page A16 ៚ the fresno bee » TIOGA: A ROAD LESS TRAVELED « sunday, october 2, 2005 fresnobee.com While humans keep the cash register humming, What you might see Fueling up at the flat they aren’t the only ones who visit the store. One Crane Flat For some, it’s a summertime goldmine. For ᔡ Ravens year, a squirrel tried to turn the place into a per- were not seen The western gateway to Tioga Road is others, it’s an oasis. But for thousands of motorists sonal cafeteria and had to be trapped and transport- the last chance to buy gas and food before bound for Yosemite’s high country, the Crane Flat in Yosemite ed to another part of the park. before 1950 but setting out for Yosemite’s high country. gas station is the gateway to Tioga Road. The store also has a pair of ra- “Our business is extremely seasonal,” says Jim now are common. vens that live there. “I call them They mate for life and are Webb, 46, grocery manager and buyer for Delaware Miss and Chief,” Moody says. North Companies, the adept at finding food where “We don’t feed them, but they’re humans live, especially along concessionaire that runs the store. “In the summer, always around.” roads. everything is bustling. The parking lot is packed. The ravens live on roadkill We’re open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and we’ll use seven to and other food that falls to the ᔡ The Giant nine employees. But once the road closes, we’re ground around the store. They Sequoia, the open 9 to 5 and only need one person. In the winter, can become annoying when world’s largest we might go an hour between customers.” snowflakes fill the air and living thing, can The store, just outside the gate to Tioga Road, is tourists disappear. reach a height of where travelers stop to purchase cold drinks, stock “That’s when I hear the tap- 275 feet and live up on food and buy things they forgot to bring, such Jim Webb manag- tap-tapping,” Moody says. “They for thousands of as sunblock and camping supplies. It’s also a good es the gas station. start pecking on the glass.” years. The place to find free information. The lonely ravens contribute Tuolumne Grove, “People want to know if there is anywhere to eat to the winter mood that sets in once snow drops a one of three on Tioga Road,” says cashier Candy Moody, 49, who quiet blanket over Tioga Road. Snowplow drivers sequoia groves in has worked at the store for five years. “They also stop for coffee and residents pop in for milk. Other- Yosemite National Gas and spotless windows prepare David Cummings of Yorba want to know what they can do and see around wise, all is still. If a blizzard sweeps into Crane Flat, Park, is at the end Linda for a trip on Tioga Road with his Yorkshire terrier, Buddy. here. I tell them about the sequoias in Tuolumne Webb may telephone Moody and tell her to go home of a mile-long trail Crane Flat is the gateway to Tioga Road. Grove [off Tioga Road not far from the store].” early — before the store gets snowbound. off Tioga Road.

Forest woodlands Olmsted Point Trees line both sides of the road as it rises slowly past The road curves around a massive granite dome to a lookout point that beckons travelers to take isolated meadows and trailheads to the Sierra’s rocky in a spectacular view shoulders. of .

Wildlife warning Beauty and danger Tall trees and deep shadows give Ed Appling pulls his National Park Tioga Road an air of mystery as it Service pickup to the side of the road rises from Crane Flat and leads a few hundred yards east of Olmsted drivers east toward the park’s high Point. Solemnly, he points to a small country. Posted speed limits — brass plate fastened to the granite 35 mph in some stretches, 45 in wall on the opposite side of the road. others — are constant reminders that The memorial marks the place animals suddenly can appear, where Barry Hance was crushed by sometimes with fatal consequences. Firefighter Kit Ostonu of Samoa an avalanche while clearing snow on The road is an interruption to works a controlled burn east of June 13, 1995. It’s too small to be their environment, says Steve Crane Flat. These burns promote noticed by passing motorists but, for Thompson, the park’s branch chief a healthy diversity of plant life. Appling, it’s a reminder of winter’s for wildlife management. Some powerful grip on Tioga Road. animals are unwilling to cross the What you might see Cars fill the Olmsted Point turnout road’s open space. Others cross often every summer as people stop to ᔡ Mule and even learn to stay back when marvel at how ancient glaciers carved deer forage cars are coming. out the walls of Tenaya Canyon, in morning, “It’s not uncommon to see mule which leads the eye west to the rear deer along the road, and occasionally late afternoon and evening. side of . But as the sun’s a bear,” he says. “In the park, we lose heat radiates from surrounding up to a dozen bears in collisions with They spend the rest of their granite, few think of how the snow automobiles every year, and that and ice, which created the stunning doesn’t include those that are struck time bedded down under sheltering bushes. They vista, also create danger for snow- and crawl off and we don’t know removal workers who labor for weeks their fate.” migrate to higher elevations as food becomes available in and sometimes months to clear the Animals are most active in the spring and move back down road each spring. twilight of early morning and late with the first winter snow. Olmsted Point is the most danger- evening, Thompson says. Meadows ous of 23 avalanche chutes in the are good areas to spot wildlife, but ᔡ The Steller’s jay park, says Appling, 53, a roads animals can show up anywhere on is a common sight in supervisor for Yosemite National the road without warning. the forest. It nests in Park. To reach the viewing area, “Whenever a bear appears, it can pine trees and eats engineers carved the road into the create a traffic jam,” he says. “It seeds, nuts, acorns, side of a granite dome. tends to bring cars to a screeching insects and food Heavy, wet snow clings to the dome halt. Some bears f lee at the sight of from camps. in winter like cookie dough, often people, but others show no fear, reaching a depth of 12 feet. During the although we wish they would.” ᔡ The black spring melt, water collects under the Deer migrate to the high country bear is the lar- snow and forms ice on the granite. in summer on a route that parallels gest carnivore in Cutting through the snow at road the road. Bears also move about, eat- the Sierra, level, which starts in April, removes ing grass in the spring and berries reaching a length support for the snowpack on the and acorns later in the year. They of 5 feet and dome and tons of snow can slide also rip apart dead trees in search of weighing up to down without warning. termite and ant larvae, and are at- 300 pounds. It will eat almost Workers follow strict safety tracted to dead animals on the road. anything, including small guidelines. Spotters watch the snow “We try to locate roadkills and mammals, berries, nuts and for signs of danger. Crews may use drag them off as soon as possible to garbage. Cubs, weighing explosives to loosen unstable chunks keep bears off the road,” Thompson 8 ounces or less, are born in of snow or melt it with applications of says. “The number of roadkills could winter and nursed in the den charcoal dust or water. be reduced if people would slow until they are old enough to Appling takes pride in clearing the down.” hunt with their mothers. road, just as his father, Aldon, took pride in building it. The 21-mile Rocks left by ancient glaciers are a reminder of Yosemite’s geological history. middle section, from the White Wolf turnoff to a point about 3 miles east What you might see of , was a dirt road until ᔡ The pika, also known as the it was rebuilt in 1957-61 on a new cony or rock rabbit, lives in rock alignment. The old route passed slide areas at the base of mountains north around Olmsted Point, where or cliffs at 7,700-12,000 feet in ele- there is no avalanche danger. The vation. It eats plants and gathers up A stream valley new alignment follows a southerly to a cubic yard of “hay” to eat during winter. before glaciation. path across solid granite to reach Tenaya Canyon. ᔡ The rosy finch lives in rocky “My dad was a driller for the terrain at 9,500-14,000 feet. Its adap- blasting,” Appling says. “The workers tations to harsh conditions include a lived in Tuolumne Meadows all mask of feathers that covers its nostrils. It lives on seeds and insects, some of The same valley summer, and we’d drop my dad scoured by glaciers. off at the work site every morning.” which it finds frozen near snowbanks. While playing with the children of other workers, Appling often was Of note reminded of work on the road. ᔡ The point is named for Frederick Law Olmsted, “The explosions,” he says, “sounded a conservationist and landscape architect who Bear cubs aren’t road scholars when it comes to avoiding automobiles. like sonic booms.” would go on to design New York City’s Central Park.

What you might see Tuolumne Meadows ᔡ Elephant’s Driving becomes less worrisome as motorists enter a stretch of flat land Head, whose and sprawling open space, surrounded by protective mountains thick pink-purple with trees. blossoms look like flying Dumbos, is one Margaret’s meadows Hiking and rock climbing are the primary of many activities. People also come for bird wildflowers that Yosemite National Park Ranger Margaret watching and to enjoy the night sky, which Eissler walks along Soda Springs trail in bloom in Tuolumne is free of the light pollution found in cities. Meadows every summer. Tuolumne Meadows and remembers how As a child, Eissler played in the mud Tioga Road used to follow the same route along Tuolumne River and made sparkling ᔡ as it meandered toward Tioga Pass. Brook trout thrives in the lemonade with carbonated water from cold water of mountain lakes “You can still see signs of the old road,” Soda Springs. and meadow streams at she says, pointing to a raised roadbed “I was too young to be scared going over 5,000-9,000 feet. hikers now use to reach Parsons Lodge and Tioga Pass,” she says. “But I can remember It lives on the site of an old Sierra Club campground looking out the window and seeing the a diet of once managed by Eissler’s parents. The powerhouse at the bottom of Lee Vining campground is gone now, but the lodge, Canyon. I also learned that cars going small acquired by the National Park Service in uphill had the right of way. If you were insects, 1973, serves as a high country nature going downhill and met another car, you frogs, mollusks, center. had to back up until you found a place to Above: A tranquil crustaceans and small fishes. Fred and Anne Eissler took care of the turn out.” moonrise over the campground from 1956 to ’61 and brought Eissler was a f lutist for the Santa Tuolumne River Of note their two daughters with them every Barbara Symphony Orchestra for 18 years, prepares hearts for a ᔡ John Muir called summer. Back then, Tioga Road was single- but she never lost her love for Yosemite’s magical evening in Tuolumne Meadows “the most lane for much of its length, with wider high country, and became a park ranger in Yosemite’s high country. spacious and delightful high areas here and there for cars to pass. 1987. She lives and works in Tuolumne pleasure ground I have yet “For me, this was the finest of play- Meadows during summer and is assigned Left: Aging ruts are all seen. The air is keen and grounds,” says Eissler, 52, her eyes sweep- to the rest of the year. that remain of Tioga bracing, yet warm during the ing over the largest sub-alpine meadow in Winter is the mother of beauty in Road’s former route day; and though lying high in the Sierra. Tuolumne Meadows, she says. through Dana Meadows, the sky, the surrounding mountains are so much At 8,575 feet, Tuolumne Meadows is a “Because winter is so long up here, you west of Tioga Pass. roomy bowl of grass and wildf lowers have three seasons compressed into three higher, one feels protected as surrounded by mountains thick with trees. months. Things are constantly changing.” if in a grand hall.”

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