Archive for the 'Yosemite National Park' Category
Free entry to national parks on three weekends
June 2, 2009 2:29pm
You’ll get free entry to Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and 144 other national parks on three weekends this summer: June 20-21, July 18-19 and Aug. 15-16. At Yosemite, for instance, that can save you $20 per car, or $10 per person if you arrive by foot, bicycle or motorcycle.
The offer was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who cited “these tough economic times.”
Besides free entry, some concessionaires will give away $5 vouchers and free tours, boat rides, shopping bags and other extras. But don’t expect to camp for free; the regular fees apply there.
Gate opens at Yosemite’s vital Tioga Pass
May 22, 2009 2:50pm
Snow and debris have finally been cleared from Highway 120, a key eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park, in what is expected to be a big summer for the park. ”Tioga Pass has opened for the season,” the official Yosemite National Park road conditions line announces, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. The weather should be favorable too - with highs around 80 degrees through the weekend and predicted lows of 48. Visitors are urged to be cautious of high water levels due to recent rapid snow-melt.
For more information, visit www.nps.gov/yose/ or call (209) 372-0200.
– Leslie Anne Wiggins, Los Angeles Times
[Photo: A view of Highway 120. Credit: Associated Press]
Celebrate National Park Week, April 18-26
April 10, 2009 3:38pm
If you’re a fan of public lands, then the time to show some extra appreciation for them is coming up.
For annual National Park Week — April 18-26 this year — national and state parks, national monuments and historic sites, and other recreation areas locally and around the country will be celebrating with a variety of activities.
In California, numerous parks are hosting special events, including a Junior Ranger Day, where kids can learn about nature through hands-on activities, nature walks and stories. Among those with Junior Ranger Day on the calendar for April 25 are Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia and Yosemite national parks, as well as Pinnacles National Monument. Read the rest of this entry »
Yosemite rooms sold out for summer? Just about — and then there are those overbooked cabins
April 4, 2009 9:34am
Still making summer vacation plans?
Don’t cross Yosemite off the list, but for many reasons — a natural disaster last fall, a shortage of cabins and subsequent overbooking and an abundance of natural beauty — rooms are pretty much sold out now through the end of summer.
“We’re not taking reservations for Yosemite Lodge or Curry Village,” said Kenny Karst, public relations manager for DNC Parks & Resorts, which operates lodgings at the park. “We’re all sold out.” There are, however, some rooms left at the landmark Ahwahnee Hotel.
Roundup: Added security at Mexico City airport after tourist robberies; YouTube video of pilot landing at SFO on Twitter; winter fun in Yosemite
March 3, 2009 9:37am
Good morning, travelers!
Winter travel | Need a wintertime California weekend getaway? Why not Yosemite? There’s ice skating, skiing and snow-shoeing for starters. Read: “Yosemite roars into winter action.”
Mexico | As if there weren’t enough reasons within the drug war to hinder tourists from going to Mexico, reports of armed robberies at Mexico City’s international airport (MEX) have been added to the mix. The good news is that they’re adding federal and local police to help with the matter. So maybe the problem will be gone by the time you get there. Read: “Mexico increases airport security after robberies.”
Yosemite: Curry Village ‘Temp-RATE-ture’ deal rewards the brave
February 19, 2009 3:34pm
If Mother Nature’s with you — or against you, depending on how you look at it — you could get yourself a nice deal at Yosemite National Park in the off-season. In the park’s popular Curry Village, promotional prices for an unheated tent cabin shift with the mercury.
This is only for those equipped for winter camping. The nights, in these here parts, don’t tend to be much fun for the unprepared.
Deal: Under the “Temp-RATE-ture” promotion, what you end up paying for your unheated tent cabin will be determined upon your arrival by the previous night’s recorded low in Fahrenheit. If the low was 24 degrees, then you pay $24 (pre-tax). What happens if the low dips below the zero mark? The park pays you to stay — call it a deserved reward for your bravery. Neither the amount you pay the camp nor the amount they pay you will exceed $39. Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s faces and stories from the L.A. Times Travel Show
February 14, 2009 12:43pm
Even though it’s Valentine’s Day, lots of folks are stopping by the L.A. Times Travel Show right now at the L.A. Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles.
Dave Woodworth came by to tell me all about his Yosemite-based business: He rents Model T Fords so you can party like it’s 1915 as you drive around the gorgeous national park. He tells me he does all the upkeep on the fleet of Model Ts and Model As he owns.
You can also splurge on a suite at the Tin Lizzie Inn that includes two nights in a suite and a day’s rental of a Model T or Model A. Cost: $1,200, with some other extras thrown in. Info: (661) 296 8578; www.driveamodelt.com
Shirley Lane of Santa Monica showed up to talk about her upcoming bicycling trip to Slovenia and Austria in August. She’s 86 and has a big tip for readers: Make sure you aren’t traveling on an expired ID. (You can check out Shirley at her cycling website.)
Shirley tells me that she inadvertently brought an expired driver’s license on a recent trip and was stopped at the airport because it wasn’t considered a valid ID. They let her through but she was labeled a “high risk” and was thoroughly checked before proceeding to her flight.
I once accidentally traveled on an expired license, but wasn’t given the “high risk” treatment. At any rate, Shirley makes a point: Check your IDs before you’re on the spot.
If you’re at the show, come by to say hello!
–Mary Forgione, L.A. Times staff writer
[Photos: Mary Forgione]
Pageantry in motion: Bracebridge Dinner at Yosemite
December 25, 2008 10:00am
Do you have the Peacock Pie ready for Christmas dinner?
No, this wasn’t the scene at the splashy Vegas opening Monday night of Steve Wynn’s Encore hotel.
Rather it’s the 81-year-old December tradition at Yosemite National Park known as the Bracebridge Dinner.
Part pageantry, part exotic dining, Bracebridge is served at the formidable Ahwahnee hotel from mid- to late December.
Take a look at the wonders of Bracebridge in photographs.
– Mary Forgione, L.A. Times staff writer
Photo credit: Lani Spicer / Andrea Fulton Productions and Kenny Karst / DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite Inc.
12 books of Christmas: ‘John Muir’s Botanical Legacy’
December 21, 2008 4:00pm
Most coffee table books let the photos do the heavy lifting.
Not so “Nature’s Beloved Son: Rediscovering John Muir’s Botanical Legacy,” by Bonnie J. Gisel, with images by Stephen J. Joseph and foreword by David Rains Wallace (Heyday Books, $45).
Don’t misunderstand: It is beautifully illustrated with the species that Muir catalogued on his numerous journeys. (The book is divided into sections: “From Scotland to Wisconsin,” “Canada and Indianapolis,” “Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico,” “California” and “Alaska.”)
12 books of Christmas: ‘Visions of Paradise’
December 20, 2008 6:00am
My new personal hero may be Bronwen Latimer, who created a photographic escape hatch for these gloomy days when the economic news is as overcast as SoCal skies on a stormy day.
Latimer asked National Geographic photographers where, in their view, was heaven on earth. The result is this luscious book, “Visions of Paradise” (National Geographic, $35), which takes a reader to some predictable places (Hawaii), some not so much (Nebraska) and some I’d never heard of (Lago Ypoa National Park in Paraguay).
