break-ins -- more than 900 of them -- between 2001 and 2007 at Yosemite. Researchers broke the incidents down by vehicle type, comparing the break-in data with available statistics on the types of vehicles that entered the park.

Recently, a group of 40-plus people gathered in front of the Visitor's Center in Yosemite National Park for a quiet yet much-deserved 10-year anniversary celebration of the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System."When we started 10 years ago, this had never been done," says Vikki Bauer, YARTS chairwoman of the board. "It was a pilot program, and there have been a lot of difficulties. But it has been successful, and we just wanted to celebrate that."

Stop by Yosemite National Park on Halloween weekend for spooky crafts, creepy critters, and hikes under the stars! 

It was an adventure as hair-raising as it was poignant and charitable.Jack McArthur still gives an audible shiver describing the boulder-strewn trails and gaping river canyons that stretched out before him and his friend this summer.Mike McGinnis, his buddy, said the terrain ahead of them in the Sierra Nevada seemed only to grow more rugged, the circumstances more dire should anything go wrong.

Yosemite National Park sits on the edge of California's rural San Joaquin Valley, a farming region that's nearly 50 percent Latino. Yet few of the region's Latino residents ever visit the park.That's where Yosemite ranger Mauricio Escobar comes in, with an unusual job and a unique life story.You might think a park ranger's life is one of quiet contemplation in the woods. But Escobar spends a lot of his time outside of the forest.

Her hands are like the grand and timeless Yosemite Valley where she has lived the better part of 60 years. They are strong and steady, with the feel of permanence like the smooth granite faces of El Capitan and Half Dome.Her agile fingers still weave willow branches into masterful baskets. They are traditional baskets that are displayed around the world and have garnered her attention from adoring fans.

The park has announced the completion of a $800,000 rehabilitation of the Half Dome Overlook.The overlook, located on Big Oak Flat Road, is the first chance many visitors have to see Yosemite Valley's iconic features, such as Half Dome framed between the granite walls of El Capitan and the cliffs of Glacier Point. Yosemite officials said that before the overlook's makeover, it was easy to miss.The project, which includes a new parking area and new walkways, was finished this month.

A decade of litigation over the Merced River in Yosemite National Park ended Wednesday when the federal government agreed to completely rewrite a key management plan for the river.Under the agreement -- which was filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno -- the National Park Service will start from square one, creating a new plan for managing the Merced River by the end of 2012.In addition, the park service will kill a controversial Yosemite Valley Plan that outlined planned improvements after a large Merced River flood caused extensive damage on the valley floor.

Ken Burns was well along in making his much anticipated national parks documentary before he had the experience that for many crystallizes why the parks have such a hold on the American consciousness. He saw Yosemite for the first time."I've never in my life felt the way I felt at that moment," Burns says recalling his first look at Yosemite Valley. Weary from a promotional appearance in San Francisco, the East Coast native had driven to the California park to catch up with his camera crew there.

Among the wild creatures roaming the trails and roadways of Yosemite National Park are a whole bunch of litterbugs, unfortunately. And in 2008, volunteers with the annual “Yosemite Facelift” cleanup event proved it, by helping in the picking up of 41,631 pounds of trash. Following the crowds of summer, you can bet there is refuse aplenty to fetch from nature this year too. To assist in their intensive park-cleanup efforts, the Yosemite Climbing Assn. invites you, to lend a hand in the “Yosemite Facelift” on Sept. 23-27.

Jeff Maurer, a biologist who worked for Yosemite National Park, died Sunday as a result of a climbing accident, the park announced Tuesday.