Young Belding ground squirrels standing next to their burrow

Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted here—I’ve been working on some big projects. But I couldn’t let the summer go by without writing about Belding ground squirrels—a.k.a. “picket pins.”

They get that nickname from their habit of standing upright next to their burrows, watching for danger, looking, to early park visitors, like the stakes used for picketing horses. Their frequent alarm calls—a rapid series of whistles—are as much a part of the high-country experience as the afternoon thunderstorms and the lack of oxygen. Enter any subalpine meadow and these squirrels will announce your arrival to all the local residents.

Early in the summer young Belding ground squirrels can be seen everywhere, and they are undeniably cute. Many years ago, while waiting to take a shower at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, I saw a mother ground squirrel running with one of her tiny babies in her mouth. She dove into a burrow, then emerged, sans baby, ran off, and shortly returned with another young squirrel. She repeated this procedure three more times before disappearing down the burrow for good.

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Cow parsnips and the elm tree, Cook's Meadow

The place is more special than the name. Nestled in the east end of Yosemite Valley, with views of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Glacier Point, and Sentinel Rock, Cook’s Meadow might be the most scenic meadow in the world.

Surrounded by roads and trails, Cook’s Meadow is a popular spot with visitors, yet it’s wilder than it might appear. It’s never been plowed, as many other Yosemite meadows were in the 1800s. Wildlife has become accustomed to people; twice I’ve found deer carcasses along its edges, the evidence clearly showing that they had been killed by mountain lions.

Since this expanse of grass was so close to our home when we lived in Yosemite Valley, Claudia and I got to know it intimately. We took frequent walks around it in the mornings or evenings, in every season, in every weather. We came to appreciate its beauty and abundant life.

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Spotted owl mother and young, shortly after the owlets fledged

Twenty-four years ago, in June of 1986, I photographed a spotted owl nest in Tenaya Canyon beyond Mirror Lake. I had found the nest in May by looking and listening in likely habitats. At dusk one evening, in perfect spotted owl habitat—shady, old-growth forest of Douglas fir and white fir, with a dense understory of oaks, maples, and dogwoods—I heard a series of hoots. This wasn’t their distinctive “barking” call, but was clearly an owl.

The next evening I returned to this area and found a likely nesting spot, a hollow cavity about 30 feet up in a black oak. I heard another call I didn’t recognize, a rising whistle. Could this be a spotted owl? Zeroing in on the sound I saw my first spotted owl about 40 feet up in Douglas fir. I heard more whistles and found another, larger adult nearby. Eventually I saw this larger owl—presumably the female, since female owls are larger than males—fly to that cavity in the oak, confirming the nest site.

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Tioga Lake at sunrise

The last major step in Yosemite’s spring progression took place Saturday when Tioga Pass opened.

Every year Claudia and I try to drive over the pass as early as possible to see snowy peaks and icy lakes—a glimpse of winter in May or June. This year we made the trip the first day the pass opened, and there was lots of snow—just tons of it. Bare ground was scarce, and some locations still had five to six feet of snow. Tenaya, Tioga, and Ellery Lakes were mostly frozen, with just a few patches of open water near their shores.

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Corn lilies in bloom near Badger Pass

This has been the coldest, dampest May in 25 years. Last night it rained again, and snowed down to 5000 feet, just missing Yosemite Valley. Isn’t Memorial Day supposed to mark the beginning of summer?

Everything is two weeks behind—the new leaves emerged two weeks late, the dogwoods bloomed two weeks late, and it looks like the Tioga Pass Road will open about two weeks later than average—that is, two weeks from now. New snow last night delayed today’s scheduled opening of the Glacier Point Road, but it will probably open tomorrow. Yes, that’s about two weeks later than it’s typical opening date in recent years.

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Rainbow along the boundary between sun and shade at the base of Vernal Fall

People think of rainbows as fleeting and ephemeral. But in Yosemite, in spring, they’re are as predictable as the rising and setting of the sun. Continuous spray from the waterfalls and copious spring sunshine create perfect conditions for rainbows. You can see them on all the major waterfalls, and the minor ones as well if you’re in the right place at the right time.

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Wind-blown Upper Yosemite Fall

For 20 years my wife Claudia and I lived in Yosemite Village, right underneath Yosemite Falls. In spring, when full from snowmelt, the roar of this fifth-highest waterfall in the world was the background music to our life in Yosemite Valley.

In late summer and fall this waterfall dries up, sometimes sometimes dwindling to a wet stain on the cliff below Yosemite Point. But an occasional autumn rainstorm can create a sudden, temporary gush. We would sometimes wake up on an October morning to the unexpected sound of rushing water, and push aside our bedroom curtains to peer through the trees and see Yosemite Falls reborn.

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Hiker's on the Mist Trail below Vernal Fall

The Mist Trail has a soundtrack: the deafening, pounding roar of falling water.

This loud pathway must be one of world’s most popular hikes. On busy days in spring and summer, hundreds, even thousands of people ascend the trail. Some take small, slow steps, pausing frequently to catch their breath. Others stride briskly upward. Parents attempt to push strollers up the steep, paved, lower parts of the trail, and entire extended families make their way upward, kids running ahead or dragging behind.

To know why so many people attempt this hike, you must make the journey yourself. It would be hard to imagine a more spectacular trail.

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Dogwood along the Merced River, May, 1991

It’s raining again. It’s been unusually cold and wet this April, with weekly storms and some of the largest April snow accumulations I’ve seen in Yosemite Valley, including 12 inches on April 5th. The cold weather has made the dogwoods cautious, and slow to bring out their blossoms. But the flowers are finally emerging, starting, as they always do, as little green discs. Soon they will evolve into big, beautiful, white blossoms.

I first saw dogwoods blooming in Yosemite on Mother’s Day weekend, 1980. My mom, brother Peter, and I had moved from Connecticut to the San Francisco Bay Area in January, joining my other brother Steve who had been living in California for two years. My two brothers and I were taking my mom camping in Yosemite for Mother’s Day; it was only my second visit to the park. As we drove into the valley it was snowing lightly, and a thin layer of white highlighted all the tree branches. As we swung past Fern Spring, dogwood blossoms, lightly coated in snow, lined the road. My mother was delighted—she loved flowers. Like most young men, I wasn’t normally moved by floral displays, but this one made an impression.

Dogwood blossoms

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Lunar rainbow on Upper Yosemite Fall, May 8th, 2009

At 5:19 next Wednesday morning the moon will become full. Last year, under a full moon on the evening of May 8th, I joined a throng of photographers near the Sentinel Bridge parking area. A small pond on the edge of Cook’s Meadow reflected Upper Yosemite Fall, and about 50 photographers were lined up, tripod to tripod, waiting. I edged into a small gap and joined the group. At least 50 more photographers could be seen out on the path through the meadow.

At about 10:30 a faint white band became visible in the spray near the base of the fall. Shutters began to click. The dim light required long exposures, but eventually glowing LCD screens on the back of cameras began displaying vivid bands of color, invisible to the naked eye—a rainbow formed by the light of the moon.

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