YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
Yosemite roars into winter action
The park's snowy landscape is the place to be for skiers, ice skaters and snowshoers.
Yosemite National Park may be known for its towering granite cliffs and booming waterfalls, but when temperatures drop and snow falls, the park becomes a winter wonderland.
For outdoor enthusiasts, the park has it all: ice skating with iconic Half Dome as a backdrop, skiing at California's oldest ski resort or my favorite -- snowshoeing.
"Snowshoeing is becoming extremely popular," says Dave Bengston, director of the Yosemite Mountaineering School. "I think a lot of that has to do with how simple it is."
Essentially, if you can walk, you can snowshoe. Snowshoes distribute your body weight and allow you to walk on snow without sinking. (Think hiking in snow while wearing oversized clown shoes.) So far this season I've gone snowshoeing in Yosemite twice: once with family and friends for a New Year's celebration at remote Snow Creek Cabin and the other a solo seven-mile hike from Badger Pass, the park's ski area, to Dewey Point, a lookout vista that provides sweeping views of the park's snow-capped backcountry.
Yosemite offers a variety of snowshoe activities, including free hikes with park rangers (they ask for a $5 donation for snowshoe use) and full-moon walks (costing $16.50, including snowshoes).
On my most recent trek, I met snowshoers and cross-country skiers from a spectrum of ages and abilities. Yosemite's winter landscape left them all in awe.
"It's absolutely stunning out here -- the rock structures, the redwoods," San Diego resident Candice Creecy says as she approaches Dewey Point.
The trek from Badger Pass to Dewey Point is a prime example of how a trail crowded in summer takes on a whole new, much more isolated feeling in winter.
After leaving the groomed Glacier Point Road, I hiked three miles on the rigorous Ridge Ski Trail and ate lunch at Dewey Point, never seeing a single soul.
Any trail in the park with snow on it is considered open to snowshoeing or skiing. The base for most wintertime activities in the park remains Badger Pass -- off the California 41 entrance to the park about 90 miles north of Fresno. Badger Pass Ski Area, the first of its kind in the state, features 10 runs, four chair lifts, a rope tow and a small snow-tubing area.
Colin Baldock, who manages Badger Pass, says the ski and snowboard area is an ideal place for beginners. "The thing about this place is it's very intimate," he says from Badger's historic lodge. "You look around and you see a lot of families. There's a very laid-back, relaxed atmosphere."
After skiing during the day at Badger Pass, families often migrate down to Yosemite Valley in the evening for skating at Curry Village Ice Rink. That's where I met up with my wife, Amber, and 2-year-old daughter for some skating and hot chocolate. Yes, they even have ice skates for toddlers.
On the ice, parents help guide their children along, couples hold hands and teenagers show off. After waltzing with her best friend in the center of the rink, 12-year-old Riley McNamee took a breather at the rink-side fire pit. This is the third consecutive winter her family has made the trip up from Lakewood. And the ice rink is always on their itinerary.
"There's trees and mountains," Riley says, explaining why she prefers the rink to indoor ones. "It's outdoors, and it's just, like, cool."
Fresno resident Cathy Cruz recalls first skating under the stars at Curry Village when she was in her 20s. Thirty years later, she says the rink hasn't lost its charm. "It's such a neat feeling," she says. "You're surrounded by such beauty."
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