Yosemite's Tioga Pass To Open Friday

Above, the drive along Tioga Road. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

For those wanting to enter Yosemite National Park from the Owens Valley on the east, Tioga Pass and Tioga Road will be reopening this coming Friday.

The Union Democrat reported:

The annual spring-summer reopening of Tioga Road — Highway 120 in Yosemite National Park — is planned to occur at 9 a.m. Friday, park authorities announced last week.

Tioga Road and Tioga Pass, the state’s highest paved route over the Central Sierra crest, are closed every winter due to snow. Tioga Pass has been closed since Oct. 21.

Tioga Road provides access for motorists to multiple features in the north half of the park, which lies within Tuolumne County, including the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias, Tuolumne Meadows, and Mount Dana. 

Along with the announcement about Tioga Pass, the article also mentions that reservations to enter Yosemite are required, so visitors should read up first before going.

To read more, go here.

Yosemite Name Change Protest Website

Above, the former Ahwahnee Hotel. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

People are upset and frustrated over the continuing battle between the National Park Service (i.e., the federal government) and former Yosemite National Park concessionaire Delaware North.

One Californian has taken his anger and frustration to another level. He has started a website protesting the name changes that the trademark lawsuit between the National Park Service.

According to the Union Democrat:

A web developer who lives in Santa Barbara County is so fed up with the name change for a landmark lodge in Yosemite Valley he’s set up a website to protest. 

Earlier this year, the National Park Service changed the name of several landmarks, including The Ahwahnee, because of an ongoing dispute with a former concessioner. The rustic stone-walled establishment is now named the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. 

Will Etling, a 34-year-old resident of Solvang, said he remembers visits with his parents to Yosemite National Park when he was younger. 

“We would usually stay outside the park because it was less expensive,” Etling said Thursday. “But there was one particular Christmas we stayed at the Ahwahnee. It was maybe 1994. I was probably 12 years old. 

“Being there when I was young it was like living in a dream or a movie, some magical place,” Etling said. “You’re surrounded by nature and nature’s smells, and with all the rock the building is made of, it’s like being in a cave. The rock of the actual hotel feels so natural. Staying there a couple nights I was able to walk around and explore on my own without my parents.” 

The legal battle between the National Park Service and outgoing concessioner Delaware North, over ownership of trademarks and place names including Curry Village and the Wawona Hotel, began simmering last year. Etling says he registered the domain name majesticyosemitehotel.net in January.

Above, the Grand Dining room at the former Ahwahnee Hotel. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, yours truly in the Grand Dining Room.

I visited Yosemite twice this year and saw the name changes the lawsuit compelled the National Park Service to make. According to the article, the federal government considers the changes to be "temporary".

To date, there are no signs of any possible out-of-court settlement between the National Park Service and Delaware North.

To read more, go here.