Mid-July Conditions
Posted a bit after the fact, but I thought I’d describe how summer conditions seem to be evolving this year, at least in the Yosemite Sierra. As many know, what looked to be a decent winter early in the year ended up being not so great in terms of snowfall when the tap was more or less turned off a couple months early. Consequently, the summer season began a bit earlier than usual, with much of the high country snow melting out at least a few weeks early than average - this followed by early plant growth, wildflowers and, of course, mosquitos.
I was in the Tuolumne area for a short pack trip to the Young Lakes area more or less in mid-July. The Tuolumne Meadows campground had already been open for awhile and there was no snow left there. The trail to Young Lakes (and to other places I day hiked at similar elevations) was completely snow free. I saw some snow banks in a few places above 10,000 feet.
The mosquitos at Young Lakes were awful - as bad as I’ve seen. That is bad news if you happened to be there in mid-July, but this is perhaps small good news in that the hatch may end earlier than usual and leave us with fewer mosquito problems in August and later in the season.
Dan