Even where bridges cross the water, they may be overwhelmed or even washed out. Michael Macor/Special to The Chronicle 2018Īs the snowpack melts, it will turn rivers and even smaller creeks into raging torrents, making for wet crossings where hikers have to ford streams more dangerous than usual. This year, some of the High Sierra passes may not be clear until late summer. Mike and Patty Dewey of Reno enjoy a hike along the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway in 2018.

In a high (snowfall) year like this, they are treacherous.”

“But it’s about dangerous stream and river crossings.

Hiking in the snow is difficult,” said Peter Hirst, a longtime hiker who leads trips for the Sierra Club and REI. The snow isn’t expected to be the biggest problem, according to Tanner, veteran hikers and wildland officials - it’s the water. “There are those who say they have their permit, they’re gonna go, they can walk on snow,” he said. It will cover trails, creeks and much of the landscape for months to come, delaying the usual start of the hiking season and making it difficult and unpleasant for those reluctant to give up early reserved permits on the popular John Muir Trail.īobby Tanner, owner and operator of Red’s Meadow Resort and Pack Station, a popular restocking spot and respite on the John Muir Trail near Mammoth Lakes, said interest in hiking the trail is as high as ever and that many callers with plans for June don’t seem dissuaded by the snow. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization.The deep Sierra snowpack won’t cap just the tallest peaks as it usually does in the summer. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. John Muir (1838 - 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. He lived in the cabin for two years, and wrote about this period in his book My First Summer in the Sierra. Seeing it for the first time, Muir noted that 'He was overwhelmed by the landscape, scrambling down steep cliff faces to get a closer look at the waterfalls, whooping and howling at the vistas, jumping tirelessly from flower to flower.' He climbed a number of mountains, including Cathedral Peak and Mount Dana, and hiked the old Indian trail down Bloody Canyon to Mono Lake. When he came to California and finally settled in San Francisco, John Muir immediately left for a visit to Yosemite, a place he had only read about.

Summer in the sierra