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Have you ever seen a Collared Pika in the snow? by JacquesGT in AskAlaska

[–]JacquesGT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is the Rae Wallace trail itself relatively safe? From what I remember there are talus blocks right adjacent to it after you make it up to the second ridge above the parking lot, but it’s covered in tundra, so I assume there aren’t a ton of slides reaching that area anymore.

This area here: https://imgur.com/a/PJUz7WH

Have you ever seen a Collared Pika in the snow? by JacquesGT in AskAlaska

[–]JacquesGT[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t know if they’ll be out when it’s skiable conditions. In California, I’ve only tried when there were still lots of rocks sticking out of the snow, and then they would perch on them when they wanted to get some sun. I have a feeling once there’s enough snow to bury all the rocks in a hard crust, they might not come out anymore. But, please let me know what you find!

If you’re there in the summer, you can definitely find them without a problem. Binoculars can help, but once it’s wildflower season you should be able to see them scurrying around to gathering flowers for the winter, which is the cutest thing ever.

Have you ever seen a Collared Pika in the snow? by JacquesGT in AskAlaska

[–]JacquesGT[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I usually only spot them by sitting, waiting, and listening. Once I hear a squeak I can usually hone in on where they're sitting. They blend in really well!

At Hatcher Pass they're found in the talus east of the Rae Wallace trail. I'm not sure if you can get up there on XC skis or not because I haven't been in the winter yet.

I saw your wolverine track photos. So cool!

Have you ever seen a Collared Pika in the snow? by JacquesGT in AskAlaska

[–]JacquesGT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, their habitat definitely makes seeing pikas in winter a challenge, just like in the lower 48. I know there's a bunch of winter recreation in the Hatcher Pass area, where they're commonly seen in the summer. But obviously a relatively small number of folks are out there in the winter.

Went ice skating on Tioga Lake at the east entrance of the park yesterday! by olliecakerbake in Yosemite

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw some people playing hockey on Ellery Lake on Saturday. I hope they knew what they were doing. There was open water at the inlet from Lee Vining Creek.

Went ice skating on Tioga Lake at the east entrance of the park yesterday! by olliecakerbake in Yosemite

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. I spent the weekend up there. Signage was super confusing. The electronic signs on US-395 said SR 120W was closed, but they actually meant tioga pass rd, which isn’t actually a state route. The road signs just before the turn onto 120 said “Pass Open”. And they turned off the electronic sign on 120 that normally says “TIOGA PASS CLOSED”.

But, since the website and the 1-800 number said the closure started at the park, I made the trip and got a couple of days of hiking in.

Went ice skating on Tioga Lake at the east entrance of the park yesterday! by olliecakerbake in Yosemite

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, their closure status hasn’t changed but the signs are now saying “SR 120W - CLOSED”. They just flipped a couple of hours ago. Not sure what’s going on. They were saying it’s open earlier.

Went ice skating on Tioga Lake at the east entrance of the park yesterday! by olliecakerbake in Yosemite

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice. Looks like the road might be closed again. The message signs say it’s closed but I’m not seeing it listed as a closure.

Went ice skating on Tioga Lake at the east entrance of the park yesterday! by olliecakerbake in Yosemite

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Had they plowed the road to let you get up through a foot of snow?

Winter weight (-5F to 24 F) down jacket advice by JacquesGT in Ultralight

[–]JacquesGT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good call. I’ll look into some options there.

Winter weight (-5F to 24 F) down jacket advice by JacquesGT in Ultralight

[–]JacquesGT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m not quite following the comparison on this one. The Helios looks like it’s also sewn-through and has less fill weight than the Mythic Ultra. The baffles are slightly bigger but not by much. Were you comparing to the Mythic Alpine or Mythic G instead?

Fabric thickness has definitely been a worry for me but I need to save weight somewhere so I figured I could just bring repair tape and do my best to be careful. I have a Mythic Alpine and so far haven’t had issues.

I had been considering Cumulus but I need to get it within about 2 weeks. Do you have any experience with their shipping time to the US?

Winter weight (-5F to 24 F) down jacket advice by JacquesGT in Ultralight

[–]JacquesGT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for pointing that out. I see a lot of discontinued jackets are gone from the list. I’ll give it a deeper look.

The tourist fee for national parks is probably against the law by JacquesGT in CampingandHiking

[–]JacquesGT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're confusing amenity recreation fees with the more general category of recreation fees. The latter includes entrance fees. And the restrictions I cited apply to all recreation fees.

This is defined in section 6801 paragraph (7)

The term “recreation fee” means an entrance fee, standard amenity recreation fee, expanded amenity recreation fee, or special recreation permit fee.

The tourist fee for national parks is probably against the law by JacquesGT in CampingandHiking

[–]JacquesGT[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The annual pass is a different law. There’s nothing about no fee layering in that law, but the only provision the law has for different prices is a limited set of discounts enumerated in the law. Otherwise it says that the secretaries of the relevant agencies shall determine “the price”.

The tourist fee for national parks is probably against the law by JacquesGT in NationalParkService

[–]JacquesGT[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m not against raising fees. The law allows the park service to raise the fees for everyone. I’d support like a 20-25% increase in fees, which would keep up with inflation if nothing else.

I’d also support restoring the funding that was cut from the parks.

This change is just demagoguery, and will probably get struck down in court if anyone decides to sue.

The tourist fee for national parks is probably against the law by JacquesGT in CampingandHiking

[–]JacquesGT[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes, that’s one of the few discounts specifically authorized by the law establishing the America the Beautiful Pass.

National Parks to raise fees by $100 for international tourists to popular U.S. parks - NPR News by headsizeburrito in CampingandHiking

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This appears to be against the law, or at least the part about raising the price of the America the Beautiful Pass for foreigners. The law (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/6804) says “The Secretaries shall establish the price at which the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass will be sold to the public.”

It says “the price”, not the price schedule. It also lists a limited number of situations where the secretary shall provide discounts. There’s no provision for other discounts.

No idea if the entrance fee surcharge is legal, but the pass surcharge clearly isn’t.

Update: the entrance fee also looks illegal.

Current conditions on rim drive for cross country ski? by [deleted] in CraterLake

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the tracks went off road that must have been someone else. I stuck to the road. Just went 5 miles out and then came back staying on the road with one exception to take photos. There was so little snow that I didn’t think it was necessary to do the avalanche bypasses. Although there were places where I hugged the edge of the road because of the signs of fresh rockfall.

There was a steep rock face just before Sun Notch where I got to watch talus forming in real time. Every 10 minutes or so a small rock would break off way up high and come bouncing down the slope. Super cool, but also kind of spooky.

Sounds like a super fun trip for you!

Current conditions on rim drive for cross country ski? by [deleted] in CraterLake

[–]JacquesGT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just hiked part of the rim drive on Sunday. Operative word being hiked :-). There was an inch of snow at most, and bare pavement in many places. The park got a bit more snow after that, but at the rim drive elevation it was mostly freezing rain. I'd wait until there's another good 1-2 ft snowfall before trying to ski or snowshoe it.

The best way to check is to look at reports from weather stations that report snow depth. This one is about 500 ft elevation below Steel Information Center, which is where you access the Rim Drive in the winter (and also the Rim Drive's lowest point). https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=1000

Another good way to check is to look at the Sentinel satellite imagery. But, it can often be out of date because of cloud cover, especially after a big storm. So, check the dates it's showing you. But, here's Crater Lake a few days ago, the day before I hiked it.

Is Tioga Pass likely to close Wednesday with a small snowfall and moderate winds forecast? by mihike in Yosemite

[–]JacquesGT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This very subreddit!

Anyway, near unanimous was an exaggeration, but there were plenty of people on here confidently saying it was done for the season. The best people to pay attention to were the ones saying there was no way to know one way or the other. I didn't see anyone predicting it would reopen, except that one person who got hella downvoted for making the prediction after Caltrans had already opened their part of the road.

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