Big'uns and Babies

Sorry that I haven't posted lately. The Internet has been spotty. I'll keep trying!

Many people are interested in young giant sequoia. They wonder if there are any small giants in the grove. Here is a photo of a couple of massive trunks raising above a bunch of twenty-five year old trees. Most of the small trees you can see are young sequoia.

Tomorrow morning Kelsey and I leave bright and early for a quick week-end backpacking trip up Lyell Canyon (I wish I had more warm clothes to pack!).

Staff Photo 2010

Each year we try to get a photo of the Wawona Interpretation Staff. Rarely do we get everyone in the photo; this year was no exception. These \are the 2010 staff photos.They were taken after a morning of training and a great pinic lunch at Wawona Point (Thanks, Dean!).

A Great Way to Start the Day!

How about starting the day with a plateful of perfect pancakes! The smoke alarm didn't even go off (which is a good thing since my house mate works nights and had just gone to bed a few hours before). By the way, the specks in the cakes are blueberries... not maggots, I hope.

A Round of Golf, Anyone?

The past few blog entries have centered around the Meadow Loop. I guess, then, that the golf course can’t be overlooked since it makes up about 50-acres of the meadow.

It is always interesting to observe people’s reaction to a golf course in a national park. The comments usually reveal their views of the purpose of a national park. Some people feel it a great privilege to be able to play a round of golf in such a scenic setting. Other people feel that the golf course is a man-made feature intruding on the natural beauty which the park service is designed to protect.






The golf course was one of the first to be built in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It first opened in 1918 before Wawona was even part of Yosemite National Park, When the Wawona basin was incorporated into the park in 1932, the golf course was part of the package.

The nine-hole golf course uses about 200,000 gallons of recycled water from the wastewater treatment plant each day (when the water is available). Because of its sensitive location, groundskeepers use organic (chemical free) practices in maintaining the course. It is Audubon certified, meaning that it is a bird-friendly and animal-friendly spot (although it could be argued that most of Yosemite National Park can claim that distinction). What a non-golfer like myself might finds intriguing is the periscope on the fifth hole tee which allows the golfer to view the flag over a rise.

Another interesting tidbit of trivia: my supervisor claims that if you look in a south easterly direction from the golf course you can see the tops of some of the sequoia trees in the Mariposa Grove on a ridge five or six miles away. He may be right, but it is fun to argue with him all the same.
 
 

\What do you think? Is a round of golf an appropriate way to enjoy a national park?

Mending Fences

“’Wawona Meadows themselves might be called the Sleepy Hollow of the West,” claimed author J. Smeaton Chase in his 1911 book, “Yosemite Trails”. ‘It is the most peaceful spot that I know of in America … Here is an unbroken meadow, green as heaven, a mile-long, waving knee-high with all delicious grasses and threaded with brooklets of crystal water. It is surrounded with a rail fence that rambles in and out and round about and hither and thither in that sauntering way that makes a rail-fence such a companionable thing.”

(Excerpted from “Yosemite’s Historic Wawona” by Shirley Sargent)

A good portion of the meadow remains much as it was described nearly one hundred years ago. (Okay, the golf course was added a few years after “Yosemite Trails” was written.) One of the things that makes this meadow memorable is the split railing fence that still stands today. Well, sort of. Over the years parts of it have succumbed to nature’s encroachment. Rising vines and falling branches have obscured it in places and destroyed it in others.

This summer there are some changes to the fencing. Parts of it are being restored and parts of it are being removed. The wooden railings from the meadow’s backside are being salvaged and used in restoring the fence closest to the road. It seems sensible but I have mixed feelings about the change. I’ll miss the fence on the backside but it will be nice to see a more natural transition from mountainside to meadow.

When is a meadow not a meadow?

When is a meadow not a meadow? When it is used as: a golf course, a landing strip for bi-winged planes, an helipad, a pasture for sheep, an orchard, a slaughter yard and a hayfield. The Wawona Meadow, one of the largest midmontane meadows in the Sierra Nevada has been used for all of these things throughout its history. Nevertheless, it provides for a pleasant 3.5 mile stroll through the park. Early Tribes called it Pallahchun meaning “a good place to rest.” I think most of us would agree.

Wawona Meadow is home to a variety of animals. I've seen bear, coyote and fox in the area, as well as evidence of moutain lion. It provides habitat for about fifty species of birds including two state endangered birds, great gray owl (Strix nebulosa) and willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii), as well as several sensitive plant species. It's a fascinating juxtaposition of natural and and historic elements. It could be symoblic of the National Park Service's struggle in trying to to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
    (From the 1915 Organic Act which established the National Park Service)

Iconic Yosemite Image Discovered in Sand Dune

This stunning image of Yosemite's famous landmark, Half Dome, was discovered in the Sand Dunes near Pismo Beach California, by a well-known Wawona blogger that wished to remain anonymous.

Okay, actually it didn't look exactly like Half Dome until the image had been photoshopped a little bit. Here is the original image:

Ha! Ha!  Made you look!

Coffee with the Ranger

One of my favorite programs to present is Coffee with a Ranger. I arrive at the campground around 7:20 AM. Heat up some hot water in a couple of pots. When the water is boiling, I dump in the grounds... voila! Cowboy Coffee! Visitors come for coffee, tea and hot chocolate. The ranger provides information for those wondering how to best spend the day. We spend the rest of the time spitting out coffee grounds together.

I like this program because I'm an early riser. For the first thirty minutes, I have the campground amphitheater to myself and I can enjoy some solitude and appreciate the sun rising on the river. (Also, since it is an early program, my work day ends a little earlier, too.) If you're around Wawona, stop in for some coffee. It's no secret that Ranger Jeff makes the best cup of cowboy coffee in Wawona!

An Old Building That Houses Great Memories

This is the Superintendent's Office found in the PYHC (Pioneer Yosemite History Center). Although I am not directly involved anymore in supervising the History Center, it still holds some found memories of the family and friends that volunteered in opening the cabins and providing a living history of Yosemite's pioneers.

For twenty-five years, the cavalry (horse soldiers) were the "rangers" of Yosemite since it was a national park but there was not yet a National Park Service. The infantry/cavalry would ride their horses from the Presidio in San Fransisco for a summer assignment in Yosemite and Sequoia National Park. Some of these troops were the Buffalo Soldiers that Ranger Shelton Johnson has worked hard to document and share their story (http://shadowsoldier.wilderness.net/). Wawona was the original site of their encampment, Camp A.E. Wood.

Some of my finest memories of the History Center are of John Clark, a man passionate about the history of Yosemite, especially the Cavalry. For several decades, John would ride his motorcycle from his home in Yosemite West to the History Center (not bad for a man in his eighties). John would trade his motorcycle gear for that of a military officer, Colonel Harry C. Benson, one of the military superintendents of the park. John loved to share the stories of Yosemite with visitors to the History Center. I miss John's stories. I miss his passion for the History Center. Heck, I even miss arguing with him!

John passed away several years ago. His memorial service was held on the porch of this building that he loved so much.   John J. Clark, we salute you!

The Fourth: Come and Gone

As far as I know, Wawona is the only place in Yosemite where Fourth of July is officially celebrated. (I read one letter in the files from a visitor complaining that Yosemite did not celebrate the  Fourth, the Superintendent's reply was that, yes, Independence Day was officially celebrated in Wawona at the Pioneer Yosemite History Center... that's us.)

My day began before 8:00 AM as I arrived early to get some snacks ready for the volunteers. But the volunteer blacksmith, Wayne, and his wife Cyndy, had beat me to the Center and already had coffee brewing! We set out props in the cabins. Sue, another volunteer, had made new decorations for the buildings! Can you tell that we couldn't get along without the volunteers?

In the morning we open all of the cabins that are manned by volunteers. This only happens once or twice a year so it is great fun to see visitors wandering around exploring the cabins and riding the stage.

In the afternoon we have a "parade" of one wagon, two horses and seven people costumed in period clothing taking a lap around the track. Meanwhile we sing patriotic songs. When the stage returns a few stirring speeches are given. After the speeches are the old fashioned games (Sorry no photos of the games, but I was busy helping run them). During the games, an informal concert is given by our volunteer musicians on the porch of one of the old buildings.

In the evening is the barn dance. It is probably the highlight of the day. The Wawona Philharmonic band plays while my boss, Dean, and Sue (the volunteer) teach everyone the fundamental square dance moves. (Nice new move "the pin wheel" was introduced by Sue this year.) This year the barn was packed with about 250 people.

The festivities ended around 10:00 PM. Overall nearly eight hundred visitors shared in the celebration. It was a long day, but also a rewarding one.

PS Did you notice how many times the word "volunteer" appeared in this posting? If you're the first one to correctly count the number of times it appears and post it, you will win a left over egg from the egg toss!

Thanks Kelsey for the use of your photo of the poster.

Happy Fourth of July!

Fourth of July is a big day in Wawona. We open all of the cabins in the History Center for people to wander through. We have a short ceremony starting with the World's shortest parade... two horses pulling a wagon full of people dressed as historical characters. We play old fashioned games. We end the festivies with a barn dance! I'll post pictures during the next week.

My cabin decorated for the Fourth.

Campfire!

By looking at the photos, you can probably guess what last night's campfire topic was... Bears! In this sequence, a visitors dons a bear skin, I give a short lesson on how to walk like a bear, and then the "bear" walks around the audience searching for food.

This Ain't No Flower Blog

This ain't no flower blog, but I can't help but post some photos of the early summer bloomers. It's starting to heat up and soon these pretty blossoms will be but a memory. These large showy spring flowers will be replaced by summer ones which tend to have smaller, more compact blooms.