Really the title of the thread kind of is the gist of the thread. Really I didn't have an agenda today in regards to the stuff I usually do on this forum, there was just a solid clearing in the weather this week coupled with 41 reopening near Fish Camp that was great for a quiet weekday drive:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskWhNdLR
Some observations though.....
- 41 north of Oakhurst reopened on Wednesday this week from recent slide damage. I didn't see any visible damage to the roadway but there was a lot of mud and tree debris. The flag zone was right by the 4,000 feet placard and lasted about 15 minutes, I would speculate it would have been a good 30-45 minutes during the peak of the day.
- Finally got a picture of the CA 41 END sign.
- The Wawona Road had some minor slides but nothing that looked like it would have caused a problem over the winter. The snow line was anywhere from 4,800-5,200 feet above sea level, so no chain requirements.
- Some of the roads in Yosemite Valley were flooded or damaged enough to require closure. Some of the roads are getting pretty ground up from obvious wear from chain usage.
- I confirmed that the TO US 395 sign on the El Portal Road is indeed gone. The US 395 was MUCTD compliant instead of a cut-out and was present up until last year.
- The white spades are still weird...
- Almost nobody was using CA 140 in the Merced River Canyon, I didn't encounter a car in front of me all the way to Mariposa. Given that I wasn't stopping to see things like I was in January I was able to keep a solid 50-60 MPH pace sans the Furguson Slide.
- This didn't occur to me until today but all you get heading west on CA 140 for CA 49 is a JCT sign and no reassurance marker at the actually junction.
- CA 49 essentially is virtually unsigned south out of Mariposa. I noted there was no END sign at CA 41 but I don't really really recall seeing much in the way of reassurance shields.
- All the tree removal operations I saw south of Oakhurst in 41 are long gone and any road damage/clean-up seems to be complete.
Should be interesting to see what affect the storms coming up this week have on the mountain highways. I noticed that most of the slide closures on CA 1 north of Cambria were extended to April the 14th this morning. Doesn't seem like this freakish weather is quite done yet.
Yosemite is beautiful. Beautiful crystal blue sky as well.
Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on March 18, 2017, 04:32:23 PM
Yosemite is beautiful. Beautiful crystal blue sky as well.
Yes it is, I've never needed much excuse to go up there other than I felt like going for the day. Sequoia and Kings Canyon are on a similar level but generally Yosemite is much more accessible in the winter time due to three roads entering the Valley. A lot of people complain about living in the Central Valley even though they are just a couple hours for all those mountains the Sierras, national parks, and of course a ton of awesome roads.
What a beautiful place, it's like heaven on Earth! And the waterfall... Awesome :) :spin: